Police checks?

MikeJones · Post by **MikeJones** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 5:41 am

Hi all,

I work for the UK subsidiary of a US tech company and have been offered a job in our Singapore office. To make things slightly more complicated the HR for Singapore is regional and based out of Australia. Therefore the company is using an Australian immigration consultant who is working with a Singapore immigration consultant to apply for an employment pass. Problem is every time I talk to this guy (the Aus consultant) I get less and less confident he has any idea what he is talking about. First off he asked me to supply academic transcripts as well as my degree certificate despite the EP form pretty clearly stating transcripts were only required for graduates of Indian universities (which I'm not). Now he wants me to get UK and NZ police checks (I'm a dual citizen)

This isn't really a problem personally but will take more time and as I can find no mention of Police checks anywhere on the MOM site or EP application forms I'm really wondering what this guy is playing at. So do you require overseas police checks for EP applications? Or is this guy talking out his rear end?

Thanks

Mike

Post by **PNGMK** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 8:04 am

MikeJones wrote:Hi all,

I work for the UK subsidiary of a US tech company and have been offered a job in our Singapore office. To make things slightly more complicated the HR for Singapore is regional and based out of Australia. Therefore the company is using an Australian immigration consultant who is working with a Singapore immigration consultant to apply for an employment pass. Problem is every time I talk to this guy (the Aus consultant) I get less and less confident he has any idea what he is talking about. First off he asked me to supply academic transcripts as well as my degree certificate despite the EP form pretty clearly stating transcripts were only required for graduates of Indian universities (which I'm not). Now he wants me to get UK and NZ police checks (I'm a dual citizen)
This isn't really a problem personally but will take more time and as I can find no mention of Police checks anywhere on the MOM site or EP application forms I'm really wondering what this guy is playing at. So do you require overseas police checks for EP applications? Or is this guy talking out his rear end?

Thanks

Mike

He's covering his backside.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 8:07 am

^^ This.

the lynx · Post by **the lynx** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 8:49 am

^^ Agreed

That's him playing safe and redundant.

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 9:10 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:^^ This.

or probably stringing the candidate along, preparing to give the bad news that things went haywire ..

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:50 am

I'd point out that the MOM website does not appear to show that such checks are required. And ask, as such, who requires these checks and why.

And further point out that these checks* can take a long time to be processed, certainly a month plus. And ask how they see that fitting into the timing of the permit/transfer.

It's a slightly tricky situation. The HR will be relying on the consultant, and assuming that they're doing what's required. If there are delays, the consultant is probably going to blame you. But if it gets to a point where the consultant is clueless... there might come a time to politely flag your concerns to the HR.

MikeJones · Post by **MikeJones** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 5:18 pm

Believe me I'm taking notes which will be passed on to HR

However at this stage I think I'll let things play out rather than getting into an argument which might delay things further. To be fair to the consultant, we are still waiting for the two weeks the job has to advertised on jobs bank to expire so the EP application hasn't gone in yet. Quite why it took him 6 weeks to work out they needed to place an ad is another story and top of my list of notes

I'm not concerned about the checks per se, as my current role involves work with govt. departments so I've had these sort of checks regularly over the years and have no skeletons in the closet. The UK one can be expedited so should only take a week at most. Anyway just checking really that I'm not being completely unfair with my impression that this guy is either a bit of a clown or is making work to justify what he's charging my company.

Thanks for the feedback

Mike

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 5:33 pm

Where I added a * in my previous I meant to add...

http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information
This is how to get a copy of your 'criminal record' in the UK... you file said Notice at your local police station.

MikeJones · Post by **MikeJones** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 5:55 pm

Well that is slightly different, that's a Data Protection request showing all information your local force has on you. The Police Certificate http://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx for use with immigration (for countries like Australia, NZ the US but not Singapore) is details of your criminal record and won't necessarily contain all details of contacts with police where no formal action was taken (i.e. conviction, caution etc). The certificate costs more (surprise, surprise) but takes less time to process.

Mike

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 7:37 pm

MikeJones wrote:Well that is slightly different, that's a Data Protection request showing all information your local force has on you. The Police Certificate http://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx for use with immigration (for countries like Australia, NZ the US but not Singapore) is details of your criminal record and won't necessarily contain all details of contacts with police where no formal action was taken (i.e. conviction, caution etc). The certificate costs more (surprise, surprise) but takes less time to process.
Mike

The Subject Access Notice is a copy of any/all records on the UK Police National Computer, i.e. it is not limited to just your local police force. It is a rather bare-bones computer print out. I had to get one when applying for an American work visa.

The 'Police Certificate' appears to be something more recent than the SAN. It is not clear to me what is on the former that is not on the latter... perhaps it is laid out in an easier to interpret manner?

As you yourself point out SG immigration don't need said 'Police Certificate', but then neither do they require a SAN. Meanwhile the question of who in the case mentioned really requires it and why remains unanswered.

p.s. The SAN requires 40 days to get.
c.f. https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q542.htm

MikeJones · Post by **MikeJones** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 7:59 pm

Yeah I'm not really sure what's in each one either. Reading that it also implies that the Police Certificate is only issued for emigration to the named countries. Oh well the form has been sent off and if it get's rejected I'll be asking the immigration consultant exactly what he is playing at, copied to HR of course.

I'm really getting the impression he's trying to pad out the work he is doing to justify the fees he's charging the company, in any case I don't want to rock the boat just yet in case that delays things further. Assuming the visa does come through I'll be making my feelings known to our HR dept. with a recommendation they find another consultant for any future Singapore applications.

Thanks

Mike

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 8:19 pm

Mike,

I'm pretty sure that is exactly what that consultant is doing. All the visa and work applications in Singapore can be filled out by a "N" level holder of average grades. It sounds like he's scamming your employer big time because most employers don't have a clue so are easily sold a bill of goods. As long as you don't have to pony up the clams, I wouldn't worry about it unless it falls through. Then I think I'd park a little bit of your new found knowledge in the company's HR department's ear for their future reference.

Unless you are going to work for an extremely sensitive, high-level position within the SG Gahment. They might require it but it's not part and parcel to the normal employment visa apparatus.

MikeJones · Post by **MikeJones** » Tue, 28 Oct 2014 9:10 pm

Yes you're right, he's the companies choice of consultant and they're paying the bills so I'll keep my head down and fill in whatever irrelevant forms he sends me. Once everything is sorted and I've actually relocated I'll have a quiet word with HR. If it falls through the word won't be so quiet

Mike

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