We also needed to get background checks from the UK because we had lived there for more than six months during the past ten years. To do this you must apply to Scotland Yard . this too was fun - especially from a distance of 5000 miles.

First you write to or phone Scotland Yard and ask them to send you the forms. Then you wait, a long time, then you ask again and eventually you end up with several sets of forms because they forgot to put stamps on the envelopes.

Under the Data Protection Act, Section 21, 1984 it is your legal right to know what, if any, information someone is holding about you in any data base in the U.K. There are some exceptions but I'll describe them later...they re quite funny actually. Anyway, you have to show proof of I.D. to Scotland Yard in order to get this information. You can send them your birth certificate if you like but remember it could well get lost. They want originals and won't accept a photocopy. What they want to see is your full name (including middle names) and your address.

We sent the top bit of our bank statement which listed both names and also I mailed envelopes to myself and hubby with our full name and full address. Once it has been through the postal system then Scotland Yard apparently will accept this as proof. The mind fairly boggles doesn't it! I have to prove I exist with this name and therefore I send myself a letter. If you don't look at the contents before you mail it to yourself it can be a surprise!......but I digress...

So you get your form and your proofs of I.D. and then you need Ten Pounds Sterling for each search. It has to be in U.K. Funds....we sent ours with cash with a friend who was traveling back to England but you could try to get a Sterling bank draft. You have to specify which database you want them to look in....there are dozens and it appears to be entirely your choice. We chose Prosecution/Conviction History. It seemed the most logical choice. They are obliged to get the answer back to you in 40 days. However, as a word of warning, they put a second class inland stamp on our results (we were living Iowa, U.S.A. but I guess I should be grateful that this time it had a stamp at all...) so it came by the scenic route in a rowing boat. Presumably that's why this employee of New Scotland Yard works in Data Protection and not as a detective! You eventually get a letter back saying - hopefully - that they have found no trace of you in the database. Then comes the amusing exceptions. I will quote what they say:-

NB: The exemptions in relation to disclosure of information held on Police computers are limited to where data are held for:- (a) the prevention or detection of crime, (b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, and disclosing such data would be likely to prejudice those purposes.

In other words, if you have committed a crime but they just haven't actually nabbed you for it yet they won't tell you anyway, which makes the whole thing a bit useless as far as Canadian Immigration is concerned if you ask me, but fortunately Canadian Immigration didn't ask me so I suppose it doesn t matter.

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