Getting Your FBI Background Check for Ecuador

One of the documents needed in Ecuador for the Retirement Visa  is your FBI Background Check. This sounds like it should be a piece of cake, and it was, except you need to have your checklist ready!

First, let me say that I am a ‘list person’, and this seems to have served me well in this venture. We were looking at two family members’ leaving in July (and getting the 12-9 Visa), along with two cats, who needed their own paperwork. Since the rest of us, along with one cat, would be leaving in October, I began using a wall calendar to keep everything straight. It’s very important that your required paperwork be dated within 6 months of applying for your visa. I needed to have everything already planned out on the calendar as to when we should start the process for obtaining our documents or I knew we would never keep it straight.

There are two ways to obtain your FBI Background Check…

Submit Your Background Request Directly to the FBI

We had to go this route with Mom and Karianne because 1) The FBI background check requires fingerprints (and since they would be living in Ecuador in July, we had to get the fingerprints before they left), and 2) The government website said that there was a 17-week processing time, and that we should allow additional time for mail delivery. (As of 09/14/2016, the processing time is 12-14 weeks. VERY IMPORTANT to check the website for processing time.)

Mom and Karianne went to the local police office, and for $5.00, were able to get their fingerprints. Along with the fingerprints, the application, and a money order for $18, they mailed it to the following address:

FBI CJIS Division – Summary Request
1000 Custer Hollow Road
Clarksburg, WV 26306

Now you wait! And wait! Panic starts setting in…questions begin swirling around in your head – Did I count the number of weeks correctly? Did I fill out the application right? What if it got lost in the mail? 😮 And then one day, you go to the mailbox, and there is the official envelope from FBI headquarters staring you right in the face! The girls received theirs in about 15 weeks. Yes, it does take a while to process and be mailed, so count your weeks carefully!

Using an FBI-Approved Channeler

An FBI-approved Channeler is a private business that has contracted with the FBI to submit the request on your behalf. Clicking through the list of approved channelers, we went with MorphoTrust USA because Kurt works for this company. The closest channeler for us was in Maryville, TN. We were able to fill out our paperwork online, make an appointment, and pay the $50 (per person) fee. It is a higher fee to go this route verses the $18 mail in application, but it’s much faster. On the website, it said to allow 5 to 7 business days to receive the background check, but before we walked out the door, we had already received our background checks through our email!! Quick!! We feel it was definitely worth the money!! 🙂

Apostilling Your FBI Background Check

Once you have your FBI background checks, you will now need to get them apostilled by the US Department of State in … Washington DC. Yikes! We mistakenly thought it was the secretary of state where you live that could apostille it, but since it is a federal document, it needed to be done by the one in Washington DC.

After researching and calling the US Department of State, we were told to fill out the form DS-4194 (found on their official website), along with the FBI background check (either the one that was mailed to you or the one you print off from your email), stamped self-addressed envelope, and a personal check of $8 for each one to be apostilled, and mail to:

Office of Authentications

U.S. Department of State

CA/PPT/S/TO/AUT

44132 Mercure CIR PO BOX 1206

Sterling, VA 20166 1206

One thing to keep in mind is that the documents go through an initial security scan and then two mailrooms before it gets to the office to be apostilled, and that office then asks for up to 12 days before mailing it back to you. So, yes, the waiting game begins! The panic sets in, and the clock is ticking down to October 11th!

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