Police Clearance Certificate for Irish Naturalisation from Northern Ireland

[TessMc]

Hello, I'm looking for advice/experiences.

I've applied for Irish Naturalization from Northern Ireland, as I am a spouse of an Irish citizen.

I recently submitted my PSNI criminal check (Subject Access Request, DAT1 form) letter after receiving an email requesting me of this. I followed the link they had sent directing me to the PSNI website. After submission, I got a response back on the portal saying they cannot accept the letter because of the following sentence:

"This document does not constitute a certificate of good character nor is it suitable for the purposes of vetting/child protection and employment".

From what I understand, this is the standard wording on PSNI subject access replies, so I’m surprised it was rejected.

I got confirmation from the PSNI that this is the only Criminal check that they provide and if I'm looking for a Police Certificate, I'll have to apply through ACRO. From what I've read online, people who have used ACRO are one's that have lived in mainland UK, which I never did. Apart from a few days visit, my residency has always been in NI.

So I re-submitted the letter I got from the PSNI and attached a cover letter asking them to confirm if I needed to provide an ACRO certificate, which I can do so no problem, if they can confirm that is what they need as I'm having to pay for the certificate.

I got the following response from the portal:

"Garda/Police checks are carried out on all applicants. The document you submitted is the result of a subject access request. It is not a police clearance certificate.
The onus is on the applicant to provide ALL the necessary documentation. Your application cannot progress without a current in date Police Clearance Certificate.
Please submit an original Police Clearance Certificate."

I've just made an application with ACRO, which I hope will come through in a few days.

I just have a fear that this will be rejected too and they will come back to ask for the document to come from the PSNI.

Has anyone had this happen to them? If so, how did you get around this?


Thanks in advance.

[Ibeeby]

As far as I am aware the ACRO police certificate covers UK and Crown Dependencies (ie Channel Islands and Isle of Man). The UK is better defined as "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and so NI should be covered. Its a different legal jurisdiction right enough but the same State.