Prince William County VAWA Background Check Requirements
A background check is necessary when applying for the Violence Against Woman Act (VAWA), and a person needs to obtain a police clearance letter from every jurisdiction in which they resided for more than six months. This is mandatory, because they are going to want to ensure that the person does not have a criminal record that will disqualify them from being eligible for VAWA. There are other important considerations to take regarding background checks. You should quickly consult with an experienced lawyer to learn the various Prince William County VAWA background check requirements.
Request For Additional Evidence
Once a person submits their initial application, there are one or two things that can happen. The first is they may be granted something called Prima facie approval, which means that they met the initial threshold requirement to proceed. If everything is taken as truth in what they have submitted, the case will be approved. Once a person gets that Prima facie approval, they can apply for certain government benefits and it will allow them, if married to a U.S. citizen, to obtain work authorization.
If a person does not receive that Prima facie approval, they will receive a request for additional evidence. The request for evidence will depend on the case, but it may request more evidence about the bona fides of the relationship, like the abuse or the criminal or immigration background of the applicant. It can be for a variety of reasons. Once a person receives that Prima facie approval, the case will move forward to the final adjudication phase, which takes a long time, but at that point, they can also issue another request for evidence once adjudicating the case. They can request more evidence relating to any one of the qualifying factors.
Process According To State
The process for obtaining a background check is different depending on where a person is applying. Each state and local jurisdiction will have different procedures for requesting this. A lot of times, there will be one central location that a person can apply for the clearance letter to the entire state, but sometimes an applicant will need to go into the local level and get a police clearance from each local jurisdiction where have lived for more than six months.
Because it varies from state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the forms that need to be completed in order for a background check to take place vary. Therefore, an individual needs to contact their local police department to determine the proper route for obtaining the police clearance.
Responsible Party
Who completes the background check will depend on the jurisdiction. Sometimes there are authorized private locations that are licensed to take fingerprints. This is true in Maryland. A person can go to different fingerprinting outfits that can conduct the fingerprint and they will submit that information to the clearance department of the police department of that state, but sometimes a person can do it directly at the police department where they are currently living.
How An Attorney Can Help With The Process
In addition to the background check results, the person submits their fingerprints clearance report with the VAWA application to the Vermont Service Center. Once all the proper steps have been taken, a person submits the final form at the VAWA unit of the USCIS Vermont Service Center. All VAWA applications are completed by the Vermont Service Center.
Throughout this process and beyond, an attorney will be working with you to ensure that all Prince William County VAWA background check requirements are met and that, moving forward, all necessary documentation is provided and all arguments are made in the most convincing light. In other words, a lawyer will not only represent you before the court and against the prosecutor, but also work tirelessly to gather and manage all the paperwork necessary to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome.