INFO: DBS checks and police checks on individuals who have lived outside the UK

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13-06-2016, 07:22 AM
mathremuk

INFO: DBS checks and police checks on individuals who have lived outside the UK

I just wanted to tell you about my journey so anyone in this situation can see a worst case scenario and know what to expect.

My husbands American. When I applied for his DBS no police check for his country was mentioned. It was not mentioned to me in my training, application....Nothing!

So I applied for 3 DBS checks at the same time. Two came back in 2 weeks (UK residents) and his came back 5 months later. I had enquired about the wait and was told it doesnt make a difference that he is American they get processed the same.

I then applied to have my pre reg and then I was told he needed a certificate of good conduct or police check from America. This was a nightmare as it required fingerprints.. We sent it off beginning of November and his certificate arrived on our doorstep in April. Its taken over a year for my journey to start. I have my pre reg this week.

I wish those in this situation good luck. I am sure this is a worst case scenario and other countries may be easier!
13-06-2016, 05:05 PM
k1rstie

This is interesting. At least your certificate of conduct is in English. A German friend needs one, and once it arrives it needs to be professionally translated.
13-06-2016, 07:43 PM
sarah707

Blimey that is a very long wait.

I suggest he puts in a complaint. We have been told that they are trying to reduce barriers to registration then things like this get in the way... if we don't tell them what's happening it won't improve.

Hopefully it will go through quickly for you now :D
16-06-2016, 04:55 PM
mathremuk

I did do. The outcome is they have updated their paperwork and made it more obvious. Hopefully others will find it easier :)
09-07-2016, 10:23 AM
Hollyhock

The Place That Sends You Mad

Hello,

so I'm not the only one going through this after all. I have lived in Germany four years ago, and my registration process has so far been a test of patience, and a reminder of "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix: The Place That Sends You Mad". Admittedly, the matter about the DBS check wasn't my only hurdle, it was an overall absurdly tedious process of miscommunication with Ofsted (twelve different staff members for thirty emails). But the German DBS check delayed everything for even longer. I had first written to Ofsted end of March, asking for a Written Request for an enhanced DBS check, which is a required document when applying for a German enhanced DBS check from abroad. It took two and a half months and over thirty emails sent between them and me to reveal that I have to send off my application to get registered first, and then wait until they send me a letter saying that my application is incomplete and I need a German DBS check! It proved impossible to get a written request beforehand (email reply no. 29: "Having looked into the application process for obtaining overseas criminality information from Germany I cannot find information which states that Ofsted should need to provide you with any kind of documentation.". I can tell you I was close to pulling my hair out. Now with the letter stating that my application was incomplete without the German DBS check, I finally had a written request and was able to send that to Germany along with all the other required documents, and all I need to do now is wait some more weeks until I get this document from Germany, have it translated and send it in to Ofsted.
13-07-2016, 08:52 AM
hectors house

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollyhock

Hello,

so I'm not the only one going through this after all. I have lived in Germany four years ago, and my registration process has so far been a test of patience, and a reminder of "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix: The Place That Sends You Mad". Admittedly, the matter about the DBS check wasn't my only hurdle, it was an overall absurdly tedious process of miscommunication with Ofsted (twelve different staff members for thirty emails). But the German DBS check delayed everything for even longer. I had first written to Ofsted end of March, asking for a Written Request for an enhanced DBS check, which is a required document when applying for a German enhanced DBS check from abroad. It took two and a half months and over thirty emails sent between them and me to reveal that I have to send off my application to get registered first, and then wait until they send me a letter saying that my application is incomplete and I need a German DBS check! It proved impossible to get a written request beforehand (email reply no. 29: "Having looked into the application process for obtaining overseas criminality information from Germany I cannot find information which states that Ofsted should need to provide you with any kind of documentation.". I can tell you I was close to pulling my hair out. Now with the letter stating that my application was incomplete without the German DBS check, I finally had a written request and was able to send that to Germany along with all the other required documents, and all I need to do now is wait some more weeks until I get this document from Germany, have it translated and send it in to Ofsted.

Oh my goodness, what a nightmare - hope your doctor's suitability to childmind letter was done before you started trying to get the DBS as I'm sure you must have gone quite mad in this process. :laughing: Fingers crossed it's plain sailing from now on. :thumbsup:
15-07-2016, 12:25 PM
Hollyhock

Quote:

Originally Posted by hectors house

Oh my goodness, what a nightmare - hope your doctor's suitability to childmind letter was done before you started trying to get the DBS as I'm sure you must have gone quite mad in this process. :laughing: Fingers crossed it's plain sailing from now on. :thumbsup:

It's funny you should mention this...the Ofsted Health Declaration Booklet is the other component still missing to make my application complete. I only moved to where I am living now in March, and instantly got registered with a local GP so I can get that Booklet filled out. However, the GP refused to do that because I only just moved here and she doesn't know me at all. Which makes sense to me, so I followed her suggestion to ask my former GP in another city where I had lived for one and a half years before to fill it out. Only the secretary there told me "Sorry, you've already been deducted from the system, we haven't got access to your records anymore."
Such fun! It took several weeks of persisting phone calls until my former GP finally did fill it out and post it to Ofsted. This was end of April.
Then, in mid-June, I received the Ofsted-letter about my application having arrived but not being complete without the German DBS check - and the health check booklet! So I emailed them asking to look for my Health Declaration Booklet which was already sent in by the end of April. They then posted it back to me, along with a note that said it needs to be filled out by my new GP!

I replied, explaining the status quo with all its hurdles, and asking to kindly accept the Booklet as filled out by the GP who can actually judge my physical suitability based on one and a half years of having me as a patient. Until now, I have received no reply by Ofsted whatsoever...