How To Get Police Clearance Certificate From USA While In India

The immigration departments of several countries require Police Clearance Certificate for which  fingerprint of the immigrant is required.Sometimes this fingerprint needs to be from an official source such as state police or district police and needs to be attested by concerned officer.

Although there are several private agencies who does finger print for this purpose, it is always advisable to get this done from police department. Most of us are not aware that the police departments in India provide this service for a nominal fee and they are experts. Here I am providing you the procedure to get finger print done from police department.Since I am from Kerala, I am explaining the procedure for Kerala Police. I am sure for each state and each district in India there will be facilities to get finger print taken.

Since I was in need to get finger print taken for police clearance certificate from USA, I followed the FBI procedure. For each Country, there may be different procedure and specific finger print forms. If there are no specific forms,Kerala police has got their own form/format.

Here are the requirements to get finger print done from Kerala police

1. Remit a fee of Rs.1000/- in any Govt. Treasury under the head of account “0055 Police – 501 service & service fee”. Please add Rs. 100/- for each additional copy of finger print. So for example, if you need two copies in total,  fee to be remitted in treasury will be 1000+100=1100.You can print the below chalan payment form and complete all the three sections. 

www.treasury.kerala.gov.in/treasury_site/Forms/FORMTR12.pdf

You need to fill the below fields in the form at a minimum and need to complete all the three section. Treasury officer will fill the required details from their side,sign and seal the document. If the treasury does not have facility to make cash payments, the officer will provide the details of the nearest authorised bank, most probably SBI or SBT. You need to go to the bank with the chalan form authorized by treasury officer and make the payment. The bank will retain two of the three sections in the form and the third section will be signed and sealed by the bank officer before providing you. This needs to be submitted to the finger print Test Inspector/Officer

1. Name of treasury in at...... field
2. Date
3. Head of account-
4. By whom paid...--Your name and address
5. Purpose of remittance..-This should be 0055 Police - 501 service & service fee
6. Amount in Rs- 1000/- (add Rs 100/- for each additional copy)
7. Total-1000/-(add Rs 1000/- for each additional copy)
8. Total in words- One thousand only (add 100 for each additional copy)
9. Signature of Remitter
   

2.An application in plane paper addressed to Tester Inspector / officer explaining why you require the finger prints.

3.Valid passport with photocopies of relevant pages(usually first and last page)

4. Proof of present address like aadhar/ration card / electoral card / driving license  and its photocopy

5.Two passport size photographs

6.Two copies of Country specific finger print forms.One for you and one for Finger Print Inspector to keep in their records.If you need to take additional finger prints, you need to keep that much number of copies.If there are no country specific forms, police department will provide finger prints in their own form.

For FBI, you need to download the FD-258 form from below link
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/fd-258-1

You can can approach the Director, State Finger Print Bureau or Tester Inspectors of District Finger Print Bureau. For Thrissur district, the office is located at Administrative Office of Thrissur City Police Commissioner,Ramavarmapuram

Once you get the finger print done,you can follow the below link for rest of the process for PCC from USA.
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/submitting-an-identity-history-summary-request-to-the-fbi

1.Complete the application form
                                If you have a printer at home, you can  type directly in the form and take a print out.
In case you do not have a printer at home, install pdf printing software like  pdfcreator,type and complete the form,print it as pdf,copy it to a usb flash drive or external HDD, and then take it to a computer were printer is available and print it.
 http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator/download
This form is pretty straight forward.For payment purpose, you have 3 options .. certified check,money order and credit card form. I used credit card form.This form is available separately and used to authorize payment using your credit card. I provided  my ICICI bank credit card details.

2. Obtain finger prints using the FD-258 form.
Take print out of FD-258.Complete the form. The form is pretty straight forward except few fields which I am explaining below.Please refer the pdf from below link for guidelines on filling the form. Follow the one for CIVIL FINGER PRINT CARDS

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/guidelines-for-preparation-of-fingerprint-cards-and-association-criminal-history-information

Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) Block-- This is not required since we are applying as individuals from India.

3. Payment Form
Download the payment form from below link
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/credit-card-payment-form
 Complete the payment form and don't forget to sign it.

4.Checklist
Once all above forms are done, use the checklist in below link to make sure that you completed everything as required.

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/identity-history-summary-request-checklist-1


5.Mail the required items listed above—signed applicant information form, fingerprint card, and payment of $18 U.S. dollars for each person or copy requested—to the following address:

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

 

I mailed it through Fedex.It costed be around Rs3000/- and the package reached FBI office in 3 days

How To Renew An Indian Passport In USA Through Post

Important Update:Cox and Kings Global Services is the authorized Service Provider for the Embassy of India and its Consulates across the USA for the Indian Passport Services with effect from May 7, 2016.

Please follow their instructions here

https://passport.in.ckgs.us/howtoapply

Tech Notes:-Using Google Maps,GPRS Connection And GPS Module To Make Your Phone Into A GPS In India

If you have a phone with GPS module and google maps installed and you have GPRS or 3G or wifi, you can use your phone as GPS in India.My phone is HTC Touch 23333 with BSNL 3G/GPRS connection,google maps and GPS module. This was handy when I was in Chennai last time.It was a rainy and I was not able to get a taxi even after waiting for almost 45 Mins. Then I decided to use public transport. I keyed my destination address in google maps installed in my HTC touch 2333, one of the cheapest phones with GPS module.It showed me that all that I need to do is to cross the street and get into the Chennai Metro train , I did that and got the down at the station which it was showing as nearest to my apartment. Then it showed me the walking route as well. I reached home in less than 25 mins, were as it takes almost one hour in taxi to go through all the traffic blocks :) and it costed me just 5Rs only.

The only feature that you dont have here when compared to a GPS device is that you dont have voice guided navigation.I tried this even at my home town,Thrissur,it was guiding me even through small pocket roads.

Another new feature coming up is Google Maps Navigation which is in beta phase now.Unfortunately, this is not available for my Windows mobile :(. See the videos below.

High Tech Fish Trading In Thrissur Fish Market :)

SMSs tend to arrive at all wrong times.But more than 200 people in Thrissur City and surroundings look forward to C I Devassy's 6:30 AM SMS.

Devassy's family has been in fish business for more than 60 years and the members have been inhabitants of Shakthan fish market ,Thrissur district which is in southern most state of India-Kerala, ever since it was established 24 years ago.But it required a combination of the youngest member of the family and a modern gadget to come up with an innovation that would capture imagination of the public.

Earlier Devassy used to get a lot of calls from people who wanted to know the prices for the day.It used to take lot of Devassy's time to tell every single one of them the rates for every type of fish..He tried to introduce a couple of more phones in the shop, but it still was'nt enough to answer all the customer queries.This was when an innovative plan began to take shape in Devassy's mind.

He started using Reliance free SMS pack to text fish prices to around 100 s of regular customers.That was four years ago and Devassy hasn't looked back since.He got more than 200 subscribers now.Every morning his wife texts the fish prices for the day to his customers, and all they have to do is choose the fish,quantity and how they want it and then wait for delivery boy to arrive at their door step.

Tech Notes:-Using US Number In India Mobile And Making Free Calls To US

Recently I had a requirement. Need to call US whenever I require from India. I found the solution.Here is what you require.

Requirements

1. Wifi enabled phone or 3G enabled connection-->I use BSNL 3g on HTC Touch t333
2. A free account from Voxalot.
3. Registration with IPKall for a free US phone number.They will provide you a number from Washington.
4. SIP client for your mobile. I use Portego.

Steps

1. Register for Voxalot account Registration is fairly straight forward.

2.Register for a free IPKall Washington State number. Use the following on the sign up page: Choose your account type – SIP, Choose Area Code for your IPKall Number – ANY, SIP Phone number – , SIP Proxy – “us.voxalot.com” (no quotes), Email Address – , Password – , # of Seconds to ring before hanging up – “120″ (no quotes).You will receive a mail from IPKall with your configuration

           SIP Phone Number: 6 digit number 
         SIP Proxy: us.voxalot.com
         Email: your email address
         Password: password that you configured

3. Download and install Portego SIP client for your mobile phone from portsip

4.Configure Portego
UserName: Username that you received in IPKall mail . 6 digit number
Password: Password that your received in IPKall mail
SIP Server: us.voxalot.com
SIP Port: 5060
Domain Auth Name: Username that you received in IPKall mail . 6 digit number
You need to select codecs G711U,G771A,GSM if not already selected

Once you are done with the configuration, click login. You are all set to use your US number on your mobile in India either over wifi or 3G.

One more enhancement that you can do is to use your Google Voice number to forward calls to your IPKall number.Its important that you use PortGo here because other SIP clients like Fring may not allow you to accept Google voice calls due to its limitations with keypad(You may not get option to press 1 once you receive a google voice call).

How it works

Google voice will connect any two USA numbers or a USA and a Canada number. IPKall will give us a free USA number so we can receive (and make web activated) calls from Google Voice. IPKall then takes that incoming Washington State number and turns it into the SIP protocol and delivers it to a Voxalot SIP address. Voxalot Maintains contact with your hardware or softphone to be able to deliver incoming calls to it as required.

India Pay Payment Processing Platform To Compete With VISA & MasterCard

An Indian payment processing platform named Indiapay is emerging to compete with global giants VISA and MasterCard.This system will be fully functional in two years and is being developed by National Payment Corporation Of India and has support from Reserve Bank Of India.

Leading banks like State Bank Of India,ICICI Bank,Punjab National Bank,HDFC Bank,Citi Bank ,HSBC are major promoters of Indiapay. Launch of Indiapay will launch fresh battle for supremacy in growing Indian credit market with clear advantage at this point for banks going with Indiapay because of low transaction rates.

Number of people using cards for transaction is increasing day by day and the number of plastic cards now amount to 4 crore with majority of them using VISA and MasterCard as platform. Each time we use these cards for transactions, bank has to pay processing fee to VISA/MasterCard and this amounts to crores. As such Indian banking system is expected to embrace Indiapay platform whole heatedly.