Do I need to have an Indian address for PCC for Canada PR?

I am moving to Canada for a job and will get be eligible to get my PR after 1 year of working there. For PR they expect to provide a PCC certificate from India. I can request it from Canada itself but will police visit my home address in India? Do I need to have an address and family members in India who will have to be available for this verification?

I do not have any such close family members in India who will help me in this regard. When I leave India, I will be letting go of my rented house in India and I will have no Indian residence.

Is it ok to fly back to India just to get the PCC and then take it to Canada for PR application?

The police were a pain to deal with for my passport renewal and that is even though I was physically present and kept pleading them to complete the process. I can’t imagine what will happen if I apply for PCC from Canada.

If you are currently in India, apply for PCC now with regional passport office. They will issue it without police verification if your current address is same as address printed on passport.

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Thanks Anil.
This PCC will be valid for how long? Will Canada accept it next year? I can apply for PR only after one year.

Should I depart to Canada immediately after getting PCC? The logic is, Canada will think since I left India soon after getting PCC they dont need another clearance from India because I spent no time in India after getting my PCC. But I don’t know if it really works this way.

PCC is valid for 1 year only. When in Canada, you can apply for PCC via the Indian Embassy there. You dont have to come to India for that. However, I’m not sure if the Embassy does a police verification on your Indian address or not. Maybe @anil_am22 can answer this.

Also, PCC is needed from all the countries where you have lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years.

The Indian embassy issues PCC only after getting positive report from Indian passport office.

Indian passport office (in India) takes the decision if a new police verification is required or not.

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These are my findings-

  1. You CANNOT take a PCC from India before going to Canada on a work permit (as @anil_am22 was suggesting). It will NOT be valid when you apply for PR next year. This is because when applying for PR from Canada, the PCC from other countries should be taken AFTER the last time you stayed there. Even if you stayed for one day in India after getting PCC it’s not valid anymore.
  2. If you apply for PR from India itself then it’s a different story. In that case you can use the PCC if you apply within 6 months.
  3. If you move to Canada and then get Indian PCC, it will NOT expire. You can use it whenever you want. Unless you go back to India and stay for a long period of time.
  4. they do Indian address verifications when you apply for PCC. sometimes they don’t but you cannot predict it.

So for someone leaving to Canada on a work permit and then applying for PR after 1 year the only method is:

  1. Just move on work permit
  2. gain work experience and get PNP or CEC and apply for PR from Canada
  3. apply for PCC from Canada
  4. they will do police verification in Indian address (you need an Indian address with close relatives staying there)
  5. get PR

One more option is

  1. Just move on work permit
  2. Gain work experience and move back to India
  3. Apply for PR from India
  4. Apply for PCC from India
  5. Get PR and then move to Canada

They have made it very complicated because of Indian address verification. They are expecting non residents to keep Indian address.

or obtaining a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) from India for your Canadian Permanent Residency (PR) application, having an Indian address is generally necessary. The process for PCC in India often involves local police verification at the applicant’s listed address.

If you do not have an active address or close family members who can assist with this verification, it might complicate the process. It’s common for the Indian police to visit the mentioned address for verification purposes.

Flying back to India solely for obtaining the PCC is an option, but it might not completely solve the issue if the police require a local address for verification. Additionally, the process might take time, and dealing with authorities in India remotely could pose challenges.