VisaGrenada police-certificate applicants abroad face different official photo and fee instructions
Former Grenada residents requesting a certificate of character should establish the receiving authority’s requirements before sending fingerprints or payment. Official resources give conflicting photograph counts and charges.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Choose the certificate for the immigration request
People living abroad who need a Grenada certificate of character for an immigration application should identify the required destination and their period of Grenada residence before assembling the request. Canada’s Grenada-specific police-certificate page identifies the document and distinguishes people currently living in Grenada from applicants outside the country. The latter can apply personally, by mail or through someone applying on their behalf to the Commissioner of Police.
For an overseas request, Canada lists two passport photographs, fingerprints taken by a recognised police authority, residence periods and previous addresses, and a stamped addressed return envelope. It also warns that fingerprints for a police certificate are different from application biometrics. Giving fingerprints at a visa appointment does not, by itself, complete the separate Grenada police-record request.
The Washington checklist distinguishes citizens and former foreign residents
The Washington embassy instructions distinguish Grenadian nationals overseas from foreign former residents, with different certified identity alternatives plus birth-certificate evidence. Foreign applicants should include their former Grenada address. Match names to the identity document and state the certificate’s purpose and destination address.
The checklist asks for original fingerprints with full particulars and the officer’s legible name, three frontal photographs showing hairline and ears without glasses, and signatures matching identity and fingerprint records. Send the police-record application to the Criminal Records Office, Police Headquarters, St. George’s. A passport-renewal packet serves a different task.
Compare the mission charges before sending money
The Washington sheet lists USD 18.60, described as EC$ 40 plus an EC$ 10 processing charge, payable to the Commissioner of Police by international postal order or Western Union money order. In contrast, the London High Commission’s police-record sheet specifies EC$ 25 plus EC$ 10 processing for applications for Commonwealth countries, using Western Union. It also calls for documents to be sent by Federal Express with return-shipping payment.
The London sheet expressly calls for notarised original fingerprints and, like Washington, three photographs. The destination-specific Commonwealth wording may explain some price differences, but the public documents do not establish that explanation for every applicant. Ask the Criminal Records Office which charge, payment instrument and return-delivery arrangement apply to the stated destination. The amounts should not be combined into an invented universal fee.
The US civil-document page adds another discrepancy
The US State Department’s Grenada civil-document guidance also describes fingerprints and three passport photographs, but its fee entry is EC$ 10. That does not match either mission’s complete listed charge. It identifies the Commissioner of Police’s Criminal Records Office as issuer and describes a certificate bearing the applicant’s photograph and an overlaid office stamp.
The same resource says the document includes a summary of unexpunged convictions on its reverse. A reader preparing a copy should therefore check whether the receiving immigration authority needs both sides, rather than assuming the photographed front contains the entire record. The State Department page concerns US civil-document use; it does not resolve Canada’s two-photo instruction or establish the price charged for every overseas delivery.
Resolve the narrow questions before dispatch
The UK government’s overseas criminal-record directory lists contact details for Grenada’s High Commission but marks its Grenada information as last updated on 17 March 2017. That dated entry is a contact lead, not evidence of a newly verified turnaround time. It should not override the actual issuing office’s instructions for a current request.
The useful checklist is therefore to establish the applicant category, destination and residence dates, then confirm two versus three photographs, fingerprint notarisation, total payable and return shipping. Keep the destination immigration authority’s request letter or application instructions with the file. No current guaranteed processing time or universal certificate-validity period was verified. The immigration application’s document deadline remains separate from the police office’s ability to issue and deliver the certificate; explain the specific deadline when seeking instructions rather than assuming a grace period.
