# First time visa application



## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

Hi All
all your threads are so helpful.
if anyone can please give me advice on my situation
my fiance (Portuguese) im south african
our marriage interview is in April and we will be getting married shortly thereafter.
he has to return back to France due to his work contract.
we have no idea where to start when applying for spousal visas.
also he has lived in canada,france,portugal how will he get police clearance certificates from those countries. 
we have been told the best visa to apply for will be spousal visa with endorsement to start a small business. 
please help!!!
thank you


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## RubyRuby (Jun 28, 2015)

If I am not mistaken, you only need PC if you have stayed in the country for more than a year, but I stand under correction.

My only advise is start getting your documents ASAP, police clearance in particular take a lot of time, not if you have to get them from all the countries you stayed in, it will delay the whole process. We waited more than a month for the SAfrican police clearance.

Good Luck!


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## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

hi
yes he lived in each country more than 5 years each
how would one go about getting those clearance form each country
he is currently working in france.


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## RubyRuby (Jun 28, 2015)

Unfortunately it looks like he will need to get PC from each of these countries. See below, I got this from the VFS website. 

Police clearance certificate issued by the police or security authority in each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer after attaining the age of 18 years, in respect of criminal records or the character of that applicant, which certificate shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission: (Provided that the certificate shall not be required from a foreign country in the case of renewal or extension of a visa but from the Republic)


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## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

hi
yes he lived in each country more than 5 years each
how would one go about getting those clearance form each country
he is currently working in france.


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## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

thank you so much.
now just to find out how to go about obtaining all those clearance while he is in France


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## RubyRuby (Jun 28, 2015)

lullu said:


> thank you so much.
> now just to find out how to go about obtaining all those clearance while he is in France


I am not sure how it works for the countries he's been in. But I asked my parents to apply for mine in my home country while I was in South Africa. I had to write a letter specifying that I was authorising them to apply on my behalf. May be your fiance can appoint someone, a friend/relative, to apply for him while he is not physically there and they can then send it to him through DHL. Because there is no way he can travel back to all these countries and apply personally, unless that is what he prefers to do.


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