# Apostille Question



## jess27 (Aug 11, 2017)

I live in Vienna, but as I don't see an Austria forum this is good enough 

I have lived in four countries in the last five years, and for next year I will need a background check from each of them to apply for a visa, which is... a lot. I have background checks from each of them with apostilles, and have not returned to the countries since. I keep reading that there is a time limit for these background checks, but is it okay if I have not been in the country? This makes sense to me, but I am not sure if consulates consider this to be acceptable or if I will need to fly around the world getting background checks. 

Please help!


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## kaju (Oct 31, 2011)

Best best is to ask the embassy for the country you need the visa for.

Generally, you'd hope (as you say) that if you haven't been back to those countries, you shouldn't need a fresh clearance from them. But common sense isn't always abundant in some countries' rules! Mostly the rule applies for places that you just came from - the new (visa-issuing country that you want to go to ) often requires that the clearance has to have been done in the last 12 months. Some consider any clearance only valid for 12 months, in some cases even 6, from the date of issue.

In any case, you shouldn't need to go to any country to get a clearance - if they won't do it (and just a few won't) in person, or at all, most countries will allow a waiver when you apply for a visa - but you'd need to show you can't get the clearance. 

For most, it's a matter of applying - the Australian Immigration website has a list for most countries.

Scroll down in this link, to the country of interest, select that, and then scroll down on the new page to Police checks: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Char


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