What is in a Police Certificate?

I need to get a Police Certificate for immigration visa purposes and was just wondering what is shown on the cert.

I know if you have convictions these will obviously show but the citizens information website states says that the cert will also show "if you have ever come to the attention of the gardai", what does this mean?

I did have a minor run in with the gardai for swearing at them, I kid you not, and was told to possibly expect a summons though I was never told what offence I was comminting. I never received a summons and in the meantime changed addresses and then moved out of the country three years ago. The original incident occured nearly six years ago.

Firstly my worst fear is that somehow a summons was issued but to my old address, so I would never have received it, thereby missing a court date and being the subject of a warrant without being aware of it!

Obviously the police cert would contain this outstanding warrant and I would deal with it in due course by the proper means. However this is highly unlikely as surely the gardai would have tracked me down even if I changed addresses or even before I left the country three years ago?

Secondly what happens if the gardai decided not to issue a summons? Does the a record of the incident still show on your police certificate because "you came to the attention of the gardai"?

All a police certificate will state is your name and address, date of birth and whether or not there are any convictions recorded against you. Nothing else.

Thanks

Is there such a thing as a "spent" conviction?
By that I mean if I had a minor traffic conviction for speeding 20 years ago , would I have it on my record?

There is no such thing as a spent conviction. So stuff can follow you forever.

TheShark said:

Is there such a thing as a "spent" conviction?
By that I mean if I had a minor traffic conviction for speeding 20 years ago , would I have it on my record?

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Did you go to court? If you did, it will appear as a conviction. If it was just a fine which you paid, it it won't appear.

Don’t worry about any minor offences such as speeding etc. In most cases these are regarded as misdemeanours for immigration purposes & would not affect your application. What would affect it is if you were to lie on your application or you were actually incarcerated for an offence or were convicted of one & did probation instead of a prison sentence.

Was just a straightforward speeding case. Went to court and admitted the offence , Judge fined me IR£50 and when he saw me paying it to the clerk there and then he reduced it to IR£25 (must have been for prompt payment!)
It never affected any of the many visits to the USA that I have since taken , but often wondered if it would "disappear" off my record after a long period of time had elapsed.

Sadly they don't which is crazy. At least in most other countries, minor offences are spent after 5 years.

It never affected any of the many visits to the USA that I have since taken

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Of course not, minor offences would not matter. Indeed they may not have been aware of it to begin with.

majik said:

I need to get a Police Certificate for immigration visa purposes.

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Can you confirm what entity is looking for the Police Certificate?

Is it the Irish Immigration authorities? or perhaps its the immigration authorities of some other country such as the US, Canada, Australia etc?

Can you ask that authority what they expect in such a "Police Certificate"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_certificate

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