How To Apply for an RCMP Criminal Record Check from Indonesia?

If you're an Indonesian resident and someone just told you that you need an RCMP criminal record check, your first instinct is probably to find the nearest notaris, or maybe swing by a local police station, and get it done the way you'd handle any other official document. Except this isn't a local document going to a local office. It's a Canadian federal request, processed by a Canadian federal agency, and that changes things. There's a whole layer of accreditation and formatting requirements behind the scenes that most people don't find out about until they're already partway through the process, sometimes after they've already paid someone or shipped something off.

So before you start anything, it's worth understanding what actually goes into an RCMP criminal record check when you're applying from Indonesia, because the process is a bit more layered than it looks on the surface.

In our experience, RCMP criminal record check requests from Indonesia generally fall into a few common categories:

• Spousal Sponsorship Applicant Applying for PR: An Indonesian citizen married to a Canadian, applying for permanent residence through spousal sponsorship, currently living in Jakarta or a nearby city.
• Returning Ex-Canada Worker or Student: Someone who studied or worked in Canada, on a study permit, PGWP, or work permit, and has since returned to Indonesia, now needing an RCMP check for a new visa, job, or immigration application elsewhere.
• Adoption Applicant: An Indonesian citizen involved in an intercountry adoption process, either adopting from Canada, being adopted by Canadian parents (in cases involving adult adoption or family reunification), or part of a family where a Canadian adoption agency requires background checks on all adult household members.

Step 1: Choose and Contact an RCMP-Accredited Company

Select a Canadian private fingerprinting agency accredited by the RCMP. Visit their website to fill out their international application form and pay their processing fee. According to the scope of their services,  they will email you an instruction package and the official fingerprint cards.

Step 2: Get Your Fingerprints Taken in Indonesia

Take the C-216C form or equivalent to an authorized agency in Indonesia to have your fingerprints taken. Make sure the fingerprints of all ten fingers are rolled clearly in black ink. The form must include the name and address of the Indonesian agency, alongside the clear name and signature of the official taking your prints. 

Step 3: Prepare Your Document Package

Gather the physical paperwork required by your chosen Canadian agency. This typically includes:

• The original ink fingerprint card.
• Clear photocopies of two pieces of valid government-issued identification, like your Passport and KTP/Indonesian ID card, or a Canadian driver's license if you have one.
• Signed consent forms provided by the Canadian agency.

Step 4: Courier the Package to Canada

Send your complete physical document package to the Canadian agency's office address using a reliable and trackable international courier service, like DHL, FedEx, or Pos Indonesia EMS. Keep the tracking number to monitor your package.

Step 5: Digitization and Submission

Once the accredited company receives your package in Canada, they will use a specialized card-scan system to convert your ink fingerprints into a digital format. They will then securely submit your application electronically to the RCMP’s Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS).

Step 6: Receive Your Results

If you have no criminal record, the RCMP usually processes your criminal record check within 3 to 10 business days after receiving your digital fingerprint submission. This can stretch to 120 days if additional verification is required, a fingerprint match is found, or other circumstances specific to your case need to be reviewed. The RCMP will then mail the physical certificate directly to your chosen address, either your Indonesian address or a designated proxy/lawyer in Canada.

Unlike a lot of countries, Indonesia doesn't have an RCMP office, a Canadian government fingerprinting counter, or one official endorsed location to get fingerprinted. So you’re left with just two realistic options.

1. Private Notaris With The Right Connections

In Indonesia, a notaris is trusted with almost everything official, like property, contracts, affidavits, sworn statements. So it feels natural to assume they can just as easily take your fingerprints for an RCMP criminal check. But this isn't about trust or competence. It's about a specific technical requirement the RCMP itself enforces.

The RCMP does not accept fingerprints from just anyone claiming to be qualified, especially from outside Canada. The fingerprinting agency or provider needs to operate under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with either:

• an RCMP-accredited Canadian fingerprinting company, or
• a local police service or government department with its own recognized arrangement.

Without that MOU in place, a notaris can just take your fingerprints on paper, but there's no guaranteed pathway for those prints to actually get digitized and accepted by the RCMP. Best case, you lose time figuring out where to send them. Worst case, the RCMP rejects the whole submission and you're back to square one, out the money and time you already spent.

Before you sit down with any notaris or local agency, ask this directly:

A legitimate provider will answer this immediately and specifically naming the Canadian company they work with. If you are able to find a genuine notary public in Indonesia, you can have them verify their credentials through the Ikatan Notaris Indonesia (INI) directory.

2. Local Partner Agency Working With an RCMP-Accredited Canadian Fingerprinting Company

This is the most reliable option for most applicants. Several RCMP-accredited fingerprinting companies in Canada have local partners or affiliated agents in Indonesia (or work with applicants remotely by mail) specifically to take ink fingerprints correctly and forward them for digitization and submission. This is usually the smoothest path because the company on the Canadian end already knows exactly what format, quality, and paperwork the RCMP expects.

Most applicants applying for a Canadian criminal record check from Indonesia are already on a deadline, and juggling a dozen other things at the same time. Between visa paperwork, sponsorship documents, or job offers, most people simply don't have the time to research the nearest notaris, check if they have an MOU, or figure out courier logistics on their own. With Globeia, you don't have to.

Simple, Online Booking Portal

You don't need to call or email anyone. Globeia has an easy, fully online process. You just have to fill out the required details and select the service you need via our SmartForm, and everything is handled remotely from there.

Mobile Fingerprinting Convenience

If you need fingerprinting in Indonesia for your RCMP criminal record check, we currently provide services across Jakarta and nearby areas, including South Jakarta, Central Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok, Bogor, and BSD City, with plans to expand further. Our trained associates come to your location, bringing official C-216C cards (or equivalent) and high-quality black ink. They also conduct on-site quality checks to ensure the highest accuracy, matching international standards.

Schedule your fingerprinting appointment in Jakarta here!

Pre-Submission Accuracy Checks

If you're Javanese, or from many other parts of Indonesia, it’s very common that your passport lists just one name. No surname, no family name, just one word: Sutrisno, Wulandari, Suparman. Perfectly normal in Indonesia, but not so simple for a Canadian form that assumes everyone has a "given name" and a "surname." Our automated system checks for this kind of mismatch and verifies that your forms and fingerprint cards have been filled out correctly, catching this and other minor errors before submission.

RCMP-Accredited Entity in Canada

We coordinate everything through our own RCMP-accredited office, Globeia Incorporated, based in Toronto, Canada. Your completed physical cards are couriered directly there, digitized, and submitted to the RCMP on your behalf. Your fingerprints and documents stay within a single workflow, with a single provider, with no unnecessary handoffs or involvement of any other agency.

Live Tracking and Doorstep Delivery of Results

Once the RCMP processes your results and issues the certificate, we facilitate delivery straight to your address in Indonesia. Our centralized dashboard gives you access to real-time tracking of your application and regular status updates at each step. You don’t have to arrange a separate courier or track down the certificate yourself.

Your application to the RCMP has to survive two country's holiday calendars. Your fingerprints, courier shipment, and RCMP processing all pass through Indonesian public holidays on one end and Canadian public holidays on the other. When these overlap, a request that normally takes 2-3 weeks can easily stretch into 6-8.

Most Common Holidays That Can Slow Down Your Application

Indonesian Holidays

Between official public holidays and cuti bersama (collective leave days added on top), entire weeks can effectively shut down courier pickup, notary offices, and fingerprinting appointments, especially outside major cities.

• Idul Fitri (Lebaran) - Around March
• Idul Adha - Around May
• Christmas and New Year -  December

Note: Date varies annually based on the Islamic calendar.

Canadian Holidays

While your documents are in transit or still with the RCMP, Canada has its own shutdown periods to account for:

• Christmas to New Year's -  December
• Family Day / Presidents-style long weekends - Mid-February
• Good Friday and Easter Monday - April
• Victoria Day - Late May
• Canada Day - July
• Labour Day - early September
• Thanksgiving - Mid-October
• Remembrance Day - November

Individually, none of these are problematic. The problem comes when an Indonesian holiday closes your local notary the same week a Canadian holiday closes the RCMP's processing queue, your file simply sits, untouched, on both ends simultaneously.

Your application for RCMP criminal record check from Indonesia as needing to clear three checkpoints in sequence:

• Get fingerprinted and shipped from Indonesia.
• Arrive and get processed by the RCMP in Canada.
• Get couriered back to you or your receiving third-party.

If checkpoint 1 lands during an Indonesian holiday closure, your shipment doesn't even leave the country on schedule. If checkpoint 2 lands during a Canadian holiday closure, it just sits in a queue untouched, regardless of how fast the courier was.

Safe Application Window Calendar for RCMP Criminal Record Check

You can use this as a rough and tentative planning guide, as some holiday dates and courier or RCMP processing speeds can vary.

If you have a visa or PR deadline, work backward from it by at least 8-10 weeks, and try to land your fingerprinting appointment inside a low risk window. Ideally, you should apply by early-to-mid October if you need results before year-end, or by late April if you need results before mid-year.

"Can I just get fingerprinted here and mail it to Canada myself?" It's the first question almost every applicant in Indonesia asks. And the honest answer is technically yes, it is possible, but it's rarely that simple. Who takes your fingerprints, how they're formatted, and how they reach the RCMP matters a lot. especially when federal agencies are involved and the stakes are as significant as relocating to another country altogether. This is why working with a service like Globeia that's done this hundreds of times over makes sense here. Start your RCMP criminal record check application now!