The Important Stuff: Police Background Check

Hi all!

In this post we're going to take a look at the police background check required by Disney, how to get it and what to do once you've received it. If you'd like to watch my vlog about this process instead you can find it here.

So let's get started. First of all, what the hell is it? The background check required by Disney is to prove that you don't have a criminal record. Or if you do, that your crimes are of a type that do not prevent you from being employed by Disney. To the best of my knowledge Disney does still hire some people with criminal records but only certain offenses so it's best to clear it up with them beforehand.

Because I am from Australia I can only really give you the low down on the Australian background check. Sadly, if you are from NZ you may have to seek answers elsewhere. Also, in the email Disney sends it advises you to get a state police check. I went for federal so I can only offer advice on the federal check. As far as I know both are accepted by YummyJobs and I've not heard of anyone's check being rejected regardless of whether it was state or federal.

A while after you accept your offer you'll receive an email from Michelle at YummyJobs. YummyJobs is an employment agency that Disney uses for all its recruitment in the UK but for the Australian program they only handle the police checks. The email asks you to send a police background check and some other documents. We'll talk about the police check first and worry about everything else later. Shall we?

Getting Your Background Check:

First thing's first, you need to head over the the AFP website here. Currently there's a little box on the homepage for 'Quicklinks' that has National Police Checks right there. Click right on it and you're on your way. On the next page there's a list of things you can do to proceed.

You can either click 'Application Portal' in the list of actions and it'll automatically scroll down to the appropriate section for you or you can work those finger muscles and scroll down yourself. Either way you'll be staring at a link that says 'Access the online application or downloadable PDF application through AFP's application portal'. Go ahead and click on it to access the portal.

Next you're taken to a lovely page with a lot of information on it about the check and important things you need to know before getting started. Under the 'Preperation of Identification Documents' headline there is a printable PDF version of the 100 points of identity checklist. I highly recommend having a look at this before you proceed to work out what documents you want to upload. The form may time out if you take too long so working out what documents you need, scanning them onto your computer and labeling them correctly before you proceed will save you time now and reduce the risk of you running out of time later. Once you've given it a thorough reading over scroll down to the bottom of the page, tick the box to say you understand and then click the 'Start New Online Application' button.

The next page is the actual 100 point proof of identity page. Here you need to tick the boxes that correspond to the documents you will upload later. You need to make sure that the documents you intend to upload equal at least 100 points or it will not let you proceed.

When you move to the next page you are asked to actually upload the documents you selected on the previous page. Afterward you're taken to a page that asks for some personal details like your name, date of birth, email and purpose for the check.

After filling in your details you need to download and fill in a consent form. This form basically gives the AFP permission to look into your criminal history and compile it into the document that will be sent to you. You then need to fill that puppy out by signing your consent and then you can upload it back to the site.

The next page asks you for a few more details including your country of birth, city of birth, driver's license number, issuing state, country of residence, current residential address and mailing address. Obviously if you don't have a driver's license and you didn't indicate that you were uploading one then they would not ask for the driver's license details. I suspect that the questions asked in this section may vary depending on the documents you choose to upload. You are then asked to check over the details you entered and ensure they are correct.

Once you've checked over all your details it's time to pay. The AFP background check is $42 that you must pay before the check will be processed. After payment you'll receive a number that corresponds with your order so you can check on its progress later on. Your check will begin processing almost straight away and after as little as a few days you'll get an email telling you it's on its way. For some reason the postage takes quite a while though and most of the checks didn't arrive until at least 2 weeks after being sent out. So don't stress if it's taking a tad longer than you'd expect.

Now onto phase two...

Sending Your Check To YummyJobs:

So you get an email from YummyJobs asking you to send in your background check. If you're like me and you couldn't wait to get your background check then you'll already have it. If you have yet to order it, don't stress. Just start the process as soon as you can after receiving the email.

Either way, whenever you are ready you need to have a scanned copy of each of the following:

- Police Check Certificate

- Passport Information Page

- Proof of Address (E.g. bill, driver's license, letter from school or government organisation, etc.)

Once you've scanned these and labeled them nicely you just need to attach them to your reply to YummyJobs and send it off into cyberspace. 

I personally received a reply to my email exactly 20 minutes after I sent it. The reply time for this particular email ranged anywhere from a few minutes to a few days but almost everyone received a reply of some kind after YummyJobs got their email. If you do not get a reply it's probably best to send YummyJobs another email to confirm that they got the documents or you may have some issues down the track.

After you receive your reply to confirm you background check and other documents arrived safely then you're done with the background check portion of the process. Tick this off your pre-arrival checklist and get ready for the next exciting step toward arrival.

- Lily

P.s. Sorry it's been so long. I got caught up with final assignments, visa applications and a million and one other things. I'm hoping to get a few posts out of the way every day now so I can get back to some more casual blogging.