After receiving an ITA through CEC, a PCC issued by a local district police station in India (rather than through the standard passport office channel) can leave you unsure whether it will actually be accepted, especially if it doesn't clearly state the issuing authority, your passport number, or the stated purpose.
What the group advised:- If you're in India, apply for your PCC through Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) instead of a local district police station. PSK-issued certificates are the format IRCC most consistently accepts.
- District police station PCCs are sometimes accepted, but with a catch: you typically need a separate certificate for every address you've resided at, which makes the process more cumbersome than a single PSK-issued PCC.
- If you're already in Canada, apply through your nearest biometric/visa application center (BLC) rather than trying to arrange something through India.
Given the ambiguity around what local police stations include on their certificates, defaulting to PSK (or BLC, if in Canada) avoids the risk of your PCC being questioned or rejected.