Government portals go offline sometimes, and POSSAP is no exception. Here is what to actually do if that happens to you.
Why the portal sometimes goes offline
POSSAP can show a scheduled-maintenance notice from time to time, the same way any government portal takes itself offline for upgrades or fixes. While that notice is up, online requests and payments are unavailable.
A maintenance notice on the portal itself is a reasonable, ordinary event, not a sign that the service has ended. Treat it as temporary, and check back once the stated window has passed rather than assuming something has gone permanently wrong.
What a filing service cannot do about it
A vetted partner firm working from POSSAP depends on the same portal you do. No filing service, including one working on your behalf, can submit your application or process your payment while POSSAP itself is down. Anyone claiming otherwise is describing a step outside the published process.
What not to do while it is down
Do not pay anyone offering to "process it manually" or "skip the portal" while POSSAP is unavailable. Online through the POSSAP invoice only remains the rule, and that has not changed just because the site is temporarily offline.
Do not assume your existing application has been lost either. A maintenance window affects new requests and payments, not necessarily records already submitted before it began.
Checking before you try again
Look for a maintenance notice on the portal itself before assuming a fault on your side. Try again from a different network or device if the page will not load at all, since that can sometimes rule out a local connection issue rather than the portal itself.
Keeping proof of what you already paid
If you already paid before a maintenance window began, keep your payment confirmation somewhere safe. It is your evidence that your invoice was settled, regardless of what the portal displays while it is offline.
A screenshot of your payment confirmation, or the email receipt if one was sent, is worth keeping until your certificate is actually issued. It costs nothing to hold on to and can save an argument later if a step is ever queried.
Common mistakes during an outage
- Paying a workaround "agent". No published process supports this, maintenance or not.
- Assuming the service has shut down entirely. A scheduled maintenance window is temporary by definition.
- Giving up and not checking back. Retry once the stated window has passed.
For the application itself once the portal is back, see applying for a police character certificate on POSSAP, and our full guide to cost and process. You can start a police character certificate request as soon as the portal is available again.