My brother was out visiting me and would like to come to live in Oz.

He his a qualified Quantity Surveyor for his trade and Adelaide is his place to start so hopefully visa should not be too hard to get...but he has a 'record' for drink driving and his record is this:

15th July 1990: Drink Driving: 3 years ban + 1 month jail;
28th February 2003: Drink Driving: 3 years ban + 100 hours community service

Hopefully this doesn't make him out to be Al Capone.
He has been through rehabilitation courses and is now off the booze and his life is now back on track again (thank god).

But will this record stop him looking to immigrate to Adelaide, Australia?

I would like a view point from others who may have had a similar situation themselves and appreciate any view points on this matter?

No point in applying for a perm visa if this 'record' stops him at the very first hurdle.

Hi there, you would be better to get an agent on this one.
Im not sure how it works on criminal matters, but as long as he is up front, he may be ok.
Hope all works out for him, and it does not go against him, we all make mistakes in life, we just have to learn from them, glad he has.
Good luck to him.
Denise

Hi Gunner, can't advise you directly but if you PM Pollyana (my OH), she should be able to. May take a little while as she is UK at the moment but will definately back in Oz on Monday, though she pops on now and again from over there.

I'm no expert in this but I would have thought that as he did jail time & re-offended would disqualify him. Also the last offence is pretty recent. Get some professional advice though.

Good luck.

l think the problem is his been caught drink driving twice, once you can say it was a mistake and learnt your lesson, but you can't say that if you have done it twice. The OZ government would be worried that he could re-offend
drink driving in OZ and kill someone on the road.

Firstly these offences are not technically "criminal". They are traffic offences.

Secondly they are two separate incidents 13 yrs apart (perhaps personal problems at the time).

Thirdly only one term of imprisonment, which was under 12 months in duration.

I don't think your brother has much to worry about as long as he declares them and any evidence of rehabiltation since.

The only thing that would concern me is the length of the ban imposed seems excessive given the charge, but even so, I doubt it would prevent him successfully applying to live here.

Whaaaaat????????????Traffice offences????? Maybe in some countries??
That's like saying 'deliberatley running someone over is not murder...just a traffice offence'

DRINK DRIVING IN THE UK IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE AND THE CRIMINALS NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR CRIME.

And to think that a criminal record used to be compulsory for British-expats entering Australia!

Bloody right, I think drink driving is far more serious than things like shoplifting, fraud, not paying council tax etc (all of them criminal and can end up with prison sentences). Drink drivers are low life scum in my eyes.

I think he should sort his drinking problem sorted rather than worrying about moving to OZ.

If he got banned for 3 years he must have been well over the limit. Is he an alchoholic?

He got caught twice, how many times did he go drink driving and get away with it. Cars in the wrong hands are just as dangerous as guns.

As I understand it, if it is not a custodial sentence then there is no problem. If it is then they look at,
1 How long ago.
2 The severity of the crime.
3 If they have been reformed.
4 If the sentance has been 'spent'
5 The likelyhood that he /she will re offend.

Also note there is a program on Channel 7 at the moment, the story was that a New Zelander came over to Oz and he had a few previous convictions for Robbery, to cut a long story short they gave him him entry because the crime had been comitted 5+ years ago, he was honest wit the officials throughout, hadsome glowing referneces from police and other officials in NZ to show that he had reformed.

The bottom line is they assess the likelyhood of reoffence, so you will need to present your best possible case to convince them that this is unlikely.

I don't know how it will affect the visa application but A Road Traffic Offence is actually technically a Criminal Offence.

Then howcome my 'crime' of doing 34mph on a 30mph speed limit road didn't appear in my police check.

So all applicants for Oz migration should declare road traffic offences????? I doubt it!

No, of course they don't. They'll just be on your driving licence won't they? and eventually spent.

I was just pointing out that it is incorrect to say that an RTO is not technically a "criminal" offence. It is.

No, it is not. I explained my speeding fine and was told it was NOT a criminal offence but an offence under the RTA. Both my agent and a lawyer that I know agreed.