Bren

Hi

I'd like to here from anyone who has managed a successful visa application inspite of having a slight blemish to their copy book.

I have very recently recieved a Police caution for an assault (nothing nasty I might add) but I am now worried that this may jeopardise my families opportunity of a successful application.

My main concerns are that the vetting process will pick up on the caution and turn down my application out of hand, without asking any questions about the incident.

Any constructive help would be appreciated

Pollyana

Haven't got a caution myself, and can't say what effect it will have on your application, but I can offer the following (hopefully constructive) advice.
Firstly, declare it. especially if its recent, it will almost certainly show on the police check, and even if it doesn't theres always the chance it could surface later. They will give you credit for honesty if you admit to it.
Secondly, get in before they ask you about it. When you get your police check back it will only have the basic facts on it ( ie Caution - Assault - Date - possibly place). Write out a reasoned explanation of what happened and why, if you were provoked, that kind of thing, and the fact that you have a previously unblemished record (I know, I'm presuming that bit!), and that you regret what happened, or something like that. Attach it to the application, and then it looks much better than just the word "Assault".

if you search the Aussie forums, there have been several similar queries, and some people have talked of getting visas in spite of convictions, so have a read.

ptlabs

Even if it's not recent, you should declare it, yes.

A visa can be revoked on grounds of character if it's found out later on (even after visa grant and validation) that your initial answers were incorrect.

If you have a police record, you should consider speaking with a registered migration agent with experience handling cases such as this.


Peter

renth

A police caution isn't a criminal record. If it comes up on the police check then it comes up. If it doesn't I wouldn't declare it as it isn't a criminal record.

A good friend of mine had a caution for drunk and disorderly which didn't appear on the police check.

The character requirements are pretty lax. You have to have been to prison for 2 years to be rejected so as for the caution, if it comes up on the police check, sure make a reference to it in a covering letter but don't fill it in in the "Criminal Record" bit.

ptlabs

I hope you know what you're talking about. Character requirements for Australian immigration is far from being lax.


Peter

renth

Taken from DIMIA site:

http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/79character.htm


79. The Character Requirement


The character test

Some examples of when a person will fail the character test include:

<snip>

when the person has a substantial criminal record ;

<snip>

A person is deemed to have a substantial criminal record if they have been:

sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 12 months or more;
or sentenced to either death or life imprisonment;
or sentenced to two or more terms of imprisonment (whether on one or more occasions), where the total of those terms is two years or more;
or acquitted of an offence on the grounds of either unsoundness of mind or insanity and, as a result, the person has been detained in a facility or institution.


So, even if you have been to prison you can get in. I'd define that as pretty lax compared to a bloke worrying about a police caution

ptlabs

May, not can.


Peter

Pollyana

The technical difference betwen a Caution and a Conviction for criminal record check purposes doesn't really come into it when you consider that since 1996 Cautions have been put on the Police National Computer, and there has been some (admittedly random) back-record conversion of previous ones. If its on the PNC it will appear on the Police check. So whichever heading it falls under, surely it is better to declare it and explain it, rather than be faced with an embarrassing question later which appears to cast doubt on your honesty if nothing else?


This is NOT intended as legal advice or immigration advice, but is the advice given to candidates for the Police service, jobs working with children, etc.

mika24me

Declare it, as even if it is not a criminal record, it is still stored on the police computer. I found this out to my horror when I got my police certificate back.

Still got my visa though, so don;t worry too much

Mel