joshbt

hello,

i know there are many questions like this on many sites, and i have done allot of research already, but my case seems to present allot of grey areas.

i am a ballet dancer, and was convicted 2 years ago of GBH - without intent, and received an 18 month suspended sentence, with the conditions of paying a £2000 fine, serving 300 hours of community service, being electronically monitored for 3 months, and having to see a probation officer every week for the entire duration of the suspended sentence. i met all of these requirements and my suspended sentence has now finished.

i am looking to apply for a working visa to australia, to audition for various dance companies over there.

on the australian government website it states that any one with a "substantial criminal record" will fail the character requirement, and the definition of a substantial criminal record is among other things, someone who has "been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 12 months or more"

so my question is..... does receiving a suspended sentence of 18 months equate to being sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 12 months or more? and if so, does failing the character requirement automatically result in being declined a visa?

i am new to this site and any knowledge would be fantastic to help me sort this out, if people have information regarding other countries, that would also be greatly appreciated.

thank you.

Weebie

Anything over 12 months suspended or not is almost %100 denied. the other issue is that the conivction was only 2 years ago so on the information you've given its not going to happen I'm afraid. But you need to contact DIAC or speak to a migration agent there might be ways around it.

Jaycee1

My husband has convictions of 12 months and over and we got our visa.
IMHO if i would have listened to others opinions we would never have applied and would not be living our dream. Please don't give up, but get some good advice from recommended agents who deal specifically with conviction applications as others will just follow guildelines and you need someone with experience - they will like Weebie said know ways of presenting your application. We did not use an agent but my husbands convictions were some years ago. PM me if you want further info.
J x

Dorothy

That is absolutely not true. There are many many people who have successfully been granted PR visas with criminal records and sentences of more than 12 months.

Pollyana

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sh...9character.htm has more info on it. Definitely worth speaking to an agent

Jaycee1

This is what i wanted to say but was not brave enough
J x

Weebie

That's irrelavent to what I said. Of course people are granted entry over 12 months prison but most aren't. Anything over 2-3 years prison is usually too serious to be considered.

I'm sure plenty of people have been granted a visa but most don't 12 months is the strict line that is used. Every NZ citizen who has over 1 year in prison is denied work rights (486) and sometimes even denied entry to the country.

The issue here is that your sentance is relatively close and immigration may see the OP as a case of something someone starting fresh which is not what they want. The chances of securing a visa that close from your sentance is going to be hard and many people on this forum who have had criminal convictions had them ages ago. The OP needs to speak to a migration agent for further clarification on his chances.

Les Mighalls

Totally incorrect.

Take some time to read Section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 a few times.

Then go away and study Ministerial Directive No. 41 of 3rd June 2009.

You will then begin to have an appreciation of why that is nonsense.

I would like to have seen more time elapse since the conviction but two years does not make it impossible.

There is nothing strict about it at all. Go and read the Directive.

joshbt

thankyou very much everyone for your responses, they are all greatly appreciated.

so from what i can deduce from the research i have done, and from what you have wrote, it seems to be largely down to the discretion of the immigration officer.

could anyone recommend a route to take, or a plan of action as to maximise the chances of finding a lenient officer. ie would it be best to go the embassy, or contact a solicitor, or get in contact with a specific officer?

thanks again

Les Mighalls

Do not go anywhere near DIAC/DFAT or the AHC until you've received competent advice and have a strategic plan worked out.

Leniency has nothing to do with it. You need to have a submission put together to fit within the guidelines of Directive 41 and s501. The last one I did ran to five A4 pages single space typed.

JenniGee

Please, if you are serious about wanting to get a visa for Oz, take the advice you have been given here.

How you present your case to DIAC from the outset is absolutely vital, do not approach anyone at all, apart from a well experienced MARA registered agent. It may cost you extra in fees, but better that than a refusal simply because you didn't prepare your case properly.

Best of luck, our agent is George Lombard, who I would recommend without hesitation, but there are several others here. Please find one of them

JAJ

I will second the advice that has been given. A sentence of >12 months makes things more difficult but not impossible with good professional assistance.

George Lombard is one option, Ian Harrop (in UK) another.

I will make two observations:

1. Do not make the application to DIAC without assistance. It is harder to overcome a s501 refusal than prevent one in the first place.

2. Do NOT apply for evisitor/ETA.

johnnybee

hi mate i had a conviction agg robbery 12 years ago, i was a young 18 year old.. what they want is your life story etc.. i was kicked out home had an abusive mother and father i was lost and hung out with mates they were a bad influence on me after i got my home detention, i changed people helped me. see all they want to know is are you the same person as before. immigration staff are human beings too. i got in because i was honest with them. also some convictions will never get you in, thats just the way things are bro.. sweet

lucentenigma

Hello All,

Read through the thread and still need some advice. I'm American (cut me some slack please not British but this site seems to be the most informative and full of expertise compared to the others I have searched.

I am planning on visiting my girlfriend (whom I am madly in love with and she I) in Australia in a month or so and as doing some reading on the Australian immi site (http://www.immi.gov.au/) when I got a sinking sick feeling in my stomach.

The horrible feeling is caused by the fact that I have a criminal conviction.

Here are the details: I was caught making fake ids when I was 19 back in 2000 (yea stupid but was actually legal according to federal law at the time but not state law) and sentenced to 3 years probation. I ended up violating the probation and the judge sentenced me to 366 days in prison. I served 8 months while waiting in jail fighting the violation, so I ended up only spending about 4 months in prison. The initial charge is 10 years old as of three months ago and I have no other convictions on my record. I have had background checks done for employment purposes and what comes up on the checks shows the charge of course but with probation as the sentence, they never show the prison term. Even on the local law enforcements (the ones that charged and arrested me) shows probation as the sentence. Technically, would the initial sentence (probation) be the conviction and not the violation and subsequent prison term?

From what I've read the best bet is to be honest and upfront about my past when applying for a visa, so I guess I would need to explain all of this but it can be pretty confusing. I've also read that I'd be stupid to go at it alone. Where do I find an agent that specializes in this sort of thing and are they expensive? I'm getting to Oz on a shoestring budget and staying with my girlfriend while visiting so huge agent fees are not good.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I have my life back together and I currently attend university, I'm going for my engineering degree and I'm on the deans list. This was a stupid mistake I made when I was a kid. I feel sick to my stomach. I am head over heels in love and this person is my world. The thought of not being able to be with her because of this is devastating. Please help.........

Dorothy

First, welcome. Everyone is welcome here, so don't worry about being American and not British - I'm not British either (Canadian).

Ok, for your problem...You will need to apply for a visitor's visa http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/ You can see the character requirements if you follow the links. For immigration (including tourists) purposes no conviction is ever spent. And it doesn't matter how much time you actually served, it's how much you were sentenced to.

As for agents, you can usually just have a consultation with one and they don't have to do the application. My own pesonal recommendation would be George Lombard in Sydney. He will likely charge a consultation fee, but in the long run it's better to pay $100 or so to find out whether you will be admitted than to spend $2500 on a plane ticket and be denied entry when you get here.