Chel42uk

hubbies application is in at the moment for his partnership visa, he got a 2 yr suspended sentence for shoplifting around 16 years ago, nothing before or since. He declared this on this form. Can't recall exactly what the uk check said but it was the one that meant spent convictions

Anyway immigration have emailed to say

We have made an initial assessment on your application which included verifying your statement regarding your offence against the law and it appears there are discrepancies between the statement you have provided and our verification.

Please contact ACPO Criminal Records office (ACRO) for further information regarding your Summary of Convictions and Reprimands / Warnings / cautions and impending prosecutions.

Please provide all the information regarding your offence against the law by 27 March 2015.

Please note verification will be carried out on additional statements you provide and any information you do not provide is considered withholding material information. Withholding material information could result in you requiring a character waiver for your application.

Has anyone had similar? What verification do they do?

MrsFychan

no personal experience but they won't proceed with his application until you have provided them with the information they require and they do verify everything they ask you to provide, thats just standard procedure but I'm guessing they will be looking at it more closely and may ask for additional clarification whereas previously they might not of (my own opinion)

knowing nothing about criminal records or how they work could it possibly be that the suspended sentence time limit has not been noted on paperwork? do you need to get suspended sentences manually lifted?? sorry no help I know.
Just get him to call ACRO and have a chat with them and see if they can figure out what has happened then relay that back to Immigration.

Chel42uk

Thanks mrs f I don't know how tthey work either. Hell have to callthem on mMonday. At least we know why his has taken longer than mine now though!

Pollyana

So did the ACRO check come back saying something like 'No Live Trace' (ie convictions that are old/spent and not actually on the computer)?
If so they probably want you to produce a police check with the actual details of the conviction - a Subject Access Check would probably cover this, but check with ACRO first.

Chel42uk

Yes no live trace was what it said. He's emailed acro but will get him to follow up with a call on Monday. He's only got until next Friday so not sure if he'd have time to do any other checks. Will look into it

thanks

BEVS

Hi there.
I think I'll move this into the main NZ forum for a while where more people will see it.

Pollyana

Thats what they are after then, they need the full Subject Access report with the actual details of what the offence was and what sentence was given, to ensure it tallies with what was admitted to in your husband's disclosure.

Tom H

What did he put on his form when mentioning about the suspended sentence???

Did he list what happened, the sentence he got and what he's learned from it?? I was advised by INZ to write everything about my GBH conviction. Both times it had to be done (wtr and resident application) and I think they check the details mentioned v the sentence check with acpo.

I may be wrong but if he just put 2 year suspended sentence for shoplifting, I think INZ may want more detail. Even if it happened 16 years ago (mine was 10 and 12 years), they may want information about it so that both sides of the story match...

McLeod

16 years ago? Wouldn't that show on your check for up to 35 years? Or does it get stepped down after 12?

If so, why mention it in the first place if its stepped down?

Chel42uk

you have to mention everything, even stepped down stuff as far as we were told.

anyway, he now has his visa! turns out he got the year wrong on his form. ACPO gave him the info over the phone which INZ were then happy with . few tense days while we were waiting but all good now.

thanks for your help

McLeod

Great stuff!

Though I'm unsure as to why you would mention stepped down stuff as it should mean nobody has access to it, other than the uk police. The UK police deliberately do not put it on an immigration certificate, so NZIS shouldn't be able to access it.

I guessing its the UK equivalent of how in the USA they "seal" a record after so many years and then it doesn't show up, but I think with that even the police don't get to see it without a court order.