Character Requirements for Australian Migration Visas
All applicants for an Australia visa must be of good character.
In order for the Australian Government to determine whether an applicant satisfies the good character requirement, they will be asked to provide police certificates for each country (including Australia) they have lived in for at least 12 months or more (either consecutively or cumulatively) in the previous 10 years.
All applicants (generally 16 years and over) applying for permanent visas (including all family members) will be required to declare on their application whether they have ever been convicted of a crime or offence in any country. This also includes any conviction, which is now removed from official records or any that are deemed as ‘spent’, and any offence that it currently awaiting legal action. Minor convictions from many years ago which resulted in a fine etc will generally not mean that a person is not of good character but these will all have to be declared on a visa application and may require you to provide an explanation to DIMIA.
Form47P – Character Requirements Penal Clearance Certificates provides instructions on how to apply for clearances from the various countries. Certain police certificates are only available to current residents or to citizens and these different procedures will be indicated on the Form 47P. Processing times for police certificates also varies from country to country but generally UK police checks take around 6 weeks to obtain.
USEFUL WEBSITES:-
www.immi.gov.au
www.australia.org.uk
Essential Information |
Permanent Visa Information |
Temporary Visa Information |