Hi there
My husband, 4 kids and I have been in NZ for 11 months. We are here on the basis of hubby's closed work visa - I have an open one. His job is on the skills shortage list.
When we applied for the work visa from South Africa last year, the issue of his character came up because he has a conviction on his police clearance from 18 years ago when he was 16 years old - sounds AWFUL, but it says 'Robbery' - referred to Reform School for 5 years (he was mixed up in the wrong crowd etc.)
He was sent to a school for boys with difficult circumstances, etc. But they were allowed home for holidays, etc. Were allowed to attend church on Sundays outside the school premises... it was much like a boarding school. But he was so unhappy there, his parents removed him from the school after 18 months. The school wasn't too happy about it, but they let him go without persuing it further.
He applied for a police clearance in 2001, and it came back clear - we thought it had been expunged automatically as he was a juvenile. Therefore, imagine our shock when last year, the latest police clearance showed this conviction.
We went ahead and applied for his work visa, added tons of letters of character reference from people. But the case officer came back asking for proof that he was not completely deprived of his liberty - they were trying to assess whether he had been sent to actual 'prison'. It was a mad run-around trying to get the proof we needed, as the school closed down 14 years ago! The education department were useless. But we managed to get hold of the then acting principal of the school, who wrote a letter explaining that the boys at the school were not completely deprived of their liberty, etc. We also tracked down the school psychologist who remembers my hubby and wrote a letter to attest to his having attended the school.
The case officer took all evidence into account and said we must apply for a 'Special Direction'. So all the info was forwarded to the Risk Analyst at INZ Pretoria branch in SA. And the risk analyst decided to grant a Special Direction - we just had to pay a fee for it.
We got our visa's and hopped on a plane to NZ.
Now, after being here for 11 months, we decided it was time to put in our EOI. We explained in the comments of the EOI, that he'd already received a Special Direction, that the school was NOT prison, etc. And yet the EOI has been declined. Got the letter in the post today saying that according to their ops manual, hubby spent 5 years in prison. And that the only way around this is a Special Direction, however, they feel his case 'does not warrant' a Special Direction, and we will therefore NOT be invited to apply for residency in NZ. Just. Like. That.
We are now really stressing because 1. how do we get the CO to see that our case most certainly DOES warrant a SD, and 2. we were granted one previously - why not at least the opportunity to apply for one now?? - we have settled in NZ, with jobs, kids in schools, made a life here - and have proven that hubby is NOT a risk here. It just seems so unfair.
The letter of decline is signed by a 'Senior Case Officer' - and no contact details or email address for him - just their usual call centre number.
Our plan is for hubby to phone immigration tomorrow and try to speak to the case officer - and be reallllly sweet to him and point out a few things to him.
We have done tons of research about this character issue, the special direction, etc. And we know that it boils down to being at the discretion of the CO. I really don't feel like paying an immigration lawyer thousands of $$ that we really don't have, but maybe we should???
My question is, has anyone else requested a Special Direction for character issues, and surely if it's been granted for the work visa, it should stand for the residency app?