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Thread: Partnership visa - partner with conviction

  1. #1
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    Default Partnership visa - partner with conviction

    Hello everybody,

    I want to apply for the partnership visa for new Zealand. I dont have problems with the police certificate since I have no convictions. However, my partner who is new Zealander was in prison for 2 years some time ago. However, itīs me who wants to get the visa so I am not sure if this would be a problem. I also heard that he could do a character waiver. Does anyone know someone in a similar situation? Any advice and evaluation of this situation would be very appreciated.
    Thank you
    best wishes
    Marianne

  2. #2
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    Here is the official word on the subject. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra.../nzpartner.htm

  3. #3
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    From what I have read, as long as the conviction(s) were over 7 years ago, there should be no issues. Am I correct in making this assumption?

  4. #4
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    Thanks for the reply!

    Unfortunately its not 7 years ago, so probably he will need that character waiver. Anyone who needed to do the character waiver as well and still got the visa?

  5. #5
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    You would like, as would all applicants to INZ, for somebody to read the future for you and say it will all be okay. The truth is, you have to go through the process and find out, particularly with something like an issue under the 'character' heading which is very individual. I don't know of any rule written up anywhere that says the slate is wiped after x number of years, so it's not safe to assume anything, but it's true that the longer the time since the person had any brush with the law, the better they are seen by the authorities. It's likely that your partner may be asked questions about his record, though, and you're going to have a waiting time to get anxious in while all this is processed.

    Here are some old threads about character waivers. https://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:enz...racter+waivers

  6. #6
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    Hi Manni. They thing that you haven't mentioned is the nature of the offence. This is key when the character issue is for the supporting NZ partner. I am not expecting you to declare this in a public forum, obviously! However, if the offence was related to domestic violence or "of a sexual nature" and happened in the last 7 years, your chances of him being able to support your visa application will depend on how serious the offence was. If it was not related to either of these, it should be much simpler. The exact wording is that he is not eligible if he "has been convicted of any offence involving domestic violence or of a sexual nature in the seven years prior to the date the application was made (unless granted a character waiver) OR • was, in the seven years prior to the date the application is made, the perpetrator of an incident of domestic violence which has resulted in the grant of a resident visa under the Victims of Domestic Violence Category. Character waiver requests are much more common than you might think. However, the specific rules for partnership support are there to protect people from potentially dangerous liaisons - not suggesting this is your situation!

  7. #7
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    Karen, according to the INZ wording, if a sponsor (not the actual applicant) was convicted over 7 years ago for domestic violence, then there is no requirement for a character waiver? And if the offences are not related to domestic violence or of a sexual nature, then does it mean that any other conviction(s) in the past 7 years won't come into play? That is what I am reading. If other types of conviction(s) came into play, wouldn't the wording say something like "has not been convicted in the past 7 years of any criminal offences", etc?

    The link you gave JandM deals with applicants having criminal records unfortunately, so I couldn't find anything with the sponsor having a criminal record to support an applicant with no criminal record like in Manni's case.

  8. #8
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    Hi. That is what I said in my post - although obviously I didn't make it very clear. For NZ sponsors of partnership applications, if the offence has nothing to do with domestic violence etc. and it wasn't in the last 7 years, then it should not pose a problem. As I don't know exactly what Manni's partner was convicted of doing or when, I cannot say whether he will need a character waiver or not. Hope this clarifies the situation.

  9. #9
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    Thats what I thought too Karen. Your post was clear... I just wanted to clarify

    I should also mention that if anyone is actively involved in crime now as a sponsor, no doubt that would certainly cause issues for an applicant on a partnership visa. But that isn't Manni's case as this conviction occurred some time ago. Just wanted to say that

  10. #10
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    Or maybe it wouldn't matter if it has nothing to do with domestic violence or of a sexual nature? Just seems odd that if a sponsor was actively involved now or very recently in criminal activity other than the ones listed, that INZ wouldn't take that into account? Maybe they wouldn't? Such a grey area, but if the wording is correct then it would appear that it wouldn't matter as long as it doesn't have anything to do with domestic violence and of a sexual nature?

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