Partnership Visa requirements

[Catz150]

Hi guys, I moved to NZ 7 years ago with my now ex and have a new partner. He wants to join me in New Zealand permanently. I have full residency and will hopefully be a citizen soon.

We understand the rule about living together, gathering evidence etc but the only thing that may hold us up is the Police Check. When he has had CRB checks in the UK something that he did 20 years ago still comes up on it - he had a police caution for possession of cannabis. It was a stupid mistake that he made a long time ago - but it was a police caution not a conviction. 25 years ago he was convicted of drink driving but that has now been cleared from his record and does not show up on any CRB check. Is this going to stop him from being able to move over here with me?

Any advice or experience of this would be gratefully received.
Thanks for listening.

[JandM]

Neither of these offences is going to prevent his being granted a NZ visa, but he can be told to ask for a character waiver. Here are the regulations on that. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/35058.htm

Asking for a character waiver, if instructed to do so, involves writing a letter acknowledging the offence, apologizing for it, (grovelling, really), giving an account of the circumstances (e.g "I was young then, I was in bad company" etc.), and stating the present-day upright lifestyle so he wouldn't dream of doing anything like that any more, and providing character witnesses such as people of standing in the community who know him personally.

However, this may not be necessary, since the cannabis incident was not a conviction, and the drink-driving did not happen within the last five years. BUT HE SHOULD STILL MENTION BOTH INCIDENTS TO INZ, then he can't ever be accused of fraud.