Domestic violence and deportation

[farfaraway]

Hi all,

Asking this question on behalf of someone:

There was an incident few weeks ago involving the man assaulting and attacking partner's daughter ( not his own daughter ), and police arrested him, he is in prison at the moment.
The daughter have been suffering from epilepsy and there was some turmoil and chaos following this incident.

He will appear in the court soon. Not sure what will be the final verdict.

The accused is a permanent resident. Rest of the family are NZ citizens, and the partner is now getting a divorce.

The partner and children have obtained a 3 months protection order against him.

I am trying to find out the following:
Could domestic violence cause deportation for him?

What will be the other consequences of this incident in terms of his future in NZ and the safety of the rest of the family members ?

I heard that jailed for three months or more can result in deportation for permanent residents.


Thanks for your inputs.

[Kelerei]

This will be covered by Section 161 of the Immigration Act 2009, which concerns the deportation liability of a residence class holder convicted of a criminal offence.

In short: it's definitely possible, and will depend on when the offence was committed in relation to the offender first holding a residence class visa, as well as the maximum sentence that the court has the power to impose. There is a right of appeal against a Section 161 deportation, but only on humanitarian grounds and not on the facts.

Any person who is deported under Section 161 has a permanent prohibition on re-entering New Zealand.

[farfaraway]

Thanks Kelerei for the detailed information.
I guess the court will decide soon.

[JandM]

Excuse me... Section 161 refers to resident visa holders within their first two years, and you mention that this man has PR, so the case may be different.

[Kelerei]

Excuse me... Section 161 refers to resident visa holders within their first two years, and you mention that this man has PR, so the case may be different.

No. A Permanent Resident Visa falls within the definition of "residence class visa" (Section 70) and the holder of a Permanent Resident Visa can therefore be caught by Section 161. It would be rare (though possible, under the right circumstances) that such a person will be caught by Section 161(1)(a), but Section 161(1)(b), 161(1)(c) or 161(1)(d) would definitely be in play.

Here's a fairly recent case where Section 161(1)(a)(iii) and Section 161(1)(b) were used with regards to a person with more than two years of residence (and who could have possibly held a Permanent Resident Visa, although this is not stated).

[JandM]

Thanks for the clarification.

[farfaraway]

Thank you JandM and Kelerei.
The man appeared in the court, and will remain in prison until mid July 2021. Not sure what is the next step for him. I guess he will have another court hearing.
So, its about 2+ months in jail. Would this period be considered as "imprisonment" that is counted towards possibility of deportation?

[Kelerei]

Thank you JandM and Kelerei.
The man appeared in the court, and will remain in prison until mid July 2021. Not sure what is the next step for him. I guess he will have another court hearing.
So, its about 2+ months in jail. Would this period be considered as "imprisonment" that is counted towards possibility of deportation?

Section 161 can't be triggered unless there's a conviction.

If Section 161(1)(a) or Section 161(1)(b) is triggered, it won't matter anyway, since INZ is legally required to consider the maximum sentence that the court is able to impose, and not the actual sentence itself. Only in the case of Section 161(1)(c) being triggered is the actual sentence taken into account.

[farfaraway]

Thanks Kelerei for explaining the technical side of it.
Ok, so unless he is convicted, 161 won't come into picture.