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Thread: Criminal conviction & PR

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    New Zeland
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    Default Criminal conviction & PR

    Hi,

    Asking on behalf of a freind, who is a NZ resident since 6 years and now a NZ permanent resident (PR).

    He has been recently booked for a domestic violence case (category 3) and appearing before a judge in couple of months.

    If he gets convicted of the offence (which has maximum penanlty of 2 years in jail), will it affect his PR? What are the consequences of getting conviction after getting a PR (less than a year) but having a residency( RV + PRV) greater than 6 years?

    If convicted, this will be his second offence, his first offence was for drink driving. The first offence occured almost 5 years ago.

    Any info or leads will be much appreciated as he started loosing his sleep over this.

    Thanks & Regards

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
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    New Zealand (ex: South Africa)
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    Default

    Depending on a) when the offense was committed in relation to when your friend first held a residence class visa, and b) the sentence that the court has the power to impose in relation to such offenses, your friend may be made liable for deportation under Section 161.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
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    New Zeland
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Kelerei View Post
    Depending on a) when the offense was committed in relation to when your friend first held a residence class visa, and b) the sentence that the court has the power to impose in relation to such offenses, your friend may be made liable for deportation under Section 161.
    Thanks Kelerei

    a) the offence committed recently last month, he held his first residence visa 6 yrs ago.

    b) he has been booked for an offence for which the court has power to sentence him maximum 2 yrs of imprisonment.

  4. #4
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    Feb 2019
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by helpplease View Post
    Thanks Kelerei

    a) the offence committed recently last month, he held his first residence visa 6 yrs ago.

    b) he has been booked for an offence for which the court has power to sentence him maximum 2 yrs of imprisonment.
    While, on the face of it, this means that he won't be caught by Section 161 (an offence committed in the 5-10 year period since first obtaining a residence class visa can only potentially trigger Section 161(1)(c), and an actual sentence of less than 5 years cannot trigger Section 161(1)(c)), the facts that the court establishes may influence how this goes. If, for instance, the court establishes that there was a history of offending, taking place within the period of 2-5 years since first holding a residence class visa (unfortunately, given the nature of domestic violence, this can happen), then this could trigger Section 161(1)(b) upon a conviction (offence committed in the 2-5 year period since first holding a residence class visa, and that the court has the power to sentence for 2 years or more). I don't know what the precedent is under such a set of circumstances: your best bet would be to search the deportation decisions of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal to see what precedent exists in this regard.

    Also note when a person is considered to first hold a residence class visa under Section 161; this is defined under Section 161(5) as being:
    1. on the date on which the person is first granted a residence class visa of any type in New Zealand; or
    2. if the visa was granted outside of New Zealand, on the first occasion on which the person arrives in New Zealand and is granted entry permission as the holder of the residence class visa; or
    3. if the person arrives in New Zealand and is granted entry permission as the holder of a residence class visa following a continuous period of absence from New Zealand of at least 5 years, on the date the person first re-enters New Zealand after the continuous period of absence; or
    4. if the person is a person to whom a visa waiver applies and arrives in New Zealand following a continuous period of absence from New Zealand of at least 5 years, on the date the person first re-enters New Zealand (and is granted a residence class visa) after the continuous period of absence.


    I'm pointing this out because, if for example your friend was first granted a resident visa offshore 6 years ago but first entered New Zealand on that resident visa 4 years ago, then this would make the offending occur within 2-5 years since first holding a residence class visa for the purposes of Section 161 (and could thus trigger Section 161(1)(b)).

    I will also add that, even if your friend is ultimately not caught by Section 161, such a conviction will be a serious hindrance to receiving the grant of New Zealand citizenship, and may make the grant of New Zealand citizenship practically impossible to obtain. A sentence of less than 5 years imprisonment will disqualify your friend from receiving the grant of New Zealand citizenship until 7 years has passed after the sentence has ended and any subsequent parole conditions have ended. A conviction without a sentence of imprisonment results in a 3 year disqualification from the date of conviction. Even after any period of disqualification has ended, it will remain extremely difficult to obtain the grant of New Zealand citizenship, as the Department of Internal Affairs does not take domestic violence convictions lightly and will often fail such applicants on character grounds. See the Citizenship Guidance Document (section 3, pertaining to the requirement for an applicant to be of good character) for more information on this.
    Last edited by Kelerei; 9th August 2021 at 10:00 AM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    New Zeland
    Posts
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    Default

    Thanks again Kelerei for your kind reply.
    I have notified my friend.

    He said he got his first residence visa while in NZ 6 yrs ago.

    His timeline as follows
    2013- came on visitor visa
    2014- work visa
    2015 (May) - First residence visa
    2016- First DUI
    2017- Second residence visa ( he went through that DLN process and applied for subsequent RV)
    2020- Permanent Residence Visa
    2021 - He applied for NZ citizenship
    2021(July) - got charged with domestic violence ( his case is in progress)

    His lawyer told him the same that there will be some issues in getting NZ citizenship which totally depends upon what sentencing he will receive for his new offence.

    His duty lawyer also mentioned that since this is his fist offence under that category, he might not get jail sentence but may get a conviction.

    Thanks heaps.
    Last edited by helpplease; 9th August 2021 at 04:15 PM. Reason: More info added

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