FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - Police Clearances

Police Clearances required for an Australian Visa
As part of your Australian visa application, you may be asked to provide police clearance certificates for each country you have resided in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years. Most long-term visas (more than 3 months) to Australia require the applicant to provide a police clearance. The contact details for most countries police headquarters are listed on the Form 47P (PDF File). If your country is not listed on this form then please contact our office for advice.

Please note that all applicants for visas to Australia must declare all convictions (including spent convictions) on the visa application form since failure to declare information may result in the cancellation of your visa. A person whose visa is cancelled on the grounds of either a substantial criminal record, or past and present criminal conduct, is permanently excluded from Australia.
Some examples of when a person might (but not always) fail the character test include any one of the following:

• When the person has a substantial criminal record.
• Sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 12 months or more.
• Sentenced to either death or life imprisonment.
• Sentenced to two or more terms of imprisonment.
• Acquitted of an offence on the grounds of insanity and, as a result, the person has been detained in a facility or institution.
• When the person either has, or has had, an association with an individual, group or organisation suspected of having been involved in criminal conduct.
• When there is a significant risk that the person will engage in criminal conduct in Australia, harass, molest, intimidate or stalk another person in Australia, vilify a segment of the Australian community, or incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community.

Please note that if you meet any of the above examples, you may still be eligible to make an Australian visa application. We can prepare detailed submissions and recommendations to the Australian Immigration Department on your behalf, explaining the context of the offences, and the reasons why you deserve to be granted an Australian visa.

Alternatively, we can research your application against previous immigration applications (precedents) and then provide you with detailed professional advice on whether or not you are likely to pass the Character Test. This can save you from lodging a costly and time consuming Australian Visa application that will inevitably fail.

If you have any concerns regarding this issue, then please contact our office and ask to speak in confidence to one of our Consultants.

Member of the Migration Institute of Australia
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