Obtaining Police Certificate : immigration New Zealand

Name of the Organization : Immigration New Zealand
Type of Facility : Obtaining Police Certificate
Country : New Zealand

Website : http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/formsandfees/formsandguides/policecertificate.htm

Obtaining Police Certificate :

Applicants for visas must be of good character. You may have to supply a police certificate (or similar) as evidence of good character, depending on which category you apply under.

Related : New Zealand Immigration Applying For Student Visa : www.statusin.org/6828.html

Residence :
** All applicants aged 17 years or over must provide police certificates at the time a residence application is lodged unless there is a different instruction in the country-specific information (see below).
** If you have lived for periods of 12 months or more in any other countries during the last ten years, you must also provide police certificates from these countries, and also your country (or countries) of citizenship.

Supporting New Zealand partners for residence class visas under the partnership category:
** The New Zealand partners of people applying for residence under the partnership category must provide certificates at the time a residence class visa application is lodged, unless there is a different instruction in the country-specific information (see below).
** New Zealand partners must provide police certificates for every country where they have lived for 12 months or more in the last seven years. (If you have lived in New Zealand for 12 months or more, Immigration New Zealand will obtain the New Zealand police certificate directly.)
** Police certificates for the New Zealand partner must be less than six months old at the time the applicant lodges their residence class visa application.

Temporary entry visa:
** All applicants aged 17 years or over who are working, visiting, or studying in New Zealand for 24 months or longer must provide a police certificate.
** The police certi?cate is to be provided at the time you lodge your application, unless there is a different instruction in the country-specific information (see below).
** Applicants must supply a police certificate from any country in which they have lived for five years or more since attaining the age of 17 years as well as their country (or countries) of citizenship.

Some students who are aged between 17 and 20 years who have previously been studying in New Zealand do not need to provide a police certificate. Immigration New Zealand will, however, obtain a New Zealand police certificate directly if the applicant is applying for a student visa for the first time after turning 17 years of age. See who is required to provide a police certificate for more information.

Note:
New Zealand police certificates are directly obtained from the New Zealand Police by Immigration New Zealand. Please consider that this could potentially affect the processing time of your application. We recommend that you lodge your application as early as possible to allow for possible delays.

Procedures:
Police certificates must be less than six months old when the application is lodged.

We may ask for further police certificates if the initial police certificate becomes a year old from its date of issue before we make a decision on your application; or within the 12-month period if there is good reason to do so.

Police authorities in some countries will only send the certificate direct to Immigration New Zealand. In such cases we recommend that you request your police certificate three months before you lodge your application for a residence class visa. We also recommend that you provide us with a copy of the receipt for the requested police certificate (if this is available) to help us to track your certificate.

Fingerprints:

Police authorities in some countries require a certified set of fingerprints as part of their requirements to provide a Police certificate.

If you require a set of fingerprints in order to apply for a Police certificate you will need to approach an authorised fingerprinting provider. You must take you current passport with you when obtaining a certified set of fingerprints.

The New Zealand Police have traditionally supplied this service in New Zealand, however, from 31 October 2013 New Zealand Post will also provide this service in certain areas.

New Zealand Post will undertake a three month trial in the Auckland area commencing on 31 October 2013 offering fingerprint capture for employment/immigration and other purposes.

Whereas New Zealand Police has provided a fingerprinting service that is time consuming, fully manual, and involves inking applicants’ hands, New Zealand Post will provide a cleaner, faster electronic capture and copy system. There will be a charge for this service.

Currently, the three month trial is limited to the Auckland area, with the participating New Zealand Post branches being Wellesley Street (Auckland City), North Harbour, and Manukau. From 31 October Police will not be providing this fingerprinting service in the Auckland area. Applicants will need to go to one of the New Zealand Post branches mentioned rather than to a police station to obtain the fingerprinting service.

Outside of the Auckland area, this fingerprinting service will still be available from some Police Stations until further notice.

For further information please visit the NZ Post website.

If police certificates are unavailable:
If you cannot get a police certificate, provide detailed information of your attempts to get one. If we are satisfied that police certificates are not available or it would be unduly difficult for you to get them (for example where the authorities of any such country will not generally provide such certificates), we may instead ask you to make and provide a separate statutory declaration in both English and your own language.

If a statutory declaration is required, it must detail your attempts to obtain a police certificate and state whether or not you, or any accompanying family members, have been found guilty or convicted of, or charged with offences against the law in that country. The statutory declaration should also be corroborated by other information attesting to your character.