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Importance of using migration agent when having a criminal record


Guest wesleycarney

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Guest wesleycarney

Hi

 

Could anyone please tell me how important it is to use a migration agent when you have a criminal record. Its just I dont really want to spend $2500 for someone to help when all I have is a couple of small records (young, drunk and stupid).

 

Any help would be really appreciated.....

 

Thanks :eek::wacko:

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Guest SimonB

My advice woudl be get a consultation at least to find out where you stand. It also depends what type of application you are applying for. These guys were ex Brits who helped me DNA MIGRATION - AUSTRALIAN MIGRATION SOLUTIONS

 

 

 

Hi

 

Could anyone please tell me how important it is to use a migration agent when you have a criminal record. Its just I dont really want to spend $2500 for someone to help when all I have is a couple of small records (young, drunk and stupid).

 

Any help would be really appreciated.....

 

Thanks :eek::wacko:

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Guest Katc78

I'm not sure how much help a migration agent would be, but I'd like clarification of what a criminal conviction actually is first. ie. do people think that an official police caution is a criminal conviction? I don't, but I believe DIAC disagree and think anything noted on your record is a 'criminal conviction'. It'd be good to check that first before you go to the trouble of hiring an agent...

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Minor offences only show on your records for 10 years.

 

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (UK and unless its been superceded) MAY say that..... but notice the increasing number of applications forms that say.. to the effect.. if you have EVER had a conviction declare it.

 

For visa application purposes....

 

Agents will tell you to declare everything - whether time expired or not and leave it to immigration to decide, which is better than not declaring and later being "caught out".

 

In general, any offense resulting in a sentence or judgment of less than 12 months jail time will not interfere with an application. BUT, it also depends on the offense and number of offenses, i.e. 95 convictions for smacking police officers may not go down well!

 

The forms need filling in correctly and in full.

 

As for agents, as far as I know the applicant fills in all forms, albeit guided by the agent, and the agent checks and submits.

Using an agent does not affect or change your history - which must be declared.

 

I suggest, declare everything - including cautions or anything that the police made a record of.

 

L.L.

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Guest Katc78

Thanks Lanky Lad, that's good advice. It's hard to know what they mean by 'criminal conviction' - just because it's on your police record doesn't mean you got a fine or jail or anything... Thanks again. :-)

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Guest Katc78

Thanks Peach, that's interesting. When I looked it up in the legal dictionary, it didn't say anything about cautions. It actually says on the caution itself (ie. the piece of paper the police give you at the time of cautioning) that this caution 'does not constitute a criminal conviction'. What do you think about that? It's really confusing to me!!

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It's difficult to say - the general advice is that you should declare everything and that anything under 1 year in prison won't cause a problem. My advice would be to do a SAR request to your local Police force and see what they have on file. In my case a caution I received as teenager wasn't on my record, so I don't plan to declare it as it doesn't seem to legally exist.

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Guest motlyman

I agree with lanky lad 100% declare it and let diac decide. If you try and hide it and get caught, kiss good bye to your visa as you have just proved you are a dodgy migrant. If it is an old conviction it will probably be disregarded as you are "grown up and not a dodgy teenager"

 

Colin

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I think I agree with lankylad to the extent that it if appears on your criminal record you should declare it. If it doesn't I don't think you should, otherwise you might as well declare that you once got detention for copying someones homework or told off at work for using the telephone for personal calls.

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Guest jogrant3232
Minor offences only show on your records for 10 years.

I had very minor offences from my juvenile days come back on my police clearance checks , over 30 years old so the 10 year thing is not correct, mind you i had things a little more serious and newer that didnt,

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Declare everything.

An area that often comes up is people who have travelled to Australia on tourist type visas and entered "no convictions" on their landing card.

 

How would you say this normally gets resolved?

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In these cases, I'm not entirely sure what the agent is bringing to the party? If it is a case of previously failing to declare, but being upfront on the residency/defacto application it surely still comes down to DIACs discretion?

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Not so Peach.

 

A submisison containing relevant evidence to enable the deciding officer to make a favourable decision is best done by someone who has done it many times before.

 

I have acted for over 200 such clients in the past decade and have a pretty good experience level in doing so.

 

You/the applicant will only do it once. What a good agent will bring to the party is the experience gained in those other 199 or so applications he/she has worked on.

 

A good operator will also tell a potential client how likely a positive outcome is when they first meet. I have declined to take on cases where I beleived there was virtually zero chance of success.

 

To use an agent or to "DIY" is a decision everyone is entitled to an opinion on.

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Guest wesleycarney

Hi Richard

 

I see that you said something regarding not putting criminal record on landing cards. Does that really affect when you try get a more permanent visa such as de facto when you actually do have a record????

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I see that you said something regarding not putting criminal record on landing cards. Does that really affect when you try get a more permanent visa such as de facto when you actually do have a record????

 

My word it does.

 

It is black and white proof that you made a fraudulent application to travel here on (presumably) an ETA.

 

Creates character issues immediately.

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