Character requirements for Australian Citizenship

Overseas penal clearance certificates, or police checks as they are known in some countries, show whether a person has a criminal record outside Australia.

We request these certificates to ensure that applicants were of good character during the time they spent outside Australia.

You may need to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate if you have lived or travelled outside Australia since turning 18 years of age.

Give us an overseas penal clearance certificate if:

• you lived or travelled outside Australia since turning 18 years of age, and
• you held a permanent visa at that time, and
• the total time you spent outside Australia adds up to 12 months or more, and
• the time you spent in any one country was 90 days or more or
• requested by the Department.

Penal clearance certificates from New Zealand

If the above applies to you and New Zealand is one of the countries where you spent time, you do not need to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate for New Zealand. We will request this directly from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice (NZ MOJ) for you. If you have not given us consent to do this in your application form, we will get your consent before we make the request. Do not contact the NZ MOJ as we do not accept overseas penal clearances from New Zealand provided by applicants. 

New Zealand citizen - Special Category Visa (SCV) holders

If you are a New Zealand citizen who holds an SCV and have spent any time outside Australia since turning 18 years of age, we need you to get an overseas penal clearance certificate from any other country you have visited or stayed in for 90 days or more. This applies to you regardless of how long you have resided in Australia. For New Zealand citizens by grant this includes the country of usual residence before migration to New Zealand.

You do not need to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate for New Zealand as we will request an overseas penal clearance certificate directly from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice for you. Do not contact the NZ MOJ as we do not accept overseas penal clearances from New Zealand provided by applicants.

How to get an overseas penal clearance certificate

You can get a penal clearance certificate from a country's government or law enforcement authority.

Information about how to get a penal clearance for specific countries is available from Offices outside Australia > Police checks.

Give us an overseas penal clearance certificate if, in the last 10 years:

• you lived or travelled outside Australia since turning 18 years of age and
• the total time you spent outside Australia adds up to 12 months or more and
• the time you spent in any one country was 90 days or more.

We may ask you to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate in other circumstances.

Penal clearance certificates from New Zealand

If the above applies to you and New Zealand is one of the countries where you spent time, you do not need to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate for New Zealand. We will request this directly from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice (NZ MOJ) for you. If you have not given us consent to do this in your application form, we will get your consent before we make the request. Do not contact the NZ MOJ as we do not accept overseas penal clearances from New Zealand provided by applicants. 

New Zealand citizen - Special Category Visa (SCV) holders

If you are a New Zealand citizen who holds an SCV and have spent any time outside Australia since turning 18 years of age, we need you to get an overseas penal clearance certificate from any other country you have visited or stayed in for 90 days or more. This applies to you regardless of how long you have resided in Australia. For New Zealand citizens by grant this includes the country of usual residence before migration to New Zealand.

You do not need to give us an overseas penal clearance certificate for New Zealand as we will request an overseas penal clearance certificate directly from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice for you. Do not contact the NZ MOJ as we do not accept overseas penal clearances from New Zealand provided by applicants.

You can get a penal clearance certificate from a country's government or law enforcement authority.

Information about how to get a penal clearance certificate for specific countries is available from Offices outside Australia > Police checks.

In some countries, penal clearance certificates are only available to citizens or residents of that country. If you cannot get a penal clearance certificate, contact us.

You must tell the Department about any convictions you may have had in Australia or overseas.

A traffic infringement, such as an on-the-spot speeding or parking fine is not considered a conviction.

Certain circumstances relating to criminal offences prevent us from approving an application for Australian citizenship by conferral. These include if:

• you are in prison in Australia or
• have proceedings for an offence against Australian law pending against you or
• you have been released from a prison in Australia for less than 2 years after a serious prison sentence of 12 months or more or
• you have been released from prison in Australia for less than 10 years after a serious prison sentence if you are a serious repeat offender or
• you are subject to certain conditions set by an Australian court (such as being released on parole, license, good behaviour bond or bail) where action may be taken against you for breach of those conditions or
• you are confined in a psychiatric institution in connection with proceedings for an offence against an Australian law.

Spent convictions

You must disclose all Australian and overseas spent convictions in your application for Australian citizenship. The spent convictions law allows people with minor convictions to disregard those convictions after a certain period of time.

A conviction may be considered spent if:

• it is 10 years since the date of the conviction (5 years for juvenile offenders) and
• the person was not sentenced to imprisonment for more than 30 months and
• the person has not re-offended during the 10-year period (5 years for juveniles) and
• a statutory or prescribed exclusion does not apply.

Spent convictions schemes

The aim of spent convictions legislation is to prevent discrimination on the basis of certain previous convictions. Spent convictions legislation limits the use and disclosure of older, less serious convictions and findings of guilt.

Spent convictions of specific offences are released where the check is required for certain purposes regardless of how old the convictions are.

Each Australian police agency will apply the relevant spent convictions legislation/information release policy prior to disclosure.

Learn more about spent convictions in your State/Territory:

Commonwealth
New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia
Victoria Police
Western Australia
Northern Territory
Australian Capital Territory
Tasmania 

If you need help or more information, contact the individual police agencies directly about their release policies and any legislation that affects them.

More information about the Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check process is available on the ACIC website. 

Information regarding our privacy policy is available on our privacy page.