Procedures

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.

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.

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 certificate 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.

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.

Specific country procedures