Hong Kong

Procedures

Applicants for visas and permits must be of good character. You may have to supply a police certificate (or similar) as evidence of good character, depending on which policy 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 visa or permit. 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 unless you can provide satisfactory evidence that you have never lived there.

Sponsors of applicants for residence under partnership policy

• All sponsors of people applying for residence under partnership policy must provide certificates at the time a residence application is lodged, unless there is a different instruction in the country-specific information (see below).

• Sponsors 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, then Immigration New Zealand will obtain the New Zealand police certificate after you submit this form.)

• Police certificates must be less than six months old at the time the applicant lodges their residence application.

Temporary entry visa or permit

• 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, unless they can provide satisfactory evidence that they have never lived there.

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 procedure for Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Police will not issue a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction (NCC) without a letter of authority signed by an immigration officer on behalf of the Branch Manager, Immigration New Zealand, Suite 6508, Central Plaza, 18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Applicants resident in Hong Kong – you will be provided with the letter of authority and instructions for obtaining your NCC with the Application for Residence form and, if required, with the Application for Student, Worker or Visitor form.

Applicants resident outside Hong Kong – you should provide a completed and signed Fingerprint Consent Form which can be obtained from the Hong Kong Police website at www.info.gov.hk/police.

And you should obtain an explanatory letter from Immigration New Zealand and send it with your application to:

The Commissioner of Police
(Attn: OC CNCC)
14/F, Arsenal House, Police Headquarters
1 Arsenal Street
Wan Chai
HONG KONG

 

You should provide:

1. the required fee
2. a photocopy of your Hong Kong Identity Card or travel document, showing the Chinese Commercial Code numbers if Chinese characters can be used in the applicant’s name
3. a full set of fingerprints of the applicant, taken and certified by a recognised and official police or law enforcement agency where the applicant presently resides. Certification of the fingerprints taken must clearly state:
   • the name and rank of the person taking the fingerprints
   • the full name of the police or law enforcement agency
   • the date and place taken.