You may need to provide police certificates to show your good character depending on how long you plan to stay in New Zealand and the visa you want.
About police certificates
Police certificates are official documents issued by the police or a government agency.
They:
- provide information about any criminal record you have
- are based on official records and checks
- are also called criminal checks, police clearance certificates or penal records.
How to get a police certificate
Note
Police certificates must be less than 6 months old when you submit your visa application.
Applying for a visitor, student or work visa
You must provide police certificates if your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer across all visits. This includes any time you have spent in New Zealand in the past on other visas, even if you have been out of the country since then.
Provide police certificates from any country you:
- are a citizen of, and
- any country you have lived in for more than 5 years since you turned 17.
If you are 16 years old or younger you do not need to provide police certificates.
If you have a criminal record we may still be able to grant you a visa. You can provide an explanation of your criminal record when you apply and we will decide if you meet our good character requirements.
Good character for temporary visas
Applying for a resident visa
You must provide police certificates if you are aged 17 years or older.
Provide police certificates from:
- any country you are a citizen of
- any other country where you spent 12 months or more over the last 10 years — even if that 12 months was not all in one stay.
If you have a criminal record we may still be able to grant you a visa. You can provide an explanation of your criminal record when you apply and we will decide if you meet our good character requirements.
Good character for residence visas
If you have provided police certificates before
You may not need to provide police certificates if you have provided them in a previous visa application. Check the character criteria of the visa you are applying for.
