Good Character Requirement for Australian Citizenship

Good character is one of the requirements for Australian citizenship that applicants worry about most and understand least. It is not a test and there is no score. Home Affairs looks at your history, asks police agencies for a criminal history check and decides case by case. This guide explains what the official pages say, in plain English.

What good character means

If you are aged 18 or over, you must be of good character to be eligible for Australian citizenship. Home Affairs describes good character as the enduring moral qualities of a person. When it assesses this, it considers whether you are likely to uphold and obey Australian laws and whether you will meet the responsibilities of Australian citizenship. Applicants under 18 are not assessed this way, although in some circumstances an application cannot be approved at any age, for example where there are serious criminal matters or offences.

The police check behind your application

Your application includes a consent section for the National Police Checking Service, which is delivered by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission together with Australian police agencies. By signing it, online or on paper, you allow police agencies to access your records and to share relevant information with Home Affairs. The result is a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check. Home Affairs may share information from your application with the Australian Federal Police and with the police of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

What the check can show

The criminal history information can include court outcomes and convictions, pending charges, spent convictions where the law permits, good behaviour bonds and other court orders, matters waiting for a court hearing, traffic offences and other relevant information held by police. That list is longer than many applicants expect, which is why you should think about your whole history before you apply. Home Affairs is clear on one point: having a criminal record does not automatically mean you fail the good character requirement. Each application is assessed on its own circumstances.

Be complete and accurate

Home Affairs stresses that you must give complete and accurate information in your application. You must tell the department about any convictions you have had in Australia or overseas. A traffic infringement such as an on-the-spot speeding or parking fine is not considered a conviction. If you think your police check result is wrong, you have the right to dispute it through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, which has a page on appeals and disputes. Disclose a matter rather than leave it out, because the check is designed to find it.

Overseas penal clearance certificates

An overseas penal clearance certificate, called a police check in some countries, shows whether a person has a criminal record outside Australia. For a permanent resident applying for citizenship by conferral, you give one if all of the following apply: you lived or travelled outside Australia since turning 18, in the last 10 years or since you got your first permanent visa (whichever is more recent), you spent 12 months or more outside Australia in total, and you spent 90 days or more in any one country. Home Affairs may also ask you for a certificate directly. New Zealand is handled differently: you do not get a New Zealand police certificate yourself, because Home Affairs requests it from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice, and it will ask for your consent if you have not already given it.

Getting a certificate, or explaining why you cannot

You get a penal clearance certificate from the government or law enforcement authority of the country concerned. Home Affairs lists information for specific countries on its pages for offices outside Australia, under police checks. In some countries a certificate is only available to citizens or residents of that country. If that is your situation and you cannot get one, Home Affairs asks you to contact the department instead of leaving the question blank. Start early, because overseas agencies can take time to respond, and the certificate needs to be ready when you lodge.

When an application cannot be approved

Home Affairs lists circumstances that prevent approval of a conferral application. These include being in prison in Australia, having proceedings for an offence against Australian law pending, being released from an Australian prison for less than 2 years after a serious sentence of 12 months or more, and being released for less than 10 years after a serious sentence if you are a serious repeat offender. The same applies if you are subject to court conditions such as parole, a licence, a good behaviour bond or bail where action could be taken for a breach, or if you are confined to a psychiatric institution in connection with proceedings for an offence. In most of these cases the practical answer is to wait until the circumstance has ended.

Spent convictions

You must disclose spent convictions, both Australian and overseas, in your citizenship application. The spent convictions law lets people with minor convictions disregard them after a set time. Home Affairs says a conviction may be spent if 10 years have passed since the conviction (5 years for juvenile offenders), the person was not sentenced to more than 30 months of imprisonment, the person has not re-offended in that period and no statutory or prescribed exclusion applies. Each state and territory has its own rules and its police agency applies them, so contact the relevant police agency if you are unsure how your own record is treated.

Where character fits in your plan

Character is assessed alongside the residence requirement and the rest of the eligibility rules. Its timing matters for processing time too, because Home Affairs says an application takes longer when it needs more information or has to verify what you provided. If something in your history worries you, seek advice from a registered migration agent or lawyer before you lodge. This page cannot assess your personal situation.

The Good Character Requirement for Australian Citizenship: Police Checks and Convictions