The Australian Government has a number of processes to promote visa integrity, reflected in the high number of recent visa cancellations due to criminal convictions. False declarations or partial declarations may prevent an applicant from meeting the ‘good character’ requirement on their visa application.
Ironically, the ‘convict colony’ is cancelling visas for offences such as dishonesty on incoming passenger cards. Recently, Raymond Maxwell, a Briton living in Australia, had his visa cancelled for falsifying information on a Department of Immigration form. Mr Maxwell had a long string of criminal offences, including rape, wilful destruction of property, larceny, breach of a suspended sentence, assaulting police, assault occasioning bodily harm and social security offences. His most recent, serious offence was committed in 1995 and he had since had no recorded convictions.
Twenty years on and the straw that seems to have broken the camel’s back was simply ticking ‘no’ on his incoming passenger card where it asked whether he had any previous criminal convictions. Mr Maxwell had resided in Australia for 50 years, with a de facto partner of ten years, an adult daughter, an elderly mother, nine siblings, 81 nephews and nieces and two grandchildren.
So the moral of the story is this: always tell the truth; no matter how damning, especially when dealing with the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection. As aptly stated my Mark Twain, “if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
Migration agents are experienced in addressing various types of character issues. Contact our experienced migration agents at The Migration Place on +61 7 3229 4025 for assistance in overcoming ‘roadblocks’ in your visa application.