[mossum]

I 've done a check on previous threads but not really brought anything useful up .

DH was a bit naughty 14 years ago (pre me ! ) & NZIS have asked us for details so they can consider a character waiver . Please anyone with any details - could you let me know - basically I know what we need to write - foolishness of youth , long time ago , exemplary citizen since etc etc .

If you are'nt comfortable posting about your experience I'd appreciate a PM & promise to be very discreet .

please please don't let us fall down this far in :confused:

vic x

[willsken]

Hi Vic

Can't help with the question, but just wanted to say good luck and I really really hope this works out. I'm sure if this was 14 years ago and you can get some "up-standing" members of society to write character references it will be OK. It's amazing how often you hear of thing we did in the past come back to haunt us. Got everything crossed for you. :nice1

[mossum]

Thanks nicola & to those who PM'd me .

Well after a fraught weekend we've written our letter to our case officer - Natalie Swann - full of the obligatory groveling . DH has been quiet & upset all weekend - poor thing - it seems very unfair as he was young & silly . But we understand rules are rules .

Mind you Mum informs me this week that the paedofile rapist who won the lottery here in the UK whilst on parole has been granted residency under the investor category & has been granted a new NZ identity - just let them not let us in for something & nothing - grr

I realise that this is an extremly sensitive issue & once again wish to thank all who took the time to PM me with their individual accounts of character waiver

heres to success :cheers

vic x

[mossum]

Hi all

Just wanted to bump this up to the top again in the hope that it might help someone else . We wrote our letter for DH & I'm pleased to announce DH has his character waiver .

Important to remember to be honest , & forthright about what happened & why , Why its important for you to go to NZ & express regret at the incident . Also mention your model citizenship since .

..... think thats all , like I said i just hope that anyone else searching for positive experiences of character waiver might find this & get some reassurance .


vic x

[baboonworld]

congrats!

[mea]

This case sounds very much like ours, except my partner wasn't asked for a character waiver, I only found out about them this week when somebody referred me to the NZIS operations manual.

My partner applied under the skilled migrant category and his application has been declined, when he asked why they told him it was because of character, he says he can't understand it because it was just misdemeanors and it was in '93. So, I've been googling and reading forums trying to see if there is something we can do, which is how I first learned about character waivers.

I noticed that mossum said that NZIS asked them for information so that they could consider a character waiver, but my partner wasn't asked about that, so I am wondering if he can apply and what he would need to do.

Any information would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you

[jailhouse]

Thanks nicola & to those who PM'd me .

Well after a fraught weekend we've written our letter to our case officer - Natalie Swann - full of the obligatory groveling . DH has been quiet & upset all weekend - poor thing - it seems very unfair as he was young & silly . But we understand rules are rules .

Mind you Mum informs me this week that the paedofile rapist who won the lottery here in the UK whilst on parole has been granted residency under the investor category & has been granted a new NZ identity - just let them not let us in for something & nothing - grr

I realise that this is an extremly sensitive issue & once again wish to thank all who took the time to PM me with their individual accounts of character waiver

heres to success :cheers

vic x

I cannot believe what i have just read. NZIS have let a Paedophile into the country, a rapist to boot, and given him a new identity, :mad: all because he has won the lottery!!!! Sorry, call me old fashioned, but HOW can this happen, is it true money talks? As soon as the person arrived on the soil of the Big Cloud, someone should have been there to drop him into the sea a long way from land (or would that be pollution) :exit

Whats the next move of this person (with the new identity) apply for a job in education, welfare, health care, or god forbid, child services.

Sorry to rant, but this kind of thing turns my stomach.

jh

[mea]

If you are uncomfortable about replying please send me a pm, I'm feeling rather lost here and not sure where else to turn, I felt sure somebody here would be able to help. As mossum said I realise this is a sensitive issue and I completely understand that, but if you feel comfortable please pm me, I would really appreciate it.

[wilson182]

I was a little surprised to read that you had been declined. We arrived in May 04 and initially applied for a two year work permit. Now, my OH has a checkered past also :eek: , He never served time and his last offence was 1989 I think. We explained this to the immigration officer and he asked that we produce a police certificate to check, which we did. They checked it over and were happy, they could clearly see that OH is now a mature family man and this was more of a misspent youth kinda thing. By the time it came to applying for PR, it never came up as an issue. Do you have the option to appeal?

[mea]

Well, my partner is still in america (maybe it would have been simpler if he'd come here on a visitors visa and then looked into something else. hindsight hey :/) and I was thinking maybe NZIS figured if they declined it he wouldn't be bothered pursuing it any further. But it all seems a little hinky to me as I phoned NZIS on friday to ask some general questions (like how do we apply for a character waiver which I didn't get a straight answer to) and they said it should say exactly why he was declined on his letter, but he told me that all they said was it was declined, so he asked why and they just said character. So, I don't really know what's going on :(
Maybe we've just been dealing with the wrong people.
And I'm still trying to find out anything I can about character waivers, I've been feeling like this is a brick wall :(

[Avalon]

Mea - I have no advise on Character Waivers - but what I can say is this - dont bother asking "general" questions of NZIS. I think you need to be dealing soley with a case officer if you have one - and if not - write to the branch manager of the office you ahev been dealing with.

Explain that they have offered no reason for declining residency (having double checked the letter), and they have not offered you the chance of a Character Waiver or an appeal. If you can - check to see if theres anything in the Operations manual that says they HAVE TO provide these things. This is an area I know nothing about - but if they were supposed to tell you things and they didnt - they are breaching proceedure -and that can make life a bit easier for you in a lot of ways.

Kick up a stick if you have tyo - but dont take this lying down. They have let people in with quite horrendous criminal backgrounds - so a bit of a problem in the past should not deter them. If you can find real details about the above Paedophile case - you may want to consider quoting it - and you may want to look into teh case of Michael Barrymore - who despite a drug record and an (thus far unproven) involvenmt in the death of a young man - both have managed to get NZ residencey. I dont know enough about either case to really help - but there may be something in there that woudl help you out.

Hugs

Hxxx

[wilson182]

Hi Mea

When we were living in England there were big flash adverts in the local paper (Want to Live In New Zealand!! Contact Me.... NO PR NO Fee). We went to see the chap who took great delight in telling us his credentials and how big he was in the immigration side of things..... Then he read my husbands police record!!!! And we were escorted from his office!! (Not really ;) ) To say he was shocked would be an understatement, he told us there was no way in hell would he even consider looking at our case (Honestly, it was just a misspent youth as a "lad on the town", he never did time) So after hearing this from this "expert" we were aprehensive as to our chances of visiting NZ let alone gaining PR. ;) Fast forward a few years, we decided to come on "holiday" I loved the place, the kids loved the place, Hubby was OK. We wanted to live here, so three weeks into the "holiday" OH applied for a job. The following day he got his contract so the next morning he stood in a queue for three hours at the immigration office to apply for his work permit. He sat with a immigration officer, face to face, and was asked to explain his record and her reply was, although she wanted to see the police records it was clear that this was a case of a misspent youth and she could see that now he was a family man. She accepted that on face value, the point is - anything can look bad on a piece of paper until you find out the facts. (Sorry for the waffle - OH has dictated this!!)

Is there no way your OH can approach immigration in the US and put his case forward, or even come over on a visitors visa and try it that way.??

[mea]

Thank you so much for your posts. Everything you're saying is helping me to feel better and giving me hope that we still have a chance. I've been up and down all week, someone suggested character references and I thought that's a great idea (I asked NZIS if that would help and the person I was talking to said they didn't know, which depressed me), the same person referred me to the operations manual where I learned about character waivers, so I've been trying to find out about them now and I can see from your posts, that this isn't the end of the road :)
I haven't actually had a chance to tell the OH about any of this yet, we haven't talked since he told me his application was declined, he's working full-time, (and I phoned just a little while ago and he's had to work Saturday because he couldn't work one day this week because of the weather), so hopefully I'll get to talk to him tomorrow and tell him about all this. The most frustrating part for him I think is the thought that he can only email them (and he doesn't have access to a pc right now and with working full-time he doesn't have a lot of free time) and it seems that he's done what he thought he needed to and been told no dice and he thinks this is it. So, when I get to tell him all this I'm sure it will cheer him up considerably!!!
Maybe we can discuss him coming over on a visitors visa and we can both go in to NZIS office and talk to someone.

Again, I thank you so much for your posts and if anyone else has anything more to add I'd love to hear it :) I'd still like to know if there is a way he can apply for a character waiver or if that is only an option if NZIS ask you for information so they can consider it.