Good character for supporting partners

If you apply for a visa as the partner of a New Zealander or a New Zealand visa holder, your partner is known as the 'supporting partner'.

Your supporting partner must be able to show us they are of good character. They may need to provide police certificates for proof.

Providing police certificates

If your supporting partner is a New Zealand citizen or resident

If your supporting partner is a New Zealand citizen or has a resident visa, they:

• must provide police certificates, if you are applying for a resident visa
• may be asked to provide police certificates, if you are applying for a temporary visa to visit, work or study.

If your partner needs to provide police certificates, the police certificates must be from:

• countries they are a citizen of — except New Zealand, and
• countries where they have spent 12 months or more in over the last 10 years, since they turned 17 — even if those 12 months were not all in one stay.

Police certificates must show any criminal records they have had at any time in any of these countries — not only in the last 10 years.

If your supporting partner has a temporary visa to work or study

If your supporting partner has a work or study visa, we may ask your partner to provide police certificates from:

• countries they are a citizen of, and
• countries they have spent more than 5 years in since they turned 17.

If your partner cannot prove good character

If your supporting partner cannot prove they are of good character, we may give them a character waiver. This would mean your partner would still be able to support your visa application.

If your partner has any convictions for family violence or sexual offences, they cannot support your application.

For all types of visa applications, we still may request police certificates from your partner to make sure they meet our character requirements.