Other Australian Specialist Areas:
Character Checks

Character concerns such as criminal conduct, a substantial criminal record or involvement in criminal activities may affect your Australian migration or residency application.

As you consider immigration to Australia, you may wish to use the information below to consider:

• The circumstances in which character checks are required
• The procedures for such checks
• When such checks are not required and why that is so
• The avenues of review or appeal of decisions on character requirements

Overview of Australian Character Requirements
Review Rights
Refugees (National Security & Public Order)

Overview of Australian Character Requirements

The policy objective behind the character requirement is explained in departmental policy issued 22 April 1997, as follows:

"The overall objective of the character requirement is to exclude from Australia persons whose conduct or association with individuals or organisations is such that the presence of such persons in Australia would not be in the interests of the Australian community or a segment of that community."

The Migration Act enables the Department of Immigration to refuse to grant a visa or cancel a visa of a person already in Australia if satisfied that they:

• Would be likely to engage in criminal conduct in Australia;
• Represent a danger to the Australian community
• Would vilify a section of the Australian community
• Would incite discord in Australia
• Are 'not of good character'

Where the entry into Australia of a person raises concerns for the same reasons, the Migration Regulations also provide a further basis for these matters to be considered in granting a visa. Most visa subclasses require the applicant to meet public interest criteria. The most important of these requires the Department of Immigration to be satisfied that an application is not one that should be refused before granting a visa, so the same considerations arise as described above.

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Review rights

Appeals against character visa refusals or cancellations go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) not the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT).

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Refugees (National Security & Public Order)

Persons who satisfy the Convention definition of a refugee may be refused a protection visa if they fall within the provisions of Articles 32 and 33 of the Convention. Art.32 provides for the expulsion of refugees only 'on grounds of national security or public order.' Art.33 prohibits the refouler of a refugee unless:

"there are reasonable grounds for regarding [him] as a danger to the security of the country in which he is, or who, having been convicted by a final judgement of a particularly serious crime, constitutes a danger to the community of that country."

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