Good Character Requirements for Skilled Migration
Everyone entering Australia must be of good character and is assessed against character requirements. As part of this assessment, you may need to provide police clearance certificates and any other relevant evidence to prove that you are of good character.
Police Clearance Certificates
If you are applying for temporary or permanent migration to Australia then you may be asked to provide a police clearance certificate (also called Penal Clearance Certificates in some countries) for each country where you have lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years since you turned 16 years of age and/or before making your visa application. You must also declare any recorded criminal offences to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection as any undeclared offences may negatively impact your visa application.
The police clearance certificate(s) should cover the entire time you were resident in the issuing country and please note that clearance certificates are only regarded as valid by DIPB for 12 months from the date they were issued.
Please visit the DIBP Character and Police Clearance web page for detailed information on character requirements, links to different countries’ police clearance application websites and how to apply for Australian police clearance certificates.
