Australian citizenship with a criminal record: the good character requirement and how it is decided

MARN 1576536

The requirement

Section 21 of the Australian Citizenship Act requires an applicant for citizenship by conferral aged 18 or over to be of good character at the time of the Minister's decision. The Act does not define good character; the courts have read it as the enduring moral qualities of a person, assessed on their conduct over time, so that a person who has offended can nonetheless be of good character where the offending is explained, is past, and is outweighed by the conduct since. It is a different test from the visa character test in section 501 of the Migration Act, which turns on sentences and a list of limbs; the citizenship test is broader in what it considers and more forgiving of a record that has been left behind. The visa character guide covers the other test.

What counts

• Convictions in Australia and in any other country, however old, including spent convictions, because the Commonwealth spent-conviction scheme does not apply to citizenship decisions and the form asks for all of them.
• Findings of guilt without conviction, good behaviour bonds, and diversionary outcomes, which are declared and weighed even though they are not convictions.
• Traffic offences dealt with by a court.
• Charges pending, which must be declared and which engage a bar.
• Conduct that did not reach a court: apprehended violence orders, child protection involvement, a visa cancellation or refusal for character or integrity reasons, a finding of false information in a visa application, tax or welfare fraud dealt with administratively, and anything else that bears on honesty and respect for the law.
• Honesty in the application itself: the answers given, and the consistency with previous visa applications and the police records.

The bars in section 24

Separately from the good character requirement, section 24 provides that the Minister must not approve an application while the applicant is subject to pending proceedings for an offence against Australian law; while confined in a prison; for a period after release from a sentence of imprisonment, where the sentence was for a serious offence; while subject to certain court orders, including some involving mental impairment; and where the person's conviction for a serious offence was within a defined recent period. The Minister must also not approve if not satisfied of the applicant's identity, or where there is an adverse security assessment. These are not weighed; they are applied. An application lodged while a bar operates waits, and is refused if the bar remains at decision. The precise periods are in the Act and are checked against the sentence and the dates before lodging.

How the Department weighs it

• Seriousness. The nature of the offence and the sentence: violence, dishonesty and offences against children weigh most.
• Recency. How long ago, and how much lawful life has passed since. Time is the strongest factor and the one the applicant controls.
• Pattern. One offence is an event; several are a disposition, and minor offences repeated over years are read that way.
• Circumstances. Age at the time, provocation, addiction since treated, the context the court accepted.
• Remorse and rehabilitation. Completion of sentences and programs, employment, family, community involvement, references from people who know the record.
• Disclosure. Whether the applicant declared everything, in this application and in earlier visa applications, and whether the account matches the records.

The decision is one of judgment, and the application is where the judgment is informed: a statement that explains the record without excusing it, the court documents, the evidence of the life since, and references that address character directly.

Traffic offences

Infringement notices paid without a court appearance are not convictions and are not declared, though a licence history with many of them can be relevant to conduct. Offences that went to court are declared: drink and drug driving, driving while suspended or disqualified, dangerous or negligent driving, and offences involving injury. The Tribunal has set aside refusals where the record was two or three minor matters over a long period, and has upheld refusals where the record was a run of driving offences showing contempt for the law, especially drink driving at high readings or driving while disqualified more than once. A driving record obtained from the state authority, with the matters explained in the statement, is lodged rather than left for the Department to find.

Pending charges

A charge pending at the time of decision bars approval. An applicant charged after lodging must notify the Department, and the application then waits for the outcome. An acquittal or a withdrawal removes the bar and the application proceeds on the rest of the record; a conviction is weighed, and a sentence of imprisonment engages the post-release bar. For most people the practical advice is to wait: an application lodged while a charge is pending cannot be approved, costs the fee, and puts the charge in front of the Department before the court has decided it. An application lodged after the matter is finalised, with the outcome disclosed and time elapsed, is a stronger one.

Disclosure and the police checks

The application form asks about convictions, charges, orders and conduct, in Australia and overseas, and requires the applicant to declare them. The Department obtains an Australian Federal Police check for every adult applicant, and police certificates from other countries where the applicant has lived, and it holds the applicant's visa history including every earlier declaration. A conviction disclosed is weighed on its merits. A conviction not disclosed and found is weighed as a conviction and as a false statement, and the false statement is the one that refuses most applications in this area, because it goes to the honesty that good character is partly about. The police checks guide covers obtaining the certificates; the rule for the form is to declare everything, and to explain it in a statement rather than leave the record to speak.

If you are refused

A refusal of citizenship by conferral on character is reviewable at the Administrative Review Tribunal within the period on the decision letter, usually 28 days, and the Tribunal decides afresh whether the applicant is of good character, on the evidence as at the Tribunal's decision, so that further time and further rehabilitation count. A refusal does not affect the applicant's permanent visa or their right to live in Australia; it is a decision that they are not yet a citizen. A fresh application can be made at any time, and the Department's own practice is that an applicant refused on character with a record that is ageing is approved on a later application when enough time has passed. The choice between review and reapplication depends on whether the refusal was wrong on the facts or merely early.

When to apply

1. Obtain your own police checks and driving record first, so that the application declares what the Department will find.
2. Check the section 24 bars against your dates: no pending proceedings, the post-release period expired.
3. Let time pass where the record is recent. Two or three years of clean conduct after a minor matter, longer after a serious one, is what the weighing rewards.
4. Write the statement: the facts, the circumstances, the responsibility taken, and the life since, with the documents.
5. Lodge when the residence requirement is also met, which the residence calculator dates.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Sections 21 and 24 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, as in force at the date above. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.