Deportation Liability upon Conviction of Crime

07 Oct Deportation Liability upon Conviction of Crime

Joffrey Baratheon is an 18-year old citizen of the Crownlands. He came to New Zealand some two years ago with his mother, Cercei who remarried a long-term expat and the first time lover Rhaegar. His best friend was an experienced immigration lawyer practising in Auckland.

While living in the Seven Kingdoms, Joffrey was an unrelenting cause of troubles, who often became the subject of his mother’s resentment. He was once convicted of mutiny and sentenced to two strokes of caning. Never learned of living in a law-abiding society, Joffrey recently engaged in a daylight altercation with a group of by-passers one of whom received a minor injury. Joffrey ended up being criminally charged with common assault, and eventually sentenced to 40 hours community service.

Cercei later instructs the immigration lawyer to prepare an application for a permanent resident visa for her and Joffrey. Unbeknownst to the immigration lawyer was Joffery’s criminal conviction which was never declared in the application properly. Cercei was gobsmacked to hear the news from the immigration lawyer that Immigration New Zealand has resorted to deporting Joffrey back to the Seven Kingdoms for two reasons: the criminal conviction and not declaring the mutiny conviction.

Under s 161 of the Immigration Act 2009, residence class visa holder may be liable for deportation upon conviction of a crime punishable by imprisonment for 3 months or more if the offence was committed within less than 24 months after first being granted a resident class visa. The common assault has the maximum sentence of up to 12 months. In addition, INZ has the power to deport Joffrey under s 158 of the Immigration Act 2009 because he didn’t properly declare the mutiny conviction when applying for the residence visa as a dependent child in her mother’s residence application.

Just when Cercei thought all the belligerent life was behind her, she found herself in trouble again because of Joffrey. Luckily though, her immigration lawyer is quite experienced in the compliance matter and managed to get Minister of Immigration to suspend Joffrey ‘s Deportation Liability upon good behaviour bond for three years. Albeit challenging, Joffrey vows to keep himself out of trouble once more.