# 457 Visa conviction check **urgent**



## jc81 (Jan 2, 2013)

Hi there,

I am currently residing in Australia on a working holiday visa (417), but have secured a permanent job and am getting sponsored through this (upgraded to 457 visa). I work within finance and real estate and the company i work for is a global corporation. 

My employer has instructed a specialist solicitor to arrange sponsorship for me so that this is fast tracked, and as such all i need to do is provide relevant documents etc. 

My issue is this. In the required info part of application i have been asked to declare any previous criminal convictions, whether or not they are spent or unspent. 9 years ago i was admonished in Scotland for setting off a fire alarm in a bar. Luckily the authorities recognised it was a one off thing (stupid prank whilst at university), and that i had no other record against my name and admonished me. I have up until now believed this was not a conviction as such and that it would be long wiped off my record, however i am not so sure now. I never declared this on my 417 WHV and nothing came up so i am inclined to do the same for the 457 visa. The uncertainty is whether or not any checks Australian Immigration do would bring this up, or how deep they would look when checking a new applicant.

Ideally i would rather not tell solicitor dealing with this or my new employer. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks


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## Nelly87 (Jul 3, 2011)

I don't have any advice for you as I have no experience with this situation, but I can advise you to post this on the Visas and Immigration forum instead of the Issues and Current Events forum - there will be more people hovering around there that might just know what to tell you.


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