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Immigration Act 2009

Repeals, transitional provisions, saving provisions, and related matters - Transitional and savings provisions - Turnaround, revocation of permits, removal, deportation, and monitoring

431: Deportation liability of residence class visa holder convicted of criminal offence

You could also call this:

“You can be deported for crimes if you have a residence visa, even if you got it recently”

This law is about when you can be deported if you have a residence class visa and you commit a crime. It applies to people who were allowed to live in New Zealand without needing a special permit before the new immigration rules started.

If you were outside New Zealand just before the new rules began, and then you got a residence class visa after being away for less than 5 years, this law affects you. For the purposes of deciding if you can be deported, the law says that you first got your residence class visa on the day you first came to New Zealand without needing a permit.

This means that even if you got your actual residence class visa later, the law treats it as if you’ve had it since you first arrived. This is important because there are rules about how long you need to have lived in New Zealand before you can be deported for committing a crime.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1441381.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Immigration and citizenship > Border control
Crime and justice > Criminal law
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430: Person subject to section 128 or 128B of former Act, or

“Rules for people affected by old immigration law sections now under new law”

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432: Revocation of permits, removal orders, and deportation orders, or

“Rules for cancelling visas and removing people under the old immigration law”

Part 12 Repeals, transitional provisions, saving provisions, and related matters
Transitional and savings provisions: Turnaround, revocation of permits, removal, deportation, and monitoring

431Deportation liability of residence class visa holder convicted of criminal offence

  1. Subsection (2) applies to a person if he or she—

  2. was exempt from the requirement to hold a permit under Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Immigration Regulations 1999; and
    1. was outside New Zealand immediately before the commencement of section 404 of this Act; and
      1. on or after the commencement of section 404 of this Act is granted a residence class visa following a continuous period of absence from New Zealand of less than 5 years.

        1. For the purposes of section 161 of this Act, the person first holds a residence class visa on the date he or she first entered New Zealand and was exempt from the requirement to hold a permit under Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Immigration Regulations 1999.