Some employers require you to disclose your criminal record as part of your application for employment. You may also need to declare any criminal history dependant on where you travel to overseas.
An employer or potential employer may ask you to undertake a ‘Criminal Record Check’. This will show them any criminal convictions that you have on your record. This is because some jobs require you to not have any criminal convictions of a certain type. In particular police officers, child care workers and ambulance officers will need to provide a criminal record.
If you want to travel overseas you will usually need to declare any criminal record that you have. The country that you are trying to visit will determine whether they will let you into the country after reviewing your criminal record.
After a certain period of time with no further offences being committed, some convictions become ‘spent’. This means you no longer have to be disclose them when asked if you have been convicted of an offence. The crime free time limits are 10 years for an adult and 3 years for a child.
The following offences will remain on your record forever and are not eligible to become ‘spent’. They will always need to be declared:
- Convictions that resulted in over 6 months imprisonment;
- Convictions for sexual offences;
- Convictions against a company;
These parameters may change depending on regulations.
Certain areas of employment are exempt from spent conviction legislation. This means that you will need to disclose all of your convictions if asked, whether or not it has been more than 10 years of being conviction free.
It is therefore important that you see a Lawyer so that you can avoid any criminal convictions being recorded on your record if possible.
Please note the answers provided are for your general information only and we ask you to call our office on 02 6331 2911 to obtain detailed legal advice for your individual situation.
Alice Cheek | Criminal Law Solicitor