Information about vetting

• The Police Vetting Service does not provide vetting checks to individuals.
• If you require a Police vet for employment or volunteer work involving children or vulnerable people, the agency employing/engaging you will need to submit a vetting request to us on your behalf. The results of the vet will be returned directly to the agency.
• If you require a copy of your Criminal Record, you can obtain this from the Ministry of Justice, which also contains information about differences between a Police vet and a Criminal Record Check.

• Your agency will need to be registered with us as an Approved Agency before you can submit vetting requests. Refer to 'Register for New Zealand Police vetting' for a list of approval criteria to become registered with us.
• Once your agency is registered, you can submit vetting requests, after obtaining the applicant’s consent, via the vetting website. Any vetting requests that are not submitted via the website (e.g. sent via email or post) will not be completed.

• For a New Zealand visa, you will need to speak to your New Zealand Immigration officer. They will submit a vetting request to us on your behalf and the result will be returned directly to them. Please do not contact the Vetting Service directly.
• For an overseas visa, refer to Vetting Process for visas. All vetting requests for visas for Australia and Switzerland need to be submitted to us by the relevant consulate or embassy. To obtain a visa for any other country, fill out a Section 14 form (DOCX 77KB) and email it to vetting@police.govt.nz naming the country for which you require the visa. The vetting results will be returned directly to the consulate or embassy.

The New Zealand Police may release any information they hold if relevant to the purpose of the vetting request. This may include:

• Conviction History Report
• Infringement/demerit reports
• Active charges and warrants to arrest
• Charges that did not result in a conviction including those that were acquitted, discharged without conviction, diverted, or withdrawn
• Any interaction had with New Zealand Police considered relevant to the role being vetted, including investigations that did not result in prosecution
• Information regarding family harm where the applicant was the victim, offender or witness to an incident or offence, primarily in cases where the role being vetted for takes place in the applicant's home environment where exposure to physical or verbal violence could place vulnerable persons at emotional or physical risk
• Information subject to name suppression where that information is necessary to the purpose of the vet

All individuals required to be Police vetted must sign the NZ Police Request and Consent Form, which authorises the disclosure of the above information.

The Police Vetting Service cannot give advice regarding what specific information will be released for your vetting request. The information released can depend on many factors and is not determined until the vetting request is completed.

If you are eligible under the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004, your conviction history will not be released unless:

• Section 19(3) of the Clean Slate Act applies to the vetting request (exception to the Clean Slate regime)
• Section 31(3) of the Children's Act 2014 applies to the vetting request (safety checks of core children’s workers)

If you are not sure if you are eligible for Clean Slate, refer to the Ministry of Justice website for information on when the Clean Slate Scheme applies, you can also request a copy of your own Criminal Record from there too.

The agency vetting you will be able to tell you if the role you are being vetted for is categorised as a Core Children’s Worker role.

If you are not sure if you have a Children’s Act specified conviction, please refer to Schedule 2 of the Children’s Act 2014 for the list of Specified Offences. You may wish to seek independent legal advice for assistance with interpreting this Act. The Police Vetting Service cannot provide legal advice.

The Police Vetting Service does not ‘approve’ or ‘decline’ vetting requests or give recommendations on suitability for employment. We only provide information to agencies to allow them to make an informed decision.