6. Managing Requests for Overseas Travel

Introduction

This chapter outlines information and procedures for managing requests from offenders to travel overseas.

It is not usual for an offender subject to community detention (CD) to be permitted to travel overseas. However, requests to travel overseas may be approved if:

• there are exceptional circumstances, and
• the offender meets the CPPS approval criteria for travel overseas.

Note: Each request must be considered on its own merit.

Sentence cannot be transferred to another country

A sentence imposed in a New Zealand court can only be administered in New Zealand. Responsibility for administering a sentence cannot be transferred outside New Zealand. An offender cannot serve a sentence imposed in New Zealand while outside the country.

Who may approve requests

Approval for an offender on CD to travel overseas must be given:

• by an area manager if the proposed travel does not impact on any curfew period.
• by a regional manager if the proposed travel does impact on any curfew period.

Exceptional circumstances

Exceptional circumstances must exist for an offender under the management of CPPS to be granted permission to travel overseas.

Note: The maximum length of CD is six months, so there will be very few situations in which overseas travel is approved.

Exceptional circumstances require a:

• humanitarian situation such as a family crisis
• substantive reason that could be seen to contribute to the rehabilitation or reintegration of the offender (and the offender is also subject to a supervision or intense supervision sentence), and
• good reason why the travel could not wait until the completion of the sentence/order.

Examples:

• travel to care for a critically ill, close family member
• travel to access medical care unavailable to the offender in New Zealand.

Examples that would not be considered exceptional circumstances for offenders on CD are:

• holidays, and
• sporting events.

Approval criteria

Offenders who provide evidence of exceptional circumstances must also meet the following criteria, if approval is to be given:

• If the offender is under the age of 18 years, they must have the consent of their parents or guardians. The passport authority requires a certificate to this effect.
• In the case of a proposed long-term absence, if the offender has dependent children and/or partner, they must have made arrangements for any family support payments to be made.
• In the case of a proposed long term absence, the offender's income must be derived from sources other than wages or salary and they must have obtained a certificate declaring that income tax obligations have been met.
• If the offender proposes to have children under 18 years travel with them, they must have obtained consent from the other parent/s and/or guardian/s.
• There must be arrangements in place, with the collections unit of the court, to pay installments on outstanding fines and reparation throughout the absence.
• The police must not have any concerns about the offender's proposed travel and/or that the offender is involved or suspected of involvement with organised crime or an extremist political organisation.
• The offender must hold a current passport and return travel tickets.
• The offender must meet the requirements of the destination country. The offender must confirm this with the relevant high commission or consulate and provide proof of confirmation to the probation officer.

Categories of request

Requests from offenders to travel overseas will fall into one of two categories:

• Requests to travel overseas that do not impact on the offender's ability to meet the requirements of their CD or on CPPS's ability to effectively manage the sentence. These requests will usually relate to travel overseas for a short period of time.

Example: An offender who is proposing to travel between curfews.

• Requests to travel overseas that do impact on the offender's ability to meet the requirements of their CD or on CPPS's ability to effectively manage the sentence. These requests will usually relate to travel overseas for an extended period or indefinitely.

Example: An offender who is proposing to travel during a period where they are subject to curfews.

Requests that impact on an offender's ability to meet CD requirements

If an offender makes a request to travel overseas that will impact on their ability to meet the requirements of their CD, the request to travel cannot be approved unless an application for cancellation or variation of the sentence/order is made to, and approved by, the court.

A probation officer may make an application for cancellation or variation or assist the offender to make such an application if:

• exceptional circumstances exist
• the offender meets the approval criteria, and
• the service manager and/or area manager agree that the travel is appropriate.

Reference: Volume 3B, Part V, Applications to Court, for more information about making applications for variation or cancellation. (Please refer to the related links section on this page).

If exceptional circumstances do not exist, the offender does not meet the approval criteria and/or the relevant manager does not agree travel is appropriate, then the offender should be advised that they should seek legal advice and that they may prepare their own application for variation or cancellation.

Steps to take

The following table outlines the steps to take when an offender subject to a CD sentence or order makes a request to travel overseas.