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 a community based sentence 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

The following Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS) staff may approve requests for an offender serving a sentence of community work (CW) to travel overseas:

• in the case of an offender subject to life parole, the general manager CPPS, and
• in all other cases, an area or regional manager (where it is unclear whether to approve a request, the request should be escalated to the regional manager).

If the offender is also subject to another sentence or order, the request to travel overseas must be discussed with the staff member(s) supervising the other sentence(s).

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, an offender only subject to a sentence of CW should be advised to complete their CW hours as quickly as possible. They will then be free to travel overseas without any restrictions from CPPS.

Any appeal against a decision relating to a request to travel overseas must be treated as a formal complaint, and managed using the complaints procedure.

Exceptional circumstances

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

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
• 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 generally be considered exceptional circumstances are:

• holidays, and
• sporting events.

Approval criteria

Offenders who provide evidence of exceptional circumstances may be approved to travel overseas if the following criteria are met:

• 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) or guardian(s).
• There must be arrangements in place with the Department of Collections to pay instalments on outstanding fines and reparation throughout the absence.
• The police do not have 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.

Category of request

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

• Requests to travel overseas that do not impact on the offender's ability to meet the requirements of their sentence 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 days they usually report for CW.

• Requests to travel overseas that do impact on the offender's ability to meet the requirements of their sentence 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 is proposing to travel for an extended period that will impact on their ability to complete the requisite number of hours within the specified timeframe.

Note: All requests made by offenders who are also subject to home detention (HD) or parole/extended supervision with full residential restrictions (RR) fall into this category. Any travel overseas, whether for a short duration or otherwise, will directly impact on their ability to meet the core requirements of their sentence/order.

Requests that impact on an offender's ability to meet sentence / order requirements

If an offender makes a request to travel overseas that will impact on their ability to meet the requirements of their CW, the request to travel cannot be approved unless an application for cancellation or variation of the sentence 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.

Exception: Life parolees - only the general manager CPPS can approve travel or make an application.

Reference: See Volume 2, Part VIII, Applications to Court, for more information about making applications for variation or cancellation of CW. (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 service manager/area 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 community-based sentence or order makes a request to travel overseas.