Spent conviction, criminal record extract and later conduct: what matters for an entry ban and Section 60 FPG.
Mag. Mirela Saric
Attorney at law · German and BCS
Mirela Saric assists clients in immigration matters with a clear structure: review the decision, secure deadlines, define the strategy and act quickly. She advises in German and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
A spent conviction can still be an important issue in entry-ban or residence-ban proceedings. Many affected persons ask whether an old matter may still be used against them when the criminal record extract no longer shows an entry. The answer depends not only on the extract, but also on the decision, the risk assessment and later evidence.
This article separates criminal record expungement from an application under Section 60 FPG. It is not a second general article on convictions and risk assessment. It focuses on evidence, time passed and later conduct.
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The answer shows whether the data position or already the Section 60 FPG application should be prepared first.
A clean criminal record extract is strong evidence. It does not automatically answer whether the earlier conviction may still matter in the immigration risk assessment. Compare the extract, judgment and entry-ban decision.
If the decision mainly relies on the earlier conviction, it must be reviewed whether that assessment still carries today. Expungement, time passed, conduct since the offence and new ties are relevant.
Good conduct, work, therapy, family and orderly departure can show that the earlier risk assessment has lost weight. These points should be collected and placed in chronological order.
Expungement affects criminal registration and the information shown in extracts. An entry ban under Section 53 FPG, however, rests on a separate immigration risk assessment. The key question is whether the authority simply repeats an old conviction or genuinely assesses current circumstances.
The article on criminal conviction and risk assessment explains the starting point. Here the focus is what a spent conviction or a no-longer-visible entry can still support.
Useful documents include the criminal record extract, judgment, payment records, probation material, employment confirmations, therapy confirmations and evidence of family ties. The point is not volume, but whether the documents show the development since the decision.
For later lifting or shortening Section 60 FPG matters. The article on lifting or shortening an entry ban explains that route.
An application is mainly realistic where new circumstances have arisen since the ban was imposed. This can include a longer offence-free period, a stable life outside Austria or new family and employment ties.
The focus page on lifting an entry ban shows how these arguments fit into a structured approach.
Important: Do not rely only on the statement that the criminal record extract is clean. For immigration law the decisive point is which facts the authority relies on in the decision and whether that assessment still carries today.
It cannot be answered that broadly. Expungement and the criminal record extract are important arguments. The authority still has to examine in the individual immigration case whether a current risk assessment remains sustainable.
A clean extract helps, but it does not replace a reasoned application. Time passed, later conduct, ties and the reasoning of the original decision should also be worked through.
Section 60 FPG applies to an existing entry ban. The question is whether the relevant circumstances have changed since the ban was imposed and whether the duration is still proportionate.
Further reading on Criminal conviction and risk assessment in connection with entry bans and immigration proceedings.
Further reading on Duration of an entry ban in connection with entry bans and immigration proceedings.
Further reading on Lifting or shortening in connection with entry bans and immigration proceedings.
Further reading on Lifting an entry ban in connection with entry bans and immigration proceedings.
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