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From: Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan
Subject: What is and what isn't a criminal record?
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 12:44:40 +0900
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Just got back from Immigration with 62 more certificates of eligibility,
 and I'm sipping a celebratory Chimay Blue since the bureaucrats just
told me we are the only school (again) in Japan to have gained 100%
approvals for more than 50 applications. Bewdy!

(Eric, you can stop reading this now)

But as is their wont, they are changing the rules again so that they can
reject more applicants from a certain country that must not be named but
may or may not be located between Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India,
Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan,
Russia, Tajikistan & Vietnam.

The new application for a certificate of eligibility ask for a Yes/No to

犯罪を理由とする処分を受けたことの有無（日本国外におけるものも含む）

If yes is circled, they want the 具体的内容 etc.

What hasn't been spelt out (it appears instead to be left to
self-regulation amongst the visa proxies) is whether "No" needs to be
accompanied with a formal document stating "The applicant has no
criminal record...", or whether the applicants themselves could provide
a statement along the lines of "I hereby declare that I blah blah
blah..." I suspect that they will soon prefer the former, as it would
increase the amount of bribes required in the country that must not be
named for an application to complete a successful application, thus
increasing the overall cost of applications and reducing the number of
applicants.

Problem for me is defining 犯罪を理由とする処分を受けたこと - I was
intending to translate it "Have you been convicted of a criminal
offence", but am worried that some applicants will interpret that as
including speeding/parking fines etc. Being arrested, questioned,
cautioned etc apparently wouldn't be an issue.

So what is a criminal record in whichever country you come from?

Does it include only prison punishments and the like (suspended
sentences, community service etc)? or does it also include fines? Are
your parking tickets (if any) part or not part of a criminal record?
Does some kid arrested once by police for possession of a small amount
of marijuana for personal use and fined or cautioned have a criminal record?

-- 
"They took you up to midnight Mass and left you in the lurch
So you dropped a button in the plate and spewed up in the church."

 - The Sickbed of Cuchulainn