Dear Agent

Thanks so much for the great interview the other week. Sorry I could only catch you for such a short chat - work is so busy! I'm really pleased to say that Sam and I are falling more and more in love by the day. I really do think this is the one!

While I know it will be a while before we figure out what we are going to do in terms of a visa application, an issue has come up that I thought I should seek your advice on now.

I hope you won't think any less of us, but on May 11^thSam and I were having a romantic picnic on a beach about 80km from home, admittedly in breach of the existing COVID-19 restrictions. Our sunset dinner was interrupted by police carrying out a routine inspection.

The police were prepared to let us off with a warning but, to our shame, they discovered a small bag (approx. 200gms) of marijuana which fell out of Sam's bag just as we were packing up our belongings.

Now Sam has a fine of $1,334 for breaching COVID-19 movement restrictions AND she faces a criminal charge of possession. We're totally freaking out. It's the first time Sam has ever been in trouble with the law!

Will this have an impact on a potential future partner visa application or if Sam wants to become a citizen one dayjQuery224036205151058519136_1590859183915?

compare and contrast therequirements that would apply respectively to an application by Sam for:

Permanent residency on a partner visa; and

Conferral of Australian citizenship

explain the approach you have used to interpret the character requirements for both applications, including any legislation, policy and case law you have used in conducting the interpretation;

provide a summary of each character requirement, and explain how they differ;

set out your initial assessment as to whether Sam would face any difficulties in either application, in light of the circumstances reported to you by Ash in the above email.

You are not required to consider any of the other requirements for either a partner visa or citizenship.

For the purposes of this assessment you are not required to undertake any legal research as to the criminal aspects of the case. As such, you can assume:

the legal validity of the $1,334 fine and

pursuant to the QueenslandDrugs Misuse Act 1986, possession of marijuana can attract a maximum penalty of 3 years' imprisonment, however it is open to the court to refer a first time offender to diversionary counselling in lieu of a conviction.