This sounds suspicious, but I am not menaing it to be. My partner has a criminal conviction which resulted in a 4yr incarceration. He has not been in trouble before or after this, and is indeed not a bad person or menace to society whatsoever! We have personal character references for him, from pillars of the community, and would like to migrate from NZ to Australia, but it is such a painful process of finding the right visa, applying for it, being once again told what a terrible person he is, having to prove he's not etc...all to take a lot of money and time. Is there any country in the world that does not have this judgemental rule in order to obtain entry?

Yes probably England!!!!!