Are you planning a business trip, semester abroad or vacation to Canada? If you want to visit, say, Vancouver, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Stratford-upon-Avon, Toronto or any other destination within our northern neighbor’s borders, make sure you have no criminal or operating-under-the-influence convictions in your past. Since 2003, more than 18,000 U.S. citizens have been refused entry at the Canadian border because of such convictions. It doesn’t matter if the conviction was 10 or 20 years ago. If it’s recorded on State Police or FBI databases then Canadian border officers can find it. Any such conviction is grounds to deny entry to Canada.
Immigration lawyers report a recent stepped-up number of individuals who have been refused entry for past convictions. The elevated scrutiny and law-enforcement activity at the borders comes as more and more personal and historical information on individuals becomes available on the internet through initiatives and databases brought into play by the Department of Homeland Security.
Not every person who attempts a border crossing gets this type of background check performed upon them, but every person is a potential target. Border guards select individuals at their discretion for such checks and can do so at any time to anyone. Being subjected to a background check may be determined by arbitrary and unpredictable criteria such as demeanor, apparent race and ethnicity, age, sex, or sometimes perhaps just the officer’s gut instinct or current mood. Tourists, new hires for Canadian jobs, students, would-be gamblers, professional athletes, truckers, and professionals en route to educational meetings are among the many classes of people who’ve been caught in the web of heightened border security and turned back.
To avoid the disappointment (and humiliation) of not being allowed to cross Canada’s border, those with a past conviction can take one of several steps to ensure this won’t happen. If the criminal conviction is a misdemeanor, was resolved over 5 years ago, and if it is the only criminal conviction the person has ever had, then he or she may be eligible to have the conviction expunged from their record. Once it has been expunged, the conviction will not show up in background checks.
Expungement is not allowed for some types of criminal convictions, such as for sexual offenses and felonies which can be punished by a life sentence. Expungement also is not allowed for criminal driving offenses, such as operating-under-the-influence, driving without a license, etc.
Individuals with non-expungable convictions do have some other options available to them. One alternative is to apply for a temporary resident permit, at a fee of $100. The application form for this permit can be obtained at border crossing stations, but generally needs to be done in advance of an attempted crossing, as the permit is not usually granted on the spot. It is good for one visit only. Another means of getting permanent border-crossing approval for people with past convictions is to apply, with the help of a Canadian attorney, for a “rehabilitation certificate.”
Sterling Law Office immigration attorneys will assist clients in expungement of eligible criminal convictions, completing temporary Canadian resident applications, and identifying attorneys in Canada experienced with Canadian immigration law and procedures. In an era of police and government access to virtually everything there is to know about individual citizens, mistakes of the past can bring additional punishment in the present. Sterling Law office advocacy helps prevent that.
Sterling Law attorneys are members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Posted by Mary Wreford; Approved by Lea Ann Sterling, Esq., March 6, 2008
The information presented in this article is for general information only and should not be construed to be legal advice.