Travelling to Canada with a Felony Conviction
 

20 years ago I plead guilty to felony internet crimes. I was convicted and did my time. I have since had my civil rights, as well as my gun ownership rights restored.

I have an opportunity to work with a great company out of Montreal. I'll be working from home in the states, but they want me to fly to Montreal for an interview. I've already updated my passport, but now I'm reading online that Canada won't allow anyone into the country with a felony conviction. Regardless of crime or length of time. My crimes were hacking into Equifax and Transunion. This was back in 1992 - over 20 years ago.

Will they really deny me entry because of this? Do they ask you at the gate if you've ever been convicted? How do they know if you are or not? I did the time for my crime, but even after 20 years, I still feel like I'm being punished. :mad:

1
Know your conviction details. What was the charge or conviction? If you weren't convicted, there is still a strong possibility that an arrest or charge will still be on your record. Canada weighs a conviction in the United States and other foreign countries against their own legal statutes. A DUI in the United States can easily bar you from entry into Canada. On the same note a misdemeanor in the United States may be considered a more serious offense there, so do not assume your "minor" conviction isn't enough to cause a problem.
2
Gather all information about your conviction. The date you were convicted, all sentencing stipulations, probation time allotted (if applicable) and community service served. If you don't already have this information, be prepared to locate it. You will need it later.
3
Do your research beforehand. Despite some internet information out there, a criminal conviction does not automatically bar you from entry; however, it can make it very difficult. Canada requires that all persons convicted apply for rehabilitation before entry. Rehabilitation considers that five years have passed since probation or parole sentences have finished or since an incident for which you were not charged (but may still be on your record).
4
Be prepared to pay.
Be prepared to pay.
Be prepared to pay.
In order to file for Rehabilitation certification, Canada can impose an application fee from $200 to over $1,000. The amount you will pay is tied into the seriousness of your conviction.
5
Fill out your application. This requires you to give basic information about yourself, explain your conviction, the events that led up to it as well as your statement on why you feel you are rehabilitated. (See the official application for further details.) Be honest. If you lie on your application, and conflicting information turns up, you may not ever be allowed entry.
6
Allow for enough time. Processing times for your application can be as long as a year. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are quite limited. Enough cannot be said about planning in advance of a trip to Canada.
7
Understand that each person and situation are unique. Do not be discouraged by your past and assume that you will not be able to gain entry. Do your homework, contact the Consulate and proceed from there.

__________________________________________________ _____________

If you were convicted of an offense as a juvenile, you will more than likely be allowed entry. Contact the Consulate to confirm.
Contact a Canadian embassy in the United States. If you feel you need more updated or personalized information about entry into Canada, there are people in place to help you.
Consider outside help to assist you with filling out your Rehabilitation application. A knowledgeable family member or friend can help, as well as a paid lawyer or member of the Consulate may also be of service.
they offer Expedited Criminal Database Update service that cuts the time it takes to update your criminal record from nearly a year to as little as two weeks.
Consider getting your criminal record expunged before your travel, and if you already have had your record expunged make sure that your has record has been updated or removed from private background check companies. If not go visit http://www.recordgone.com/expedited-...ase-update.htm

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Travel-to-Can...-Felony-Charge

Now tell me why Ukrainians who never committed a crime are kept away under visa regime?

The most important thing is if they ask, do not lie. If you lie you'll never get in the country again. If they don't ask, don't worry about it.

don't even go to the border until you speak to a lawyer, he'll help you get the correct paper work and approval. If you show up and get turned away, it will be harder when you try again. Don't worry too much though, Canada loves letting in Criminals from all over the world as refuges.

not only that but if you tell them you are going there for a job interview they'll probably refuse you as well as most countries have a problem with people from other countries coming in to work without the proper visas.

When I was eighteen I did something dumb and was convicted of a felony. I tried to take a trip to Canada about 8 years ago and was stopped at the border. When they ran my name my conviction came up and they wouldn't let me in. Not only didn't they let me in but they kept me for about three hours and tore my car apart looking for contraband and they informed me that if I attempted to enter their country again they would arrest me. It has been over 20 years since my conviction but they didn't seem to care and they turned me around and sent me back home.

They did tell me though that if I applied to their embassy I could get some special paperwork and if I brought it back with me they would let me enter the country. I never pursued it since it was just a vacation trip and it wasn't that important to me.

well thank god we protected ourselves from your vacation dollars!

Because of the risk of them not returning to their home country. Ukrainians have a hard time getting into any country on the planet. Should be pretty apparent that the problem is not with all other countries... but maybe the Ukraine.

No matter how tough you might think it is to get into Canada with a prior, it pales in comparison to getting into the USA with a prior.

yep, i went through that. all for some stupid shit i did 17 years ago. other than losing the deposit for our hotel stay i was also fingerprinted and photographed which i do not like. i should of asked for a lawyer or something..why fingerprint me if i am not under arrest? i heard for americans going into canada you can pay right on the spot and get through but i can't say if thats really true, just what someone told me.

And how come people depend on the regime? You hate regime, dont hate people, let them fucking run free, regime will fall.

have luck on it all, Rob!

we all got to drive what we brung.

Wow. I honestly had no idea you couldn't leave the country if you have a record.

My friend has a felony for drug and weapon possession from early 2000's. he's been to Canada and Mexico a number of times and I think he even went to Europe about 3 years ago.

How do they know? From what I recall they just swipe your passport, but maybe at the time he didn't have one so there is no way to tie them together?

Anyway, good luck Rob, hope it works out. Sucks that we live in a society that you almost pay for life for things you did, even though you "did your time."

That won't work when we are trying to keep out Ukrainians.

Is there a big deal to get a 3-year visa to the USA in Ukraine? Just curious :2 cents:

Takes balls to come on to a public board and say what you just said.

Do you really think Canada is going to know you had a felony twenty years ago?

as you are familiar, if he ever gets into a spirited debate about some arcane topic like taxes in mongolia, someone here that is incapable of arguing their point properly will use that against him.

All they do is run your name and they know instantly. Recently had it happen to a friend trying to get into the us. They never refused him but told him to get a pardon for stuff he did when he was 20. Hes 40 now. They know everything.

i am pretty sure its 10 years and the slate is clean.

yes canada would

That is not what he said or implied. Canada is weird; I have gone all over but haven't bothered trying Canada because of my past.

I wouldn't have thought Canada would know about my US federal conviction from 1988, but they did. I've travelled throughout Europe, Asia, Central and South America and never had a problem - but when I checked in at the Canadian consulate in NYC they said it was in their system and I could apply for a waiver. I never bothered.

US is the same. I have also heard australia is similar. funny thing about the US, convictions 20 years old are a no no but if you are up on domestic abuse charges or DUI, they don't care. anything else you'll be treated like a shit criminal and manhandled and threatened. at least that was my experience.

Is there a Mexican forum you can visit that has middle of the night boarder crossing tips?


.

LOL ...

Not having any problems with it myself,

But I'm pretty sure canada and/or the USA can not check europe criminal records ... I think Canada and the US both have some sort of mutal agreement so they can check eachothers "criminal record database".

But thats about it.

I Could Be Wrong Though, cause I don't have a criminal record.
So I'm not a real expert

I'm guessing that if any Canadian border guards went to the site in your sig and saw all the tags for illegal/underage search terms, you'd be denied entry to there or anywhere else.

:2 cents:

The good kind of weird, though. :1orglaugh

Great advice. Make sure to go with a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing too. It's even better if it's a Canadian lawyer I would think?

You could get lucky and get called into a small room for secondary questioning. If the agent likes you he will green stamp you in the system. IF he doesnt.....

I've acquired that site. It's a search engine and you would be seriously surpriced what people are looking for. Even in google (only they not show it)

That said, I agree.... Once we have the new backend in place that issue will be fixed for sure. Not because we do something illigal (We don't host any videos and the results don't show illigal videos no matter what our surfers are looking for), but because I don't like it either.

So relax a bit dude, .... we working on it. :thumbsup


Besides ... thats not what this topic is about .. right?

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/...laws-1.1301132

I have entered the US many times; they rarely even look twice at me and they never go through my bags, which was a shocker. I only made that mistake once.

Weird in that they hold a grudge, whereas every other country I've tried to enter seems to be pretty easy.

I think this is true, but as someone already said, if he does get denied it will only hurt him for future crossings so seeking legal advice from an experienced lawyer may be a safer route.

that's because you're a US citizen. try entering the US being canadian with a criminal record. it wasn't always like this. we used to be able to cross without any questions even before 911. now any person doing so is risking having their photo and fingerprints in the US system and if you try again, you'll be arrested.

That's because you're a US citizen. The US does the same to us Canadians. Once you piss them off once, you have an enemy for life and are guaranteed to be stopped every time.

ya, its called "CPIC" ... check it out on google

all depends on the border guard.
best to get a waiver. will cost you a few $hundred though

And no answer to my question?

Why is that? I admit, I was curious (and dumb) and made a mistake when I was 18 years old. We all got busted and the "ring leader" - or lead hacker actually was the only one that didn't get charged. He was plucked from jail and made a deal to work with the Justice Department - where he is still employed.

I called the consulate yesterday, both Miami and New York, and they told me that it will be pretty easy for me to get a rehabilitation waiver because of the nature of the crime, the punishment, and how long ago it happened. I haven't done anything wrong since and am a productive member of society.

I must have said everything right because the girl on the phone was extremely helpful and willing to assist. Canadians are very helpful. :thumbsup

i can tell you from experience exactly why. i recently posted in a thread that i had partied with hard drugs years ago, it went fine, i had a good time and walked away from it all with no issues.

that was spun around and used against me at least 3 times in other threads where i was debating someone who didn't really have their argument together so they just spun my words around to try and use them against me.

it was all actually pretty funny.

Gotcha. So when they can't debate with facts, they resort to personal attacks. Love those kind of people. When they start attacking my past, I know I'm getting the best of them. :winkwink:

The UK, Australia, Japan, China, Canada and some other countries won't allow you to travel there if you've been convicted of a felony.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Very true. US Immigration pre-clearance in Montreal is notorious for treating people like the worst kind of criminals just for having something on their record. I myself have been reminded that "it's not your right to enter the United States, it is a privilege" by a US Customs agent. That's a direct quote.

A grudge? Wow, would you elaborate?

look who it is. make sure you note this thread so you can use the infos to craft one of your brilliant come backs.

Anyone or just Americans? How would Japanese know that someone from EU was convicted in the past? This info is not public.

Not 100% sure but I believe Interpol has access to those records.

Exactly. Ukrainians are filthy people, and more loathed than gypsies. Apparantly most countries reinforce this fact.

:2 cents: