3 Ways to Legally Enter Canada with a Criminal Record

Criminal inadmissibility is a situation whereby you could be denied entry to Canada on grounds of past criminal offences.

If you are guilty of a offence outside Canada that is considered criminal in both the country in which the crime took place as well as in Canada, you could be denied entry to Canada.

No matter the manner in which you want to enter Canada, you are required to have valid Passport and visa where applicable, to a border officer at the port of entry (land, air, sea).

At visa application, applicants are also usually asked to give police clearance certificates of all countries they have continuously stayed at for 6 months in a row from the age of 18.

The immigration officer on visa application and at point of entry uses these documents to access your federal criminal history report and police records, which in turn can used to denial of entry.

You may however be allowed into Canada with a criminal record under the following 3 circumstances:

Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) Application

TRP allows inadmissible persons to Canada to enter the country on a temporary basis.

U.S. citizens and permanent residents need to submit their TRP applications when they get to Canada or they can get pre-approval by submitting their application at a Canadian consulate.

Other country nationals need to submit a TRP application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) providing a compelling reason why you should be allowed to enter Canada, and why the benefits to Canada of allowing you entry outweigh potential risks.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is a permanent solution to overcome criminal inadmissibility to Canada.

Once you are rehabilitated, your criminal record cease to be grounds to deny you admission to Canada as long as you do not commit any further offenses. There are two kinds of rehabilitation.

Individual rehabilitation 

This is an option if it has been at least five years since the end of your criminal sentence.

The application fee is either $200 or $1,000, based on the severity of your conviction.

Your application for rehabilitation needs to demonstrate you have been rehabilitated and are no longer prone to conducting criminal acts.

You can do this by providing evidence such as:

1. that you have a stable lifestyle,
2. you have taken steps to improve your behavior, and/or
3. your offense was an isolated incident.

Deemed rehabilitation 

This is an option to overcome criminal admissibility to Canada if your conviction was for a less serious crime and at least 10 years have gone by since you completed your sentence.

You will automatically be deemed rehabilitated due to the lapse of time.

To be on the safe side, however, it may still be wise to get a Legal Opinion Letter should you need to prove to a CBSA officer that you should be admitted into Canada.

Legal Opinion Letter

Obtaining a Legal Opinion Letter is your third option to overcoming criminal admissibility to Canada.

Legal Opinion letters are prepared by lawyers and usually include an explanation to CBSA officers why they should permit your entry into Canada.

Things they can include in the letter are:

• that you are deemed rehabilitated,
• or your offense was isolated or not serious,
• or there is no Canadian equivalent to your offense.

Such letters can be sought in advance to support your TRP or rehabilitation application for admissibility.

Disclaimer:

Like all other information on this website, this is not legal opinion and you should seek professional legal advise well in advance of your trip to Canada so that you can enter the country without much drama.