pilotkitch

I am currently flying with a gentleman that was told he was Criminally Inadmissible to Canada. He applied for what he calls a Temporary Resident Permit and his application was denied for the reason of "No documented need for the individual to be admitted to Canada at this time". He was charged with a felony but plead guilty to misdemeanor battery. Does anyone have any advise or experience with this type of thing that I may pass along to him?

Cargo Man

If your company does regular business in Canada, and there are other folks at your company with the same problem; it may be worth it to have a lawyer work to clear up things, and maybe either share cost or better yet, get your company to foot the bill, they may do so to free you guys up for work in Canada. Good Luck.

rickair7777

This is pretty common in the airline business, since a DUI also equals criminally inadmissible.

If five years have passed since the conviction, you can apply for a special entry permit. You can then get in, but will not breeze through customs like other crew...you have to go talk to the heavies in the room off to the side which may or may not take some extra time. Your crew will be annoyed that they have to wait for you.

But if it's inside the five year window, you are generally hosed, although I have also heard of various legal loopholes, the main one being canadian residency. You might try a canadian immigration lawyer?

Airline pilots in that situation simply bid-avoid canada.

tortue

Sorry for the late reply, but I was in the same boat.

I was deemed inadmissible ~2-3 years ago and was put in the "serious criminality" bracket (which means no entry, period - the 5 expiration year thing does not apply in that case). The crime in this case, was a misdemeanor from 10+ years ago. What makes "serious criminality" a pain is because of the way Canada equates a crime in the US to laws on their books. What they do is translate a crime into Canada then automatically sentence you to the maximum penalty in Canada. Their logic is because you never had a trial in Canada, they have to give you the maximum. If that maximum passes a certain threshold of years, then it falls into the serious bracket.

I applied for rehabilitation, paid my $1,000 and spent about $100-200 in paperwork (fingerprints in all the states you lived in the past 10 years). After a few months of submitting, I got my interview at the consulate. My interview went well and several months later I got my permit to enter Canada. Of course, this is all contingent on things going smoothly. If your interview goes south, you are out of luck, period. Whatever you do, do not say "I was young and stupid" or "I don't know what I was thinking". Be honest and truthful and explain why you are not a risk or would not do anything bad again.

The procedure does take a bit longer when you enter Canada, as you have to go in the back with immigration. Then, you have to deal with the fact that they rarely see this sort of paperwork and spend about an additional 10 minutes reading over the paperwork.

Also, if you are deemed inadmissible - do not attempt to go into Canada. The first time, they'll be nice and send you back (if you are going on your own dime, expect to pay your way back). In my case, I was taking Porter into Toronto City Centre and they wanted $450 on the spot or spend the weekend plus who knows how long in a Canadian immigration cell/jail. I paid the $450, then called Citibank when I got back stateside and said I was under duress ($450 or go to jail is kind of unfair). Citi agreed and executed the chargeback against Porter with success. If you attempt to go in again, I've heard they'll just flat out detain you on the spot.

Also, do not trust anything the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) says to you. They straight up lied to me saying "oh you can go on the Internet and fill out this form and be back in a week". All bs to get you out of their way. Even the Canadian immigration folks say they are not to be trusted to provide you any accurate information (basically, they make stuff up).

I did all of the above without a lawyer. I looked into using one, but they were all rip-offs from what I could tell. Most wanted 3-5k up front and they were very vague about the outcomes and how the whole process worked.

fjetter

Figured I'd bring this one back after a search rather than start a new thread.

Here's my situation:
In 2005 I was arrested for Public Intoxication while in college. It is my only item on my record and have not had any alcohol related problems since. I know DUI's are a no go for entry into Canada without a bunch of paperwork. Any one know if Public Intoxication is a crime for which you may be found criminally inadmissible to enter Canada.

I am currently in the process of applying to the airlines again and want to make sure Canadian trips will not be an issue.

tortue

The issue may only come up if they perform secondary screening on you. That's when they look into the database shared from the US. Otherwise regular screening will not reveal it.

It really depends how the Canadians have decided to translate that particular criminal statue into Canadian law plus whatever the Canadians feel is the maximum penalty (since you weren't tried in Canada, they assume the worst).

I'd recommend contacting (or visiting, which is better) the nearest Canadian consulate and show them the paperwork & criminal statues to inquire if you would be deemed criminally inadmissible. Ideally, they should be able to tell you yes or no. The problem is that the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) operates at their own discretion, so they could decide to be mean and deny you anyways.

Flightnurse

The question is were you convicted. That is what they will look for. If that is the case than check with your closest Canadian consulate they will look at the case and length of time since conviction. Weapons related offences tend to be a stopper but Public intoxication is not unknown in Canada.

Going to a border crossing is not the best way to get info as they are often busy and are suspicous by nature. I am a Canadian but a permanent resident of the US so I tend to deal with the US border services.

ddd333

Does anyone know the Canadian policy on non-conviction dispositions?
For instance, an offence that was plead "guilty" for a plea bargian that resulted in a disposition of "Judgement Withheld/Supervision".
Technically no conviction occured, driving privileges never lost, and the offense is not listed on the National Driver Register.
Should one still be concerned about entering Canada?

rickair7777

I suspect they get their info via INTERPOL, and I suspect (but don't know) that only hard-and-fast convictions show up.

Try calling a Canadian consulate or embassy and ask. I might avoid giving them your name though...

ddd333

Thanks for the reply. But what do you mean by "hard and fast" convictions? Also, is there a way to see or pull my INTERPOL record?