Getting into Canada DUI
 

HAs anyone travelled into or out of Canada without one of those temporary resident permits that you have to get when you get a dui, Trying to get a friend on a pinnacle who had one 5 years ago and i guess its a huge pain in the butt to get one of these things and I have heard that they never even check?

PNCL is the only airline I've seen that seems to make a big deal about that.

Not to say it doesn't affect others...but I don't recall hearing anything about it here at AWAC, or during my interviews a couple years back with PSA or ASA.

Midemeanors in Canada are checked but seems at random. Fredericton Canada is a stickler and enforces this to the tee, however Toronto and Montreal is roll of dice depending on who checks or how busy it is. It is 5 years from conviction and NOT from incident so keep that in mind.

We just got a big huge memo over at RAH about this...word on the street is now they're checking every time.

Of course, I could've been drunk when I read that...

Yeah, saw the same memo. Apparently it has to do with a new system in place that allows them to find the conviction when they process you for enty. It sucks for those that have to deal with it. Remember its only for crimes that are felonies in Canada. They happen to consider a DUI a felony up there, hence the paperwork.

I had a buddy that this happened to. You can get spiecal VISA that allows entry, it'll take at least a year to get it. He had no idea that there was such a law, his DUI was 9 yrs old. Anyway he had entered the country as a crew member (pilot) maybe 30 times and never been questioned; one day he airlined in as a passenger, thats when they caught him. He got to enter, had to pay $250 for temp VISA, but once he left he couldn't reenter. Anything like this gets flagged when you go through immigration, which generally doesn't happen to a crew member. Customs has nothing to do with it.

The word he got during his stay was that Canadian Immigration Officers have a lot of leeway in enforcing this policy. The past 3 years they have become sticklers because of the the US's ridiculous policy of requiring passports when traveling between the 2 countries.

Note: If the DUI is over 10 years old, all is forgiven. Basically my buddy's 10 years was up before he ever got the VISA.

This is correct. It is worth noting that ANY conviction is likely to be an issue, not just DUI's. Canada is a lot stricter than regional airlines, so some college silliness that didn't get you blacklisted from an airline job might still be an issue up North.

It applies to misdemeanors as well or any convictions within the last 5 years. After five years from comnviction, you apply for their rehabilitation program which costs 200.00.

Its a screwy law b/c nowhere have I been able to find a definitive list of things that meet their criteria. The biggest problem is the translation between a Canadian misdemeaor and summary offense and what the US calls a misdemeanor and summary offense.

The money isn't the problem, no amount of money speeds up th process.