Canada is an immigrant-friendly country with rules and procedures in place to help those who want to migrate to make their journey as simple as possible. It does, however, have harsh restrictions, such as making it illegal to enter Canada if you’ve committed certain crimes. Professional immigration attorneys in UAE can provide you with detailed information on this subject, as well as suggestions on how to overcome this barrier if your offence is not severe.
What Does Criminally Inadmissible Mean?
This term refers to individuals who are not permitted to enter or remain in Canada because they have committed or have been convicted of a crime. That crime might have happened in or out of Canada.
One of the most prevalent causes of a person’s inability to enter Canada is criminal inadmissibility. Understanding the different sorts of convictions in Canada might help you evaluate if your criminal charge will make you ineligible.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, offences are classified into one of three categories: summary, indictable, or hybrid.
Straight summary offences are often regarded as the least serious of the three in terms of both crime and sentence. A person accused of a summary conviction offence is not required to appear in court. Unless the judge orders the person charged to appear, a lawyer or an agent may attend in court on their behalf. Straight indictable offences are more serious offences with harsher punishments. A person charged with an indictable offence will be arrested if police have reasonable reasons to think that the individual has done or is about to commit an indictable offence. A hybrid offence is one in which the prosecution can choose whether to continue with the offence as a summary conviction offence or as an indictable offence based on considerations such as the nature of the accused’s acts and the harm inflicted.
Crimes That Can Make You Ineligible for Entry into Canada
- DUI (including DWI, DWAI, reckless driving, etc.)
- Drug possession/trafficking
- Property crimes
- Credit card fraud
- Sex trafficking
- Money laundering
- Sexual assault
- Stalking
- Wire fraud
- Battery
- Cyberbullying
- Hate crimes
- Forgery
etc.
These are only a handful of the innumerable offences that, if committed by you, will result in your inability to enter Canada.
Driving under the influence charges is a typical ground for a foreign national’s criminal inadmissibility to Canada. Even if your DUI conviction was many years ago, it might still have an impact on your eligibility to enter Canada. However, if you have a DUI conviction, you can still enter Canada.
Drug Possession in Canada
As of October 2018, it is legal in Canada to possess up to 30 grams of legal dried cannabis. Possession of unlawful marijuana that was not acquired from a licensed merchant, on the other hand, is still a summary conviction charge. As a result, you may be barred from entering Canada as a result of this offence. If you have been convicted of more than one summary crime such as creating a disturbance, joyriding, dining and dashing, committing an indecent act in public etc., your ability to enter Canada may be hampered.
Can You Enter Canada If You’re Criminally Inadmissible?
If you are inadmissible, you cannot normally enter or stay in Canada. There are, nevertheless, ways to overcome your criminal inadmissibility.
If you are ineligible, you may be able to reapply if you do the following:
- convince an immigration or border services official that you meet the legal conditions to be considered rehabilitated
- apply for and be authorised for individual rehabilitation
- get a pardon or record suspension
You may also be granted a temporary residence permit if you meet the following criteria:
- your reason to travel to Canada is considered justified in the circumstances
- you do not represent a risk due to your inadmissibility.
Visits that are deemed necessary may involve family emergencies or business conventions. In most cases, pleasure vacations are not regarded as justified under the conditions.
Steps That You May Take To Overcome Criminal Inadmissibility
Your choices for overcoming criminal inadmissibility will be determined by when and where the crime was committed, as well as the gravity of the offence.
To be accepted, you must be deemed rehabilitated if you were convicted of a crime outside of Canada. If it has been more than five years after the completion of your sentence for a crime committed outside of Canada, you may be entitled to petition for rehabilitation. If you have been out of prison for more than ten years, you may already be considered rehabilitated.
on the occasion that your license is suspended as part of your sentencing for a driving-related violation, the five-year term must begin when your driving ban expires.
Also, new impaired driving and marijuana-related offences may have an impact on permanent and temporary residents’ immigration status. The maximum sentence for most cannabis-related crimes is 14 years, and the maximum penalty for most impaired driving offences has increased from 5 to 10 years now.
To reduce the chance of a border rejection, bring court records or other evidence with you to Canada, as past convictions might still trigger issues at the border. Any criminal conviction involving violence, a weapon, or property damage does not qualify for Deemed Rehabilitation and can result in a person being criminally inadmissible to Canada for the rest of their life.
Raise Your Inquiries
To discover more about how a criminal charge may affect an immigration application, contact Ace’s immigration attorneys in Dubai. You can also contact the team if you have any questions about a specific case. Our staff of legal specialists is an expert in dealing with all types of immigration issues. We guarantee our clients’ confidentiality.
