Canada considers driving under the influence a very serious crime, so much so in fact, that they consider it an “indictable offense.” This is the functional equivalent to a felony under California law. Unlike California where a DUI is, for the most part, considered a misdemeanor for a first, second, and third offense and punishable up to a year in jail, as an indictable offense in Canada, a DUI is punishable up to five years in jail.
Because all DUI’s are, for all intents and purposes, considered felonies, anybody convicted of a DUI or even a wet reckless is excludable from entry into Canada.
Notwithstanding a DUI conviction, however, a person can currently enter Canada if they are “deemed rehabilitated.” To be deemed rehabilitated, the maximum term of imprisonment for the DUI conviction was less than 10 years (which it almost always is unless you’ve been convicted of certain felony DUI’s), the sentence for the California DUI conviction was completed at least 10 years ago, and no other indictable offenses were committed during those 10 years. If someone meets these criteria, they do not need to do anything further to gain entry into Canada, although it would be a good idea to have proof of this when trying to cross the border.
In other words, to gain entry into Canada, you must have completed your sentence more than 10 years ago and you cannot have picked up any more “indictable offenses” since.
This, however, may soon change under a new Canadian law which would make it even harder to enter Canada with a DUI on the books.
The new law which will take effect this October is part of Canada’s Cannabis Act, which legalizes recreation marijuana.
“Those people that have been entering into Canada after that 10 years had passed can now have that undone and now become inadmissible again,” said immigration attorney Jamie Fiegel who is a partner at the law firm Fiegel & Carr, which specializes in immigration cases in Canada and the United States.
Under the new law, people will no longer be able to automatically enter Canada following the 10 year-wait period.
“There will be no time period that will be able to be passed that would allow you to automatically regain the right. You will have to file at the Canadian consulate in order to regain the right to enter back into Canada,” said Fiegel.
Fiegel is referring to what is called “individual rehabilitation,” otherwise known as “rehabilitation by application.” The first requirement is that at least five years must have passed since the completion of the sentence for a California DUI conviction. It gets tricky however in trying to calculate the five-year wait period. The five-year wait period can be calculated in the following ways: 1.) five years from the date of sentencing if given a suspended sentence; 2.) five years from the date a fine was paid if given a suspended sentence and a fine; 3.) five years from the end of a prison term with no parole; 4.) five years from the end of parole or probation if sentenced to either; or 5.) five years from the end of a driver’s license suspension.
If someone meets the criteria needed for individual rehabilitation, they will need to fill out an application and submit it to a Canadian visa office located in the U.S. The application requires the applicant to explain why they are rehabilitated. The submission of the application for individual rehabilitation also requires a non-refundable application fee that will also be increasing in October.
While our neighbors to the north might have a reputation for being friendly, they most certainly are not when it comes to past DUI convictions, eh.
If you plan on traveling to Canada and you have a DUI on your record, regardless of how long ago it was, I suggest you contact an immigration attorney to make sure you’re not turned away at the border.
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