QUESTION: I received a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol one
year ago. I am a community leader who is scheduled to help participate in a
train tour in Canada. It would be disastrous to be turned away in front of
colleagues and friends at customs. How likely is it that I will be stopped?
What are the chances of getting a temporary permit to enter, if needed?
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david ingram replies:
This is the only one of fifty or so that I am going to answer - it is tax
time and immigration is very peripheral to my business as a US / Canadian
Income Tax Consultant.
However, this question reminds me of when I was turned back at the US border
with 12 people in my motorhome. Embarrassing, You bet|
The former person in charge of this at the Canadian Consulate in Seattle has
given his answer. He would NOT have approved your application. However,
everyone is different and depending upon the importance of your visit and
your position as a community leader (remember our Premier of British
Columbia, Gordon Campbell, blew over .16 in Hawaii and still went back for
another vacation), you might well get special dispensation if you apply soon
enough.
I can't think of anyone better to deal with your matter than Donald Cameron.
I have left his email address for you to see.
And remember, it is absolutely against the law for you to enter Canada
without declaring the situation.
And it is an absolute that you will be stopped if you come up by bus, Plane
or Amtrak because all passenger lists are being vetted.
You might make it in by car. but not likely.
-------------------------------
Don's email address is:
cameron at lightspeed.ca
His observations on my email
David,
Applications for Temporary Resident Permits (which were then called
Minister's Permits) from Americans with convictions for drunk driving were
frequent during the time (1992-1996) I was the Immigration Program Manager
of the Canadian Consulate General in Seattle. In fact, I saw more such
applications during those 4 years in Seattle than in the other 25 years of
my career at 8 other Canadian Embassies or High Commissions. There are a
variety of reasons for this - relating to the closeness of the relationship
between the 2 countries and the enormous volume of traffic crossing the
shared border. Being the Immigration Program Manager of a Canadian
Consulate in the U.S. (especially one near the border) is an experience so
different from holding the same position at other Canadian missions abroad
that there should be special training for it.
As is the norm in Citizenship & Immigration Canada no one in authority at
the headquarters in Ottawa is willing give any useful guidance to those with
the delegated authority to issue such permits as to the circumstances under
which these applications should be approved or rejected. In consequence,
decisions are all over the map.
As you know, your questioner is inadmissible to Canada because he has
committed an offence in the U.S. (even though the charge has not yet been
adjudicated) which is an indictable offence in Canada. His inadmissibility,
provided he commits no other offences, will cease when 10 years have elapsed
from the date of the completion of the sentence imposed for the offence.
The erasing of inadmissibility in cases of one DUI or DWI by the passage of
10 years did not exist when I was at the Consulate in Seattle and this
innovation in law is a great improvement which will eliminate the previous
inadmissibility of many middle-aged or older Americans who have one youthful
drunk driving offence (and no other offences of any kind) in their
backgrounds.
In the circumstances described by your questioner I would have refused to
issue a Temporary Resident Permit to him. In different circumstances (such
as a family member being in a hospital in Canada) I would have issued a very
short term permit to him. The fact that the offence is very recent would be
the main factor in my decision. After the passage of several years (not
longer than the passage of the 5 years required to apply for rehabilitation)
and evidence that he would be unlikely to re-offend I would have issued a
longer term Temporary Resident Permit.
That is what I would have done. Other Immigration Program Managers and
Managers of Canadian immigration offices at the border would certainly make
different decisions on the same facts than I would have.
Best regards,
Don
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