rivingtonpike

If a person has criminal convictions in the UK that would make them inadmissible to Canada, how would the CBSA know? When they arrive at, say, the airport, they don't declare their conviction/s, can they be picked up from their passports?

Pulaski

Maybe, maybe not, but it would be foolish to assume that you can get away with not disclosing a conviction.

rivingtonpike

Would it be foolish if disclosing it means you don't get into the country though. Whereas not disclosing it means you may well get in. Or is there some sort of record attached to your passport? If not, it would seem your only chance is to keep quiet.

mikelincs

Not to declare it would be classed as visa fraud, something that if found out would lead to at the least a very lengthy ban, and perhaps a lifetime ban from ever visiting Canada. Who really knows just what the various immigration officials can find out and what they share with each other.

rivingtonpike

I would have thought though that unless your conviction is linked and flagged directly to your passport it would be a case of catch me if you can. If this is the case, I wonder how many are let into Canada who don't disclose convictions and essentially "get away with it".

plasticcanuck

I would like to think that Canada's Border Control have ways to detect foreign criminals attempting to enter Canada, but I think I'm probably living in dreamland. Perhaps FL can enlighten us as to their detection methods.

Oink

Tell him to keep his mouth shut, especially if it was awhile ago.

rivingtonpike

If it happened at all it was probably fairly recently.

Stinkypup

I'm told that if they are wearing a back striped top, carrying a big sack with "swag " written in big letters with a pair of tights over their head then they are at high suspicion of being considered a bad egg by border Security. They do look for subtle giveaways like that

winston_1

Maybe foreign countries share information in their immigration computers.

Pollyana

So somebody enters a country such as Canada on a visitor's visa, claiming they have no convictions.......and they get away with concealing the truth.
Couple of years down the line they want to emigrate, either for a job, or maybe they want to marry a person who lives in that country. At that point they have to produce proper police checks........and then the Immigration Dept tie up the applications together and it comes to light that not only does the person have a record, but they committed visa fraud by not declaring it in the first place.......

Pulaski

Ya think? ..... And their national crime/conviction databases.

rivingtonpike

Maybe with some countries they share information, but do you think CBSA has "there and then" access to an up to date criminal conviction database for every country? Maybe they have reciprocal data sharing with the key ones, UK USA, but Turkey, Bolivia, Mongolia etc etc? I highly doubt it, which means someone who has convictions but doesn't declare them is free to enter Canada as a visitor?

Mr Bean

I had a schoolboy conviction that stays on my record for life and I was told to declare it on my application. I thought about not declaring it, but decided to be honest.

I've never once been questioned about it since living here.

Lucky? Maybe?

Swingdoor

I think the safest option would be to just get down to the Canadian embassy and get your criminal convictions rehabilitated. You then don't need to lie and still get in.