cancov

The people on here are right- a caution is definately evident of an admission of guilt (you must admit guilt for the police to administer the caution), and from what I have been researching with our own case, CIC WILL take it into consideration because it shows that the person took part in the "commission of an offence", which is one of the catagories for criminal inadmissability. Depending on the offence and how it is punished by CANADIAN law if the person was convicted in Canada, will determine how serious they will treat the offence when deciding on the application. The caution will show up on a police check for at least five years, at which point you can ask the police to remove it.

Hope that helps

Alan2005

I was cautioned over 20 years ago for shoplifting (I was only 13 at the time, typical teenage high-jinx). The officer who issued the caution told me that it would be removed from my record when I got to 17 if I kept my nose clean (which I duly did) - and as it didn't turn up on my police checks I didn't mention it on my application.

ConfusedBrit

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was previously panicking about timelines but I just realised that I can move there on my standard 6 month holiday allowance while the visa application goes through the system.

Based on this, I will wait until I get the police report before going any further.

One more question though, if I can get the Caution removed after 5 years (5 years has long gone now), is this something I have to do proactively? Would I have to get a police report first, then see the caution and then ask for it to be removed and then get another report that does not have the caution on it?
Or would I be able to just say at the beginning "please remove any expired cautions before sending me the report"? I will naturally investigate this, but just curious if anyone on here knows a quick answer to this.

Thanks,

T.

woodywoodside

Can I please ask, if you can ask to have a caution removed, Can you have any spent crime removed from your record. If having a caution is an admission of guilt whats the difference.
Also why do some things show up on the police certs and some don't this seems very unfair.
I myself had an incident not arrested but appeared in court for use of offensive langauge no fine £25.00 court costs. I pleaded guilty as I new I had been in the wrong.

Londonlady108

We will be applying for PR this year and my husband does have a youth record - we got our records a few years ago as we had intended to apply earlier but then did not - anyways the bottom line is that any police record that has 2 concurrent jail terms or any term longer than 3 months remains on file until you are 100 or until you die - whichever comes first. Seems crazy but I would imagine that a petty crime like hubby's that was committed age 15 and nothing since will be seen as just that - a stupid mistake. I am sure that is the case with most of you - unless the crime was armed robbery or murder then stupid mistakes will be looked at as just that.

Jim Humphries

It is always a mistake to speak of convictions as being unimportant or petty. Perhaps they are but the officer might see such talk as an indication of a certain lack of responsibility. So even where it is something from age 15, just be calm and obviously sincere. Crimes by minors are treated less stringently but still have to be reported and requests for any further details followed up.

Alberta_Rose

My OH had an incident of exposing his derriere at somebody when he was young and under the influence. He was fined 25 pounds at the time and forgot about it. 30 something years later when we got our police records to come here it showed up as a "sexual offence"!!!

We were horrified. It sounded awful, but he could not get it taken off his record. We were advised to obtain court records and put a covering letter explaining the circumstances of the "conviction", and we passed without hindrance through the portals of CHC London! (Phew).

So my advice, as has been given above, is be honest about what happened and suitably chastened, and they would probably let it pass.

edit: I believe the reason given for its indelibility was that it came under the heading of "sexual offence"

moondevil

quick question

If you get a caution would it stop you from entering canada as a vistor??
cant seem to get the info on this one, i know if you have been in prision in last ten years that it can stop you entering if its a serious offence, but what about a cauton (yes it would be a prision sent in canada)

gill

ConfusedBrit

So following on from my previous posts in this thread, I have now received my police report.

On it, it says that under the category of "Person Record: Prosecution/Conviction", nothing is on file.

It also mentions on the form that it only covers the data that I specifically requested. On the form I applied with there was a big box with "Prosecutions, Convictions and Cautions History" which I ticked. There were no other general categories to select, if I wanted additional information, I would need to put down exact time and location details.

The fact that I was in fact arrested and detained overnight before I got my caution is a concern of mine. My record states that nothing is on file but only in the category of prosecutions/convictions. Does this mean the arrest and overnight stay could still be on file somewhere as they are not strictly speaking a "prosecution or conviction". Or would the arrest and overnight have been cleared along with my caution conviction?

The above may not be that clear as it is not all that clear to me. I thought I had applied for a record, which is clean, and now I am worrying there could still be stuff about me. How can I get this extra information from the police? Seems like a terribly inefficient system...

Cheers,

T.

mrmcgoo

Hi Confused,
I'm no expert and this is just my personal opinion.

I'd suggest that if your police check is clean, don't worry about it.
I didn't even know that having tools in your car at night was an offence!

I don't think CIC do further checks and there isn't much more they can do to look into your past than you have already done.

They don't even do checks with other Canadian governmental departments let alone foreign ones (I'm talking about proving a relatives Canadian tax status here).

The point is that they expect you to gather all the evidence for them, and as long as you have given them everything within your power, then you can do nothing more and in reality neither can they. Let it lie!

Oh and by the way, police checks are "valid" for 6 months as far as CIC are concerned, so you may be able to use the one you've just got.

Cheers
Chris