Tring

Hello everyone...

Hey ScotyB any news about your application? Do update us when you have a chance. Sending you good luck vibes!

Hey Admissablebrit! Thanks for your recent posts. Valuable feedback and well written too! It's interesting that you raise the ROA 1974 issue and the "stepping down" of minor offences. This is precisely my problem.

You see, I was charged with a petty theft offence back in 1995 when I was 19 while I was on holiday in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is the only "brush" with the law I ever had anywhere in my life. It was definitely an act of total 19-year old foolishness and a one-off which I have since paid my dues for, regretted and moved on from. The only thing is, my offence was originally classified as a grand theft (indictable offence) but in court it was determined to be be petty theft (summary offence) and was reduced as such. I also received a reduced sentence (community service) which I completed. Since then I've travelled to Canada many times (I wasn't aware of the possible need for criminal rehabilitation). Only earlier this year while travelling to Canada the immigration officer at the airport in Canada apparently checked my name against US records and not only did the offence appear, but what's worse it still appeared as GRAND THEFT! (I'd like to note here that all my court documents from 1995 and current US police reports clearly state my offence as "petty theft") Of course right then and there I didn't have any documentation with me pertaining to my case from 1995, so all the officer had to go by was the erroneous information in the system that said my offence was grand theft. So therefore even though more 10 years had passed, the officer said they couldn't consider me "deemed rehabilitated" because grand theft (as the system said) is an "indictable offence". Furthermore the officer felt that since I've entered Canada several times over the years without applying for criminal rehabiliation 1st (even though I wasn't aware of such a thing nor that I need it, and didnt do so intentionally or knowingly) that they would still not allow me to enter and I was turned away (not a pleasant experience believe me!!!) . I strongly suspect that had the system shown the correct information about my conviction, the officer may have not turned me away. But alas, now I have to apply for criminal rehabiliation for the petty theft offence (and show that the police recrods system had mistakes) and also argue that I didn't intend to abuse the Canadian immigration system all these years by visitng Canada so many times without discolsing my conviction! (something I didn't do intnetionally).

So there you go! that's my story. Any feedback would be appreciated. And of course would be nice to learn how you guys have fared through this process!

cityhog

Are you applying for PR? Or have you already applied?

Tring

Hi Cityhog. No, I am not applying for permanent residence. This is just in regards to regular visits to Canada.

ScottyB

Hi Folks,

I wanted to post a quick update for everyone.

London received my application confirmed received by Royal Mail and signed for. This was back several months ago now, resent after my initial errors in the first application.

I have had no acknowledgement what so ever that it is being processed.

I tried emailing to confirm that London received it, they advise not to email unless your application has gone over the timelines set out on the CIC website. Well in theory my application has gone over because there is no time guideline on the CIC website for Criminal Rehab cases to be processed (Not on the page they tell you to check) although on the forms it says it can take 1 year.

I did not even receive a response to my email and that was 4 weeks ago.

I have done the following:

1 - I got proof of delivery from Royal mail including a copy of the signature and name.

2 - My Bank have confirmed that the Bankers Draft is still uncashed despite it being several months old now.

3 - I emailed CIC AGAIN attaching the Royal mail proof and concerns of the draft not being cashed and again no reply.

Looking for feedback, did others applying for rehab receive any confirmation of their application being received and processed?

Do we have anyone else who had an assault charge on the forum who could give me an idea of how long their application took? I am concerned about the ACPO Police Cert etc going out of date and having to be re-done etc.

Finally has anyone else sent applications recorded delivery/to be signed for and had issues with them being signed for by say a receptionist/Security guard and not being passed on for processing?

Getting worried to be honest, was hoping for an answer pretty quickly as i spent months pulling together evidence as you all know.

Any responses welcome to help calm me down........

Regards

ScottyB

Tring

Hey Scotty I'm sorry to hear this, and I can absolutely understand how you must feel. This whole sense of the unknown and not knwoing exactly what's happening can be very stressful and frustrating indeed. That said, I thought though that your bankers draft was already cashed? (based on your post to this thread on 23rd April)

I can't speak out of experience, but I wouldn't worry too much about the police certificate issue if I was you. The important thing is that when you submitted it it was current and recent. I Think it would un reasonable and unrealistic for them to ask you for an updated certificate simply because there was a delay in processing your papers from their end due to no fault of your own. It doesn't sound like they would do such a thing.

Sorry I can't be of any more help, but all I can say is hang in there and don't let this consume you. Keep trying your best with following up. If it's any consolation, it sounds like (and I am sure most members here would agree) that you have a pretty solid application that you have put toghether and it would be very bizarre if someone like you isn't granted rehabilitation!

ScottyB

Hi Tring,

Thanks for the reply.

Sadly RBS who supplied the Bankers Draft made an error.

When i asked for proof of my bankers draft, they wrongly provided me with info saying it had been cashed, when it hadn't, they had looked at the info confirming it had been sent to me, which i already knew.....

I will just keep hanging in there hoping for some news soon hopefully.

Regards

ScottyB

Atlas

Hi everyone

It is great to find a forum where people are happy to share their experience to help others. I am really hoping one of you can help me.

I am a British Citizen with a full UK passport and want to travel to Canada for a holiday only. I am not applying for residency or workers visa just want to visit Tornonto for 5 nights. I have a criminal record from 2002 (community service completed in April 2002) which is now considered spent in the UK (5 years for my conviction). I have had no convictions since.

According to various websites I cannot even travel if I have had a past criminal conviction unless I apply for rehabilitation or be deemed rehabiliated at port of entry. I have a few questions regarding this....

1. Does Canadian immigration even ask about a record if you are just visiting (either on a form on the plane or ask by an official at the airport).

2. If they do then am I deemed rehabiliated at port of enter because my conviction is spent in the UK.

3. If the above answer is no does that mean I have to actually apply for rehabilitation before I go even as a tourist?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

FelisCattus

I just got back from a holiday in Toronto yesterday. The landing card just asked about our nationality and addresses and how much cash/liquor we had on us. There were no questions about criminal records at immigration either, just why we were visiting, where from and did we have a return ticket - that's it, so you should be fine!

christmasoompa

They don't specifically ask about it, but they don't have to - it's their law which they expect visitors to comply with. Rather like if you visited Kuwait, I'm sure they don't ask if you have alcohol on you, but you'd just be expected to know that it's illegal there!

The CIC website has a section about criminal rehabs for visitors to Canada, which it may be worth Atlas reading.........http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/conviction.asp

Tring

Hi Atlas

While I am not a lawyer nor can I claim to be a definitive expert on the subject, I do however speak from personal experience here and I totally agree with christmasoompa. They DO expect you to know about this indeed (see details on my incident in my earlier post above). I guess then and there ,and with the right documentation in hand, I may have been considered "deemed" rehabilitated due to minor nature of offence (would be considered summmary offence in Canada) and time lapsed since completion of my sentence (over 5 years).

Yes, they don't ask you about criminal history on any form, BUT if they do somehow.. someway.. find out about this offence (no mater how minor) without you voluntarily disclosing it to them, then it could put you in some hot water, regardless of whether you are visiting for 5 days or 5 years. Just ask me! That's excatly what happened to me. So now, not only do I need to demonstrate on my application that I am rehabilitated, but also that I did NOT knowingly and intentionally try to "cheat the system" or hide this offence all these years from the authorities in Canada during my many visits to there. This unfortunatley can only be done through the arduous criminal rehabilitation application process.

So....Based on what we know from previous posts on this forum, and what we know about the ROA 1974 act in the UK: it is up to the Canadian immigration authorities to decide (in their capacity to fornally represent Canada) that you are rehabilitated per the UK ROA of 1974 for the purpose of travel to Canada.

Therefore..... what I would do if I was you is: BEFORE you plan your travel, fill up the criminal Rehabilitation application and include all required documents as well as a letter from you with a clear reference to the ROA of 1974 and how it applies to your case and mark the box in the application that says "for information only" and send it to the nearest Canadian visa office to you (in your case I guess it would be the Canadian High commission in London). After they review your application (which they will do quickly hopefully) they will advise you whether you are deemed rehabilitated or not; and if you are they will advise you that you can proceed to travel to Canada normally. Just make sure you keep that letter with you when you travel to Canada to show the border officers there.

Whatever you do, DO NOT, even THINK of trying to go to Canada without taking care of that first. "An ounce of prevenetion...." as they say. Unless you want to end up like me, and I didn't even INTEND to lie, or abuse the system, and I was honestly unaware of this criminal rehabilitation business.. and yet.. look where it got me. So now you know, no excuses! I hope this helps...Good luck Atlas ! :-)

admissiblebrit

its also important to know that once an officer has informed you that you are no longer inadmissible (if this turns out to be the case) another officer be it the CBSA or CIC cant suddenly decide they dont think thats right. Once you have it in writing you're good to go unless you commit another offense.

The canadian system is fair as long as you play by their rules and do everything to convince the officer you took the correct steps in respect to canadian law. In my case i made a stupid mistake, and thats how i look at it. For a judicial system to work there has to be respect of ones ability to be rehabilitated. When evaluating past criminality it seems to come down to two things. Are you a threat to canadians, and is there a chance if let into canada you will run foul of the law

Tring

Well said admissablebrit. I totally agree with you I especially like what you said about the importance of recognzing one's abilit to be rehabilitated and what you mentioned previosuly about how not doing so can be a mockery of the justice system, especially when it comes to one-off offences. Let's immigration officers do keep that in mind.

admissiblebrit

I'm sure they do whats important is you follow the rules

ScottyB

Well the good news arrived today!!!!

My rehab application has been approved............

The date on the letter shows the 30th April, god knows why it took so long to be posted.

All that worry over nothing.

I have attached a scan of the letter for peoples info.

I would just like to close by saying a HUGE thank you to everyone who sent their good wishes and good luck!

If anyone else is about to go through this process and wants some help or advice please drop me a PM and i will give you my mobile/email details and we can talk through it.

I made a few mitakes during the application which extended the timescales and am quite happy to help someone else so that they dont do the same.

Next step PR application, oh the joys....

Funky Florist

That's great news. Good luck on the next stage. I hope it won't be as long-winded as this has been.