Canada’s borders have been opened in the festive season of Christmas. A lot of visitors will want to come to Canada to meet family, friends, and their loved ones.
A lot of people come to visit the Great White North because of its winters, more so this as all Canadian border was closed last winter.
Prior to planning your trip to Canada, you have to notice if you are allowed in the country or not. If unfortunately, you have a criminal charge against your name, Canada shall hold the power of not allowing you in the country. It entirely depends upon the severity of your crime. However, considering this, Canada has solutions to offer to such people. An individual can be rehabilitated with rationality and under the guidance of proper law and procedure. Additionally, Canada proves that these individuals impose better Canadian economy and society and threaten a potential risk to a territory or the nation.
At the border the CBSA, Canadian Border Services Agency will be present to first check the conviction against the candidate and compare it to it equivalent to it in the Canadian law and order. Canadian Immigration has served the difference between what is criminality and what is serious criminality. There are certain factors that are considered the extremity of the crime committed: Type of the crime, how the accused was prosecuted, and the duration of the sentence.
We have already stated above that Canadian immigration law offers three ways that can help you to move past criminal inadmissibility. These are:
- Rehabilitation
- Formulating a Legal Opinion Letter, and
- Applying for a TRP (Temporary Resident Permit)
Eligibility to apply for a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP)?
Applying for a TRP is easy. Temporary Resident Permit shall be granted in case you want to visit Canada and are inadmissible. The candidate has to make a compelling statement about their visit to Canada and should prove that their being in the country will not outweigh any kind of risk in the community or mess with the well-being of the Canadian Citizens in any manner. If fortunately, the application is passed through and gets approved, the candidate will get a TRIP. A TRP is valid until three years.
A U.S. citizen or a green card holder can apply for a TRP in any port of entry in Canada. Those, who want to apply for a TRP must do it from outside of Canada before entering the border. The usual processing fee to get a TRP is $200 CAD.
As the name suggests, a temporary resident permit is a short-term answer is to getting into Canada, the candidate will have to continue reissuing their TRP in order to stay in Canada until and unless they are rehabilitated.
What is Rehabilitation
While TRP is temporary, Rehabilitation is permanent. Once a candidate is rehabilitated, they will never have to worry about being inadmissible to Canada. The candidate will have free will to live anywhere in the country as long as they want.
Rehabilitation comes in two shapes. These are:
Deemed and Individual
The factors that are included while considering rehabilitation are the nature of the crime, the duration of the crime after you were convicted, and your behavior following the conviction.
The first category, deemed rehabilitation can be automatic, it depends upon the nature of the crime and also the time after the candidate had been convicted. Initially, a candidate is eligible for rehabilitation if it has been 10 years since their last sentence.
All the crimes committed have not been a part of an indictable offense, and the candidate must not be associated with any other crimes as well. You must also note that a candidate is not eligible for a deemed rehabilitation if their conviction is more than 10 years.
The candidate may also be eliminated if they have committed more crimes in the past five years for two or more minor offenses under Canadian law and order.
It is not compulsory that a candidate has to submit an application that is to be deemed rehabilitated. Although it will be considered to be best that you speak to their regional lawyer or counselor to confirm if they are admissible in Canada or not.
This in turn will also be beneficial to get a Legal Opinion Letter granted by a law firm if a CBSA official has second thoughts about the candidate’s inadmissibility and his eligibility.
The candidate will also be required to apply for individual rehabilitation if in any case they are forbidden to apply for a deemed rehabilitation. The post convicted time period has to be about five years or more.
There are a few things that the candidate will have to prove during the application process. First, they must show that it has been five years and more since they had been convicted. Secondly, they must by no means try to impose a threat of security on the nation. Thirdly, the candidate must not pose a risk of any kind or form.
The application expense for criminality form is $200 CAD and for extreme criminality, it is $1,000 CAD.
What is a Legal Opinion Letter?
Thirdly, there is another option to overcome criminal inadmissibility to Canada. There are lawyers who formulate letters that support reasons as to why the candidate should be allowed inside Canada even though they are convicted.
The letter written by a lawyer defends that the conviction of a candidate but it can at the same time challenge the charges too. The lawyer may speak for the candidate if they are deemed rehabilitated or if the incident was an isolated incident or minor in nature. It may also be brought out that there is no match to the offense that the candidate committed. In other words, it can also be concluded that Legal Opinion Letters could be used to back up a TRP or a Rehabilitation application.
It should also be considered that Canada while having strict rules, shall not accommodate entry directly inside the country. A candidate must plan beforehand about understanding the acknowledging all the options that are open to eliminate criminal admissibility otherwise be prepared to face unexpected surprise at the Canadian Border of Entry.
