Inadmissibility

GOCANADAVISAS

UK OFFICE

NEED HELP WITH A VISA APPLICATION?
SPEAK TO OUR EXPERTS.

CALL US TODAY +44 (0) 208 123 1597

Inadmissibility

Inadmissibility can fall within any of these grounds:

Security reasons, including espionage, subversion, violence or terrorism, or membership in an organization involved in any of these
Human or international rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity or being a senior official in a government engaged in gross human rights violations or subject to international sanctions
Committing a serious crime that would be punishable by a maximum prison term of at least 10 years in Canada
Having been convicted of a crime, including driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Organized crime, including membership in an organization that takes part in organized criminal activity, people smuggling or money laundering
Health grounds – if their condition is likely to endanger public health or public safety, or cause excessive demands on health or social services
Financial reasons – if they are unable or unwilling to support themselves and their family members
Misrepresentation, which includes providing false information or withholding information directly related to decisions made under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)
Failure to comply with any provision of IRPA
Having an inadmissible family member.

Overcoming Inadmissibility

Normally you cannot enter or stay in Canada if you are inadmissible. However, there are ways of overcoming your criminal inadmissibility.

If you are inadmissible, you may become admissible again if you:

Are deemed rehabilitated;
Apply for individual rehabilitation and get approved; or
Receive a pardon or record suspension.
You may also be offered a temporary resident permit if your reason to travel to Canada is considered justified in the circumstances and you do not pose a risk because of your inadmissibility.

If you have issues that may affect you admissibility to Canada, contact us for a consultation to discuss your concerns and determine if there is a solution for you.

Criminal Inadmissibility

This includes both minor and serious crimes, such as:

theft
assault
manslaughter
dangerous driving
driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Possession of or trafficking in drugs or controlled substances.

Overcoming Criminal Inadmissibility

There are potential options to overcome criminal inadmissibility and still enter Canada. Each case is different and it would depend greatly on the crime, how long ago it was and how you have behaved since.

You would need to have done any of the following options:

Be deemed rehabilitated
Applied for rehabilitation and were approved, or
Be granted a record suspension or
Have a temporary resident permit.

Deemed rehabilitation

Deemed rehabilitation means that enough time has passed since you were convicted that your crime may no longer bar you from entering Canada.

You may be deemed rehabilitated depending on the crime, if enough time has passed since you finished serving the sentence for the crime and if you have committed more than one crime. Also if the crime committed outside Canada has a maximum prison term of less than 10 years if committed in Canada.

Individual rehabilitation

Rehabilitation means that you are not likely to commit new crimes.

You can apply for individual rehabilitation to enter Canada. It is granted at the discretion of the Minister, or their delegate. To apply, you must show that you meet the criteria have been rehabilitated and be highly unlikely to take part in further crimes. Also, at least five years must have passed since:

the end of your criminal sentence (this includes probation) and
the day you committed the act that made you inadmissible.

Record suspension or discharge

If you have been convicted in Canada, you may be able to apply for a record suspension (previously known as a pardon), with the Parole Board of Canada. If you get a Canadian record suspension, you will no longer be inadmissible.

If you received a record suspension or a discharge for your conviction in another country you will need to check with the visa office in your home country if the pardon is valid in Canada

Temporary resident permit

A temporary resident permit lets you enter or stay in Canada if it has been less than five years since the end of your sentence or you have valid reasons to be in Canada.

Contact us to arrange a consultation to discuss how we may be able to assist you with potential criminal inadmissibility to Canada.

Medical Issues and Inadmissibility

If you plan to visit for six months or less you generally do not require a medical exam, unless you plan to work in certain jobs such as:

Jobs that bring you in close contact to people

workers in the health sciences field
clinical laboratory workers
patient attendants in nursing and geriatric homes
medical students admitted to Canada to attend university
medical electives and physicians on short-term locums
teachers of primary or secondary schools, or other teachers of small children
domestics
workers who give in-home care to children, the elderly and the disabled
day nursery employees and
other similar jobs

Agricultural workers who have worked in specific countries for more than six months during the past year prior to the date they wish to enter Canada.

If you plan to visit for more than six months, you will need a medical exam if you:

Have lived temporarily for six or more months in a row in specific countries in the one year immediately before the date you want to enter Canada or

Will come to Canada to work in a job in which public health must be protected.
You are applying for a Parent and Grandparent Super Visa.

In most cases people get through this stage with no issue, however there are cases when an applicant may be refused entry on health grounds.

The main reasons are if the condition:

is likely to be a danger to public health or public safety, or
might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services

In certain circumstances, an individual who does not meet the Canadian medical requirements may be granted a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) to enter Canada.

Temporary Resident Permit (TRP)

A TRP is a document that authorizes a person who is inadmissible or does not meet the requirements either as a temporary resident or as a permanent resident to enter or remain in Canada.

A TRP is valid for a specified period of time, usually the length of your visit to Canada; you must leave Canada by the expiry date of the permit.

To be eligible for a temporary resident permit, your need to enter or stay in Canada must outweigh the health or safety risks to Canadian society, as determined by immigration or a border services officer. Even if the reason you are inadmissible seems minor, you must demonstrate that your visit is justified.

If you would like to receive a permit, an application can be made at the border or from the consulate in your home country. A processing fee is required, which is not refundable. The application requires strong justification that there is good reason for you to travel to Canada. It is assessed by an officer but there is no guarantee that the TRP will be issued.

For more information regarding TRP’s and to discuss your eligibility please contact us for a consultation.

Authorization to Return to Canada

If you have been the subject of a removal order from Canada you will probably need an Authorization to Return to Canada (ARC) if you want to return. It is essentially asking the Government of Canada for permission to come back into the country.

Whether you need one depends on the type of removal order that was issued.

There are three types of removal order are

Departure Order
Exclusion Order
Deportation Order

Departure Order

If you received a Departure Order and left Canada within the required 30 days and verified your departure with a Canadian immigration officer at the port of exit you do not need an ARC. You may return to Canada subject to normal examination at the port of entry.

If you left the country without verifying your departure, or more than 30 days after the Departure Order was issued, the Departure Order automatically becomes a Deportation Order and you need to apply for an ARC.

Exclusion Order

If you were issued an Exclusion Order and 12 months have passed since you left Canada and you have a Certificate of Departure showing the date you left Canada you do not need an ARC. You may return to Canada subject to normal examination at the port of entry.

If you wish to return to Canada less than 12 months after the Exclusion Order was issued, or do not have a Certificate of Departure, you need to apply for an ARC.

Deportation Order

If you have been the subject of a Deportation Order you will need to apply for an ARC.

If you were deported because of criminal inadmissibility, you will need to apply for criminal rehabilitation first. You may also need a Temporary Resident Permit to be allowed into Canada.

If you received A Direction to Leave Canada, this is not a removal order; you do not need to apply for an ARC. You can return to Canada subject to normal examination at the port of entry.

Applying for an ARC

When an officer assesses your application, they will consider, among other things:

the reasons for the removal order
the possibility that you will repeat the behaviour that caused the order to be issued
the length of time since the order was issued
your current situation
the reason why you want to enter Canada.

In most cases an ARC is associated with another application and will be processed and reviewed in the context of that application. For example, if the applicant requires a visa to visit, study, or work in Canada, he or she does not make a separate ARC application.

The only situation in which this would not be the case is if the applicant did not need a visa to come to Canada, for example if he or she is a citizen of a visa-exempt country. In this scenario, an ARC application can be submitted on its own.

There is no guarantee that you will be issued an Authorization to Return to Canada, and if the Government of Canada spent money to remove you from the country, you will have to repay any costs before an ARC will be issued.

If the above situations apply to you, we can assist you with this. Contact us to find out how we can help you return to Canada.

Rehabilitation

the person concerned meets certain criteria;
has been rehabilitated;
and is highly unlikely to become involved in any further criminal activities.

The two main eligible requirements for any rehabilitation application are that you must meet the following:

committed an act outside of Canada and five (5) years have elapsed since the act;
been convicted outside of Canada and five (5) years have passed since the end of the sentence imposed.

Depending on the crime, how long ago it was and how you have behaved since, you may still be allowed to come to Canada, if you convince an immigration officer that you meet the legal terms to be deemed rehabilitated, or you have applied for individual rehabilitation and were approved.

Deemed Rehabilitation

Under Canada’s immigration law, deemed rehabilitation means that enough time has passed since you were convicted that your crime may no longer bar you from entering Canada. To be deemed rehabilitated, the person must not have committed or been convicted of any additional indictable offence.

You may be deemed rehabilitated depending on:

the crime,
if enough time has passed since you finished serving the sentence for the crime and
if you have committed more than one crime.

In all cases, you may only be deemed rehabilitated if the crime committed outside Canada has a maximum prison term of less than 10 years if committed in Canada.

If you were convicted of an offence outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would be an indictable offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of less than ten years:

You are deemed rehabilitated: at least ten years after completion of the sentence imposed.
You are eligible to apply for rehabilitation: five (5) years after completion of the sentence imposed.

If you committed an offence outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would be an indictable offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of less than ten years:

You are deemed rehabilitated: at least ten years after commission of the offence.
You are eligible to apply for rehabilitation: five (5) years after commission of the offence.

If you were convicted of an offence or you committed an offence outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would be punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more:

Deemed rehabilitated is not applicable.
You are eligible to apply for rehabilitation: five (5) years from completion of the sentence or commission of the offence.

If you were convicted for two (2) or more offences outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would constitute summary conviction offences:

You are deemed rehabilitated: at least five (5) years after the sentences imposed were served or to be served.
Eligibility to apply for rehabilitation is not applicable.

If you have a criminal conviction in Canada, you must seek a record suspension (formerly a pardon) from the Parole Board of Canada before you will be admissible to Canada.

Individual rehabilitation

If a person who was convicted of an offence or who has committed an act or omission does not meet the eligibility criteria for deemed rehabilitation, that person may be eligible to apply for Individual rehabilitation by presenting an application for Criminal Rehabilitation.

If you apply for individual rehabilitation to enter Canada, it is at the discretion of the Minister, or their delegate to grant it or not. To apply, you must:

show that you meet the criteria,
have been rehabilitated and
be highly unlikely to take part in further crimes.
Also, at least five years must have passed since the end of your criminal sentence (this includes probation) and the day you committed the act that made you inadmissible.

This may require demonstrating community ties, a stable lifestyle, social and vocational skills, the crime was an isolated event and that you are in fact rehabilitated which means you are not likely to commit new crimes.

If you need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), you have to submit a separate application for criminal rehabilitation before you apply for your eTA. Once you have received confirmation of your rehabilitation, you may apply for an eTA. If you apply for your eTA before you receive your rehabilitation, your application will be assessed based on the information currently available, and may result in the refusal of your application.

For further information contact us for a consultation on how to overcome potential issues surrounding inadmissibility to Canada.

Refusals and Appeals

The three main options are:

Reconsideration of an application
Re –applying on a new application
The Appeals process

Reconsideration

If you have received a refusal letter and your application was refused due to missing information or mis-interpreted information, you may feel that it is an issue that can be easily rectified. In this case you may be to offer additional information or clarify a part of the application that is the concern and request the application decision be reconsidered.

Re-applying

In this case you could reapply again to the same application you were previously refused. This is only beneficial if your circumstances have changed and you have new information that will improve, enhance or clarify your application. It is important to find out where you went wrong the first time to improve your chances.

Appeals

Appeals for visa decisions are made through judicial review in the Federal Court of Canada. In these instances you will need to show that the program manager at the Canadian visa office assessing your case, acted against the law, unfairly or outside of their jurisdiction. In the case of appeals there are different timelines to lodge an appeal if the refusal was made inside or outside Canada.

Cases that involve permanent residents, refugees, sponsorship or removals are usually appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division.

In most cases the refusal you receive from CIC may not be very detailed, or you may disagree with the decision entirely. We can help you get better clarification on the decision if necessary, request reconsideration, assist with preparing a stronger application or advise if the appeal route is appropriate.

Contact us for a consultation to discuss your case, we will advise of your best options and give guidance of what your next steps should be.

Security Clearance

A police certificate is a copy of your criminal record or a statement that you do not have a criminal record. Police certificates are different in each country and territory. They may be called:

police clearance certificates,
good conduct certificates,
judicial record extracts or
other names.

Police certificates are used to find out if you have a criminal record. They help visa officers make sure you are not a security risk to Canada.

In general the main applicant and all family members who are 18 or older need to get a police certificate. You will need a police certificate from any country or territory that you have spent six months or more since the age of 18.

Depending on the type of application you are submitting will determine at what point you will need to submit the police certificate. To avoid delays, we advise that you should get all of your police certificates as soon as possible, especially if more than one is required, as it may take long to process depending on the country.

In most cases, you must contact the police or government in the relevant country, to ask for a certificate and provide information or documents, such as photographs, fingerprints, or your addresses and dates that you lived in the country or territory and pay a fee.

We will give you detailed instructions on how and when to obtain police certificates that pertain to your application.

Home

About

Blogs & News

Testimonial

Inadmissibility

Criminal Inadmissibility

If you have committed or been convicted of a crime, you may be criminally inadmissible and may not be allowed into Canada.

Medical Issues and Inadmissibility

Applications to immigrate to Canada or enter on a temporary basis may require a medical exam.

Temporary Resident Permit (TRP)

If you are inadmissible for either medical or criminal grounds, but have a good reason to travel to Canada that is justified in the circumstances, you may be issued a temporary resident permit (TRP).

Authorization to Return to Canada

Rehabilitation

Refusals and Appeals

The decision to live, work or study in Canada is a very important life changing decision. It can be extremely disheartening if you submit an application for a visa and receive a refusal. There are however options that can be explored before giving up on your plans to visit or move to Canada.

Security Clearance

When applying to become a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen, you must include a police certificate. If you are applying as a visitor, student or temporary worker, you may also be asked to provide a certificate.

Menu

Address