When I was young I was charged and found guilty of a fraud related offence. Went to court and pleaded guilty, and I was told that as long as I paid the money back and the fine. That my recordwould be esponged or something like that. Im planning a trip to Vegas next year, should I go and get a background check done just to make suer that its all clean now. Or just chance it at the border.
Question about Criminal Records?
- Thread starter FTWWTF
- Start date
If your charges were really long ago and resolved in court, be honest with the border people if they ask.
You could go through the official process for something like a nexus card but it could turn a sometimes admitted if the customs officer is in a good mood to formally denied.
You could go through the official process for something like a nexus card but it could turn a sometimes admitted if the customs officer is in a good mood to formally denied.
i would get the check done. you may not have trouble going down but you can have trouble coming back. you may need to go get a pardon before you think about going. i got a few friends that i wanted to bring up for a party and they couldn't cross the border for something as simple as a dui.
You can also apply for a waiver from the American Customs and Border Patrol for individual visits to the US if you don't have time to go through the pardon process.
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...dian-with-criminal-record-or-overstay,-waiver
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...dian-with-criminal-record-or-overstay,-waiver
What if you have been arrested but never charged with a crime? Or, arrested and charged but the charges were later dropped?
to get everything erased, you are looking at a year the govt is fcking slow. the u.s. only cares if you were convicted of a felony by their standards, or drug crimes but they can refuse you for any reason even if you have never been arrested. the chances are pretty good you wont have any problems. if you were given a criminal conviction due to pleading guilty, for summary offences you can automatically get it pardoned after 3 or 5 years if u apply, now the tricky part is a pardon means nothing when crossing into the u.s. they dont recognize our pardons, so what u have to do is get your entire criminal record erased inclding fingerprints etc, this is called a FILE DESTRUCTION. it erases your FEDERAL RCMP CPIC record which u.s. customs has access too. once your flagged with u.s. customs, its too late erasing your cpic record will do nothing, but if you erase your record before u.s. customs sees it you are in the clear. like I said you are looking a year for the pardon and a year for the file destruction maybe you can do bothing at once I dunno. a file destruction is free yo go to your local police dept and they send the paperwork to the rcmp
how young were you? Were you underage? Most minor offences are cleared and wiped clean if you don't committ crimes for a period of 5 or 10 years .. something like that. The judge usually orders you to reimburse it, attend workshops to help you learn from the experience etc.
You still tell them if they ask . Everything shows . If you lie at all it's grounds to turn you back . Even though they can turn you around just by the way you look . They don't need a reason .
There was an author who wrote some books about growing dope . Those books were on the net for everyone to read . Even though this author had no record what so ever he was denied entry into the US . Their reason , " we don't want your kind coming into our country " . He missed his plane leaving BC and his trip .
Even with something as simple as a DUI they can refuse entry . Their reason , if you aren't willing to follow the laws in your own country what makes us feel that you will follow our laws in our country . Simple as that .
If you have been charged with something and court still pending you might as well forget it . Your not getting in if they check you out .
People don't realize how important it is to have a clean record . Oh yes we have rights but our rights in this country don't mean shit in another country .
Good Luck
You should get the check done. It is impossible to know what your situation is without knowing exactly what you were convicted of and what the sentence was.
US customs will likely deny you entry if you have a fraud related offense still on your record.
Ok so first off US customs does not recognize Canadian Pardons so even if you get it pardoned it will make no difference. It is entirely up to the discretion of the Customs officer at the border whether you can cross but if you are denied once then from there on in you require a US waiver. This costs 600 plus dollars and can take a year to get approval and is only valid for one year at a time. You must re-apply each time. Enjoy
Some inaccurate information being posted here...
First off, TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! The reason is that once the Americans get a hold of your criminal record information, IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY. Doesn't matter what happens here (pardon, expunge, whatever), once the Americans have it they will never delete it from their system. So they key is to deal with it here FIRST before you cross the border and potentially have the info downloaded to the Americans.
Start by going to your local police department and doing a criminal background check. It's not that expensive and they'll tell you right away. If you get a hit, I would avoid going to the US until you can get a pardon. If it's clean then it will only appear in the police department's system in which you were arrested/charged and that information will not show on a CPIC check (which is why you get no hit on a police background check). The hit in the local police department's system shows they arrested/charged you but they can't use that information in a court of law (i.e., it's not a conviction and/or it's been expunged/pardoned).
I'm not that familiar with charges that are expunged when you're a youth but I suspect it doesn't show up as a hit. My understanding is that it's a sealed record that never goes away but CAN be reopened under certain circumstances (i.e., if you're charged with a subsequent crime).
The border guards are smart. They won't ask you if you've been convicted, they'll ask you if you've ever been charged (which means you could have been totally innocent). If you lie they can kick you out and ban you for life from the US (not only is it a criminal offense to lie to a border guard but it's also a criminal offense to NOT disclose that you have a criminal record) so it's best to be truthful. If you were charged but found not guilty then you might be able to get away with saying, "Oh, I thought you meant convicted" but if you were convicted I wouldn't fuck around because they'll make your life miserable.
A pardon will remove a conviction from your record (assuming you can get one) and subsequently it won't show up on a background check. But as I said above, if the US already has your record (i.e., from downloading it when you lied to them at the border crossing), that will never go away. The US doesn't give a shit about Canadian pardons and doesn't recognize them. You can get a US exemption for certain criminal offenses but they only accept certain types (google it, there's a term for it). Anything related to drugs, violence, or sexual offenses won't fly. I don't know about fraud but I wouldn't be surprised if they won't allow that (i.e., fraud involves lying so why would they grant you a waiver if they already know you're a person who lies?). Getting a Canadian pardon helps with getting an American exemption but obviously if you apply for an American exemption then they'll have your record forever.
EDIT: Good point above about getting your CPIC record erased. When you get acquitted or obtain a pardon your lawyer should be writing a letter to the RCMP (yes, I know the OPP administers CPIC) to direct them to delete your file. Not sure if they do it on their own (I think they do but they take their time) but if you send a letter then they will confirm when it's been done.
First off, TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! The reason is that once the Americans get a hold of your criminal record information, IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY. Doesn't matter what happens here (pardon, expunge, whatever), once the Americans have it they will never delete it from their system. So they key is to deal with it here FIRST before you cross the border and potentially have the info downloaded to the Americans.
Start by going to your local police department and doing a criminal background check. It's not that expensive and they'll tell you right away. If you get a hit, I would avoid going to the US until you can get a pardon. If it's clean then it will only appear in the police department's system in which you were arrested/charged and that information will not show on a CPIC check (which is why you get no hit on a police background check). The hit in the local police department's system shows they arrested/charged you but they can't use that information in a court of law (i.e., it's not a conviction and/or it's been expunged/pardoned).
I'm not that familiar with charges that are expunged when you're a youth but I suspect it doesn't show up as a hit. My understanding is that it's a sealed record that never goes away but CAN be reopened under certain circumstances (i.e., if you're charged with a subsequent crime).
The border guards are smart. They won't ask you if you've been convicted, they'll ask you if you've ever been charged (which means you could have been totally innocent). If you lie they can kick you out and ban you for life from the US (not only is it a criminal offense to lie to a border guard but it's also a criminal offense to NOT disclose that you have a criminal record) so it's best to be truthful. If you were charged but found not guilty then you might be able to get away with saying, "Oh, I thought you meant convicted" but if you were convicted I wouldn't fuck around because they'll make your life miserable.
A pardon will remove a conviction from your record (assuming you can get one) and subsequently it won't show up on a background check. But as I said above, if the US already has your record (i.e., from downloading it when you lied to them at the border crossing), that will never go away. The US doesn't give a shit about Canadian pardons and doesn't recognize them. You can get a US exemption for certain criminal offenses but they only accept certain types (google it, there's a term for it). Anything related to drugs, violence, or sexual offenses won't fly. I don't know about fraud but I wouldn't be surprised if they won't allow that (i.e., fraud involves lying so why would they grant you a waiver if they already know you're a person who lies?). Getting a Canadian pardon helps with getting an American exemption but obviously if you apply for an American exemption then they'll have your record forever.
EDIT: Good point above about getting your CPIC record erased. When you get acquitted or obtain a pardon your lawyer should be writing a letter to the RCMP (yes, I know the OPP administers CPIC) to direct them to delete your file. Not sure if they do it on their own (I think they do but they take their time) but if you send a letter then they will confirm when it's been done.
Keebler is right about the amount of misinformation being posted. His is the most accurate.
A couple of other things to add - when you are arrested and are fingerprinted you are assigned an FPS number. That is why US border officials ask if you have been arrested, not if you have been convicted. They can search CPIC and they can search FPS numbers.
Also, new Canadian passports are encoded with FPS numbers if you have one. I am not sure if this is only the case if you were convicted or if applies to everyone who is assigned an FPS number. If you have a criminal record and get a new Canadian passport the odds are your FPS number is encoded on that passport. If you present the passport at the US border all the border guard has to do is swipe the passport and they will find out about your record.
As for simon's comment about the problem being coming back into Canada that is not true - assuming you are a Canadian citizen. Canadian border officials have no authority to exclude a Canadian citizen from re-entering the country, regardless of the citizen's criminal record. I suspect simon's friend were Americans with criminal convictions and they had problems with Canadian border officials. If you are a Canadian citizen with a criminal record your problems at the border are going to be with US border officials.
A couple of other things to add - when you are arrested and are fingerprinted you are assigned an FPS number. That is why US border officials ask if you have been arrested, not if you have been convicted. They can search CPIC and they can search FPS numbers.
Also, new Canadian passports are encoded with FPS numbers if you have one. I am not sure if this is only the case if you were convicted or if applies to everyone who is assigned an FPS number. If you have a criminal record and get a new Canadian passport the odds are your FPS number is encoded on that passport. If you present the passport at the US border all the border guard has to do is swipe the passport and they will find out about your record.
As for simon's comment about the problem being coming back into Canada that is not true - assuming you are a Canadian citizen. Canadian border officials have no authority to exclude a Canadian citizen from re-entering the country, regardless of the citizen's criminal record. I suspect simon's friend were Americans with criminal convictions and they had problems with Canadian border officials. If you are a Canadian citizen with a criminal record your problems at the border are going to be with US border officials.
That's nasty!
Some additional info here: http://www.albertapardons.com/CurrentTimelines.html
"Moral Turpitude" is the term I was thinking of and it includes fraud.
I agree. So if you get a pardon make sure you "lose" or "accidentally destroy" your current passport and get a new one before travelling to the US.
Nope , US doesnt recognize canadian pardons , your record is in the system so as soon as your passport is scanned they have all the info and start asking questions. If you say you have no record and their system says you do ... be prepared to go inside ...escorted of course
