Hi i'm an Aussie with a Canadian gf and we have applied for a PR visa six months ago. and have just reached the background check stage. I have got my police check through the AFP done early to make sure there was nothing on my record, and it came back with "no disclosable court outcomes". Which is great, until i seen that if i live in Queensland i have to also show my traffic history dating back to my 18th bday. Which is not good, Because i have 3 full pages of driving history with everything from talking on phone, red lights, no seatbelt, speeding(13km/h over), drive causing un due noise and smoke, defective vehicle, unlicenced driving and more. Also i have had one drink driving charge way back in 2000 which was 0.089 BAC, which i had no conviction recorded, and have never re-offended. And if thats not bad enough, in Aus the police do drug testing and i have been caught driving with THC present in my system. Now this isn't DUI, its another lesser charge they have in Aus called "drive while relevent drug is present" and i had no conviction recorded for that charge too. So i'm pretty sure thats not a charge in Canada so i'm wondering how that all works and how all this will affect my application?
Getting PR visa with extensive traffic history
- Thread starter shazdic
- Start date
for PR nothing if you have a clean Police Record
for Canadian Driver's licence maybe, look at your Canadian gf's Province
in Quebec for instance, No agreement exists with the jurisdiction that issued your driver’s licence.
https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/drivers-licences/foreign-drivers-licence/
Not true if you're an Aussie which is why the driving record is requested. A DUI type charge on your driving record can cause problems.
OP - One of two things will happen. Either there will be no impact. Or it's possible CIC may require you to go through the rehabilitation process as part of your PR application which will extend the overall processing time and create additional paperwork you have to complete. Hopefully the last infraction was years ago.
Scylla is correct, but just to expand on this a bit further: OP doesn't have a clean Police record - they have 3 pages of driving convictions. They don't get recorded on the police sheet in some parts of Australia, which is why IRCC require the driving check from some Australian states, where they are recorded. For those Australian states, the full police check is the check issued by police+the check issued by the driving authorities (which together contain the information on a full police check from most countries, and the other Australian states).
OP, if they were mainly less serious (so not crossing the threshold to be a problem), and your DUI and drug-driving were years ago, you may be 'deemed rehabilitated', but you may need to go through the rehabilitation process.
Sure there is
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-253.html
253 (1) Every one commits an offence who operates a motor vehicle or vessel or operates or assists in the operation of an aircraft or of railway equipment or has the care or control of a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment, whether it is in motion or not,
- (a) while the person’s ability to operate the vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment is impaired by alcohol or a drug; or
- 255 (1) Every one who commits an offence under section 253 or 254 is guilty of an indictable offence or an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable,
- (a) whether the offence is prosecuted by indictment or punishable on summary conviction, to the following minimum punishment, namely,
- (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not less than $1,000,
- (ii) for a second offence, to imprisonment for not less than 30 days, and
- (iii) for each subsequent offence, to imprisonment for not less than 120 days;
- (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not less than $1,000,
- (b) where the offence is prosecuted by indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; and
- (c) if the offence is punishable on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not more than 18 months.
- (a) whether the offence is prosecuted by indictment or punishable on summary conviction, to the following minimum punishment, namely,
Can it affect your application? Absolutely. Will it? Depends. They may decide the threshold isn't enough to equate to conviction, or that for whatever reason, it doesn't equate directly to that section of the Canadian criminal code. They may decide with the ongoing debates and difficulty around testing that it doesn't necessarily mean you were under the influence. They may decide that you can apply for rehabilitation, then be let in. They may say you have to wait. Etc etc - at this point all you can do is submit it and see.
Ok thanks for that.. So the drug present in system isn't classed as driving while impaired, its classed as driving with a banned substance in system. And the punishment was a $250 fine and 3months loss of licence for first offence. So thats well under $1000. And the unlicenced driving where in 2004, and 2010 and were not the criminal charge of driving while disqualified. And all other offences were on the spot fines where i didn't have to go to court. So i just have to wait for them to tell me if they want me to do the rehabilitation.? Or can they just say i'm criminally inadmissible.?
What the penalty was doesn't matter - what you need to look at is what the penalty could have been, in Canada. So if they don't think that's equivalent to driving under the influence of drugs, they might say no offence, nothing to worry about. Or they might say it's that equivalent, which could be an indictable offence with a five year maximum. Unfortunately, it really does come down to your specific case officer. If you'd done this beforehand, you could have sent it off to the High Commission for an 'info only' application, which is free and would tell you how they assessed it - inadmissible, inadmissible requiring rehabilitation, deemed rehabilitated due to time, always admissible, etc.
It's entirely possible that your driving issues would come under a plethora of 'ok' categories - provincial infractions (not a Federal problem), ages ago (eg the DUI, deemed rehabilitated after ten years), summary offences (if few enough, no problems), and you're going to get through. But it's also possible that you'll be told you have to wait at this point - as the drug-driving was 3.5 years ago, IF they equate it to S253 (which they may not, as you say, they're slightly different)
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp#5312E3
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 (S253 contains an indictable offence punishable by maximum of 5 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.
In which case, you may have to wait 18 months to resume your application.
It depends on the case officer.
It's entirely possible that your driving issues would come under a plethora of 'ok' categories - provincial infractions (not a Federal problem), ages ago (eg the DUI, deemed rehabilitated after ten years), summary offences (if few enough, no problems), and you're going to get through. But it's also possible that you'll be told you have to wait at this point - as the drug-driving was 3.5 years ago, IF they equate it to S253 (which they may not, as you say, they're slightly different)
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp#5312E3
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 (S253 contains an indictable offence punishable by maximum of 5 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.
In which case, you may have to wait 18 months to resume your application.
It depends on the case officer.
I agree with everything sponsorsponsee has said. You're going to have to wait and see how they equate the charges to Canadian law. It might be possible to proceed with the processing of your application now - or you may be inadmissible to Canada for another year and a half. The latter is a definite possibility so make sure you have a plan B.
You would be applying again from scratch after 18 months (i.e. submitting a brand new application). So end of queue.