The case you cited is not in contradiction with what I said previously. Here the applicant received a conditional discharge for his DUI offense in 2008 and was deemed admissible. They received a refusal in the beginning because they did not provide any evidence to the officer (you can see that the evidence of the conditional discharge was provided in submissions later in court). If they had provided it from the beginning they wouldn't have been rejected.
My point with this example, was that despite his admission of guilt, and conviction for impaired driving outside of Canada, his conditional discharge was allowed him to be admissible.
Most states in the US have so-called "diversion" programs aimed at first-time offenders or to deal with minor offenses. These programs provide most people the false illusion of getting out of the criminal justice system by not going to court or having to face jail time for the offenses they have allegedly committed. These programs rely on the individual filling out a form to request this which essentially implies admitting the offense and waiving any rights to a trial as the defendant will instead undergo an "alternative" form of correction such as anger management courses or alcohol/drug addiction therapy (and pay for the costs too). The court clerk will dismiss the case but this is just because the defendant elected to go into the program (you can usually see in court dockets a reference to the diversion program). It does not mean the defendant is not guilty as the dismissal is immediately entered and is not contingent on the result of the diversion program as opposed to a conditional discharge. The effect of this is that the individual will not receive a formal criminal record in that state however background check companies can still find the arrest records and the court records and this will still have a negative impact on that individual's employment prospects and such. They also face a problem with admissibility to Canada and must go through rehabilitation if the offense is equivalent to something in Canada.
Some people are "sentenced" to probation either normally or as part of a plea deal. This is not considered conditional discharge.
A lot of the state programs use different language, conditional discharge programs, pre-trial disposition, etc. It'd be great if you could explain to me where in the literature (or if you have your own experience/expertise in the matter, I'd love to hear that too), one can differentiate what qualifies as a conditional discharge program, versus the diversion programs that you feel would affect admissibility. In PA, you do have to waive your rights to a
speedy trial, because your adjudication is deferred until completion of the probation/program. You don't waive your right to trial, because if you fail the program, you go back to trial.
Bottom-line I think you are admissible from the description you have mentioned about your case however I cannot be certain as I do not know what is in your record or what state your offense took place. If your fine(s) were court fees or administrative things I wouldn't be worried about them.
Case occurred in Pennsylvania, and dismissed/expunged through the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) program (
https://www.pacode.com/secure/data/234/chapter3/chap3toc.html). You do have to pay restitution, which I believe are related to program costs.
The program consists of a probationary period, payment of program costs, license suspension, substance education/treatment. If we're talking about similarity to Canadian law, this is similar to the conditional discharge/curative discharge for an over 80 that
@Femlala described.
On completion of the program, the deferred charges are dismissed and records expunged.
"When the defendant shall have completed satisfactorily the program prescribed and complied with its conditions, the defendant may move the court for an order dismissing the charges...When the judge orders the dismissal of the charges against the defendant, the judge also shall order the expungement of the defendant’s arrest record"
Once again, I'm not sure what exactly what defines an acceptable conditional discharge, in terms differentiating the different programs in the states with regards to admissibility. If we're talking about the laws having similar laws and goals as Canadian law, I feel what I described in the state code is fairly inline with the conditional discharge/curative discharge femalala was talking about. Once again, if you have sources from operating manuals or policies, or even personal/professional experience, I'd love to see/hear it so I can try to understand it.
