Moving to Canada from the US with a criminal history

[Snoww]

I have a friend that would like to move to Canada and has just been released early from prison in the United States. He was serving a sentence for a 2nd degree murder charge that was committed when he was 17 years old. What is the likelihood of him being able to enter and/or gain permanent residency in Canada? I don't believe he qualifies for deemed rehabilitation as he has only just been released. Due to the fact that he was a young offender, would that work in his favour? He has many trades under his belt and is interested in bettering himself and being an asset to society.

Any information would be helpful!

 

[scylla]

I have a friend that would like to move to Canada and has just been released early from prison in the United States. He was serving a sentence for a 2nd degree murder charge that was committed when he was 17 years old. What is the likelihood of him being able to enter and/or gain permanent residency in Canada? I don't believe he qualifies for deemed rehabilitation as he has only just been released. Due to the fact that he was a young offender, would that work in his favour? He has many trades under his belt and is interested in bettering himself and being an asset to society.

Any information would be helpful!

Zero chance of qualifying for PR anywhere in the near future. Best case scenario he can try applying for rehabilitation in five years. However given the seriousness of the charge, no guarantee rehab will be approved.

Until he goes through the rehab process, he cannot enter Canada in any capacity (visitor, PR or anything else).

He needs to forget about Canada for at least 5 years. He should focus on bettering himself in the US.

 

[Snoww]

Thank you for your reply!

 

[skye]

I believe youthful offender status means the record is sealed and it should not show up on a background check.

 

[Dadmissingfamily]

I have a friend that would like to move to Canada and has just been released early from prison in the United States. He was serving a sentence for a 2nd degree murder charge that was committed when he was 17 years old. What is the likelihood of him being able to enter and/or gain permanent residency in Canada? I don't believe he qualifies for deemed rehabilitation as he has only just been released. Due to the fact that he was a young offender, would that work in his favour? He has many trades under his belt and is interested in bettering himself and being an asset to society.

Any information would be helpful!

Really

 

[Dadmissingfamily]

I believe youthful offender status means the record is sealed and it should not show up on a background check.[/QUOT
So whats the time lenght....that was awesome in a month

 

[Dadmissingfamily]

I have a friend that would like to move to Canada and has just been released early from prison in the United States. He was serving a sentence for a 2nd degree murder charge that was committed when he was 17 years old. What is the likelihood of him being able to enter and/or gain permanent residency in Canada? I don't believe he qualifies for deemed rehabilitation as he has only just been released. Due to the fact that he was a young offender, would that work in his favour? He has many trades under his belt and is interested in bettering himself and being an asset to society.

Any information would be helpful!

A month? He got all that

 

[Mort Sinclair]

I believe youthful offender status means the record is sealed and it should not show up on a background check.

He will be asked if he has ever been convicted of a crime. He must be honest.

 

[skye]

He will be asked if he has ever been convicted of a crime. He must be honest.

Legally, you are allowed to answer No, to that question, if your record is sealed. That's the whole reason they have the youthful offender program. I would actually suggest to talk to a US lawyer and confirm that his record is truly sealed. If it is, then he doesn't have to say that he was ever convicted of a crime on any legal forms. That is the nature of youthful offender, though I do think it varies from state to state.

 

[LifeDreamer]

I have a friend that would like to move to Canada and has just been released early from prison in the United States. He was serving a sentence for a 2nd degree murder charge that was committed when he was 17 years old. What is the likelihood of him being able to enter and/or gain permanent residency in Canada? I don't believe he qualifies for deemed rehabilitation as he has only just been released. Due to the fact that he was a young offender, would that work in his favour? He has many trades under his belt and is interested in bettering himself and being an asset to society.

Any information would be helpful!

If you were tried and convicted in a juvenile court, then you are admissible. If you were tried and convicted in an adult court, or you received an adult sentence, then you are inadmissible.

In any case, you cannot enter Canada while you are on probation.

 

[LifeDreamer]

Legally, you are allowed to answer No, to that question, if your record is sealed. That's the whole reason they have the youthful offender program. I would actually suggest to talk to a US lawyer and confirm that his record is truly sealed. If it is, then he doesn't have to say that he was ever convicted of a crime on any legal forms. That is the nature of youthful offender, though I do think it varies from state to state.

Actually the answer has to be Yes despite the fact it might be sealed, expunged or otherwise unavailable. You do not have the legal protection or benefit of being able to say no because you are attempting to cross an international border and Canada in this case does not recognize the foreign law.

In short, if found lying to a relevant matter a foreign expungement, record sealing or otherwise will not be a valid defense in a misrepresentation finding and this has been affirmed in many court cases.

 

[Buletruck]

Sealed records doesnt mean that no one can see your past criminal history. “Sealing” removes the record from public availability and enquiry. Government agencies and law enforcement can still retrieve the information. The only way a criminal record can be made completely inaccessible is expungement, where the record is destroyed along with all reference to it. As stated above, the answer is “Yes”. IRCC will be able to to gain access through background checks with the FBI.

 

[skye]

You guys are wrong. Sealing records exactly DOES mean that no one can see your past criminal history. It will not show up on a background check with a private company and *should* not be reported on the FBI background check legally, but from what I am seeing with my internet search, is that they are reporting these crimes anyways, and you have to take measure to have the FBI correct your record. http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2012/04/do-sealed-record-keep-fbi-fingerprint-records-from-showing-up/

In fact, many states actually send fingerprints to the FBI anytime someone is arrested, even if they are completely innocent. https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-seal-or-expunge-my-fbi-criminal-history-reco-602723.html

 

[LifeDreamer]

You guys are wrong. Sealing records exactly DOES mean that no one can see your past criminal history. It will not show up on a background check with a private company and *should* not be reported on the FBI background check legally, but from what I am seeing with my internet search, is that they are reporting these crimes anyways, and you have to take measure to have the FBI correct your record. http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2012/04/do-sealed-record-keep-fbi-fingerprint-records-from-showing-up/

In fact, many states actually send fingerprints to the FBI anytime someone is arrested, even if they are completely innocent. https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-seal-or-expunge-my-fbi-criminal-history-reco-602723.html

It is sealed in public view, I agree with you. Nobody in the world will be able to see the case whether in Canada or else and this includes any employer or background check company. However, the type of criminal check done by Canada is a police-to-police check and this is non-standard. It can only be performed by police authorities and in this case it is performed by the RCMP who have direct access to NCIC and many state central repositories. Also they request a background check by sending NLETS messages to local police jurisdictions and county sheriffs directly, who may very well respond accordingly. Internationally, they send requests over interpol to NCB offices worldwide and this has a much further reach than an ordinary police certificate, because the foreign police jurisdiction in this case may share any kind of information they wish including stuff that is not supposed to appear on a police certificate. These channels and tools are not available to anyone and hence why it is reasonable to say that a PR background check may reveal matters not available to standard background check companies.

Bottom rule is, if a police officer in the locality where it happened can find out about your record by simply running your name and DOB, then there is a reasonable chance that the RCMP in Canada will learn about it. If the case was completely expunged, i.e. destroyed and stricken off the books, then there is a reasonable chance the RCMP will not learn about it but it is extremely rare that a foreign criminal justice system has such a procedure in place and usually it will be reserved only for people who were proven to be innocent.

Also you should know that, in the US, background check companies have another trick which is that they pick up records in bulk from courts nationwide and share them in countless number of affiliate companies so if a particular record was picked up before being sealed or expunged it will remain forever in the cloud thus making the expungement obvious unfortunately. This is one more reason why someone would move to Canada because such practice is illegal here.

 

[Mort Sinclair]

There are three outcomes:

1. In the spirit of full disclosure and as an honest answer to the question posed on the application, the individual answers "yes" to the criminal conviction question, explains the youthful offender dispensation of the case, and hopes that CIC is reasonable in considering the application.
2. Answer "no" to the question, which is, in fact, a lie, hope that CIC doesn't discover the lie, and your application advances.
3. Answer "no" to the question, CIC finds out about the sealed case, your lie on the application form, and you are disqualified for the foreseeable future.