Outland Sponsorship - Spouse and Minor Criminal Record - Please help!!

[justfromerica]

Hey everyone,

I'm a Canadian citizen living in the US with my American wife. I have my 2 year conditional green card, but we are unhappy here in the US and want to move to Canada.

However, we have one complicated element to our case:

My wife got a DUI December 2009, so over 5 years ago. She had turned 18 that previous June. She had the case plead down to Youthtful Offender, because in the state of Alabama, they don't expunge. Essentially the best they could do to remove it from her record, so it hasn't shown up on background checks for jobs etc.

I know DUI's render you inadmissible to Canada, but if it says "Youthful Offender" on her police clearance, or nothing at all, would she still be considered admissible? She paid a fee, had her licence suspended for 9 months, and had to go AA/NA/Drug School for 3 months and was on probation for 6 months.

This is all I found on the CIC website:

In Canada, a young offender is someone who is 12 years of age or older but less than 18 years of age.

You are not inadmissible if you:

were convicted in Canada under the Young Offenders Act or the Youth Criminal Justice Act, unless you received an adult sentence,
were treated as a young offender in a country which has special provisions for young offenders, or
were convicted in a country which does not have special provisions for young offenders but the circumstances of your conviction are such that you would not have received an adult sentence in Canada.

You are inadmissible if you:

were convicted in adult court in a country that has special provisions for young offenders, or
were convicted in a country which does not have special provisions for young offenders but the circumstances of your conviction are such that you would have been treated as an adult in Canada

This is really important because it's going to decide if we are going to apply for Canadian PR from here, or move closer to Canada just to be closer to everyone, and then apply for Rehabilitation there.

We are just sick of being so far away and I really want to know our options. We'd prefer to live in Canada, but if that's not possible right now, we'd rather move up to Washington state and go from there.

Please help!

 

[justfromerica]

Anyone? I have to call the CIC on Monday but I was hoping to receive some insight here first.

 

[triple p]

My husband and I had a similar situation and it is possible to fill out the criminal rehabilitation application and send it in with the spousal sponsorship application. The CIC website elaborates more on the process for a criminal rehabilitation application. It is important to note that you can only apply for CR if 5 years has past since she completed the entire sentence. Since she was so young, you should still check it out with CIC. I am not a lawyer and am just sharing what I know. We also opted the do our entire application throught the lawyers at www.canadavisa.com as we wanted to ensure we did everything properly (reasonable rate).

 

[triple p]

Did she complete her sentence by about June, 2011? If so, I would recommend possibly sending in the criminal rehabilitation and spousal application together in about June, 2016. I would also still check with CIC and a lawyer as I do not know all the specifics of your case. It seems like waiting A long time, but it does take some time to get all the documents together (e.g. FBI reports from US is about 3-4 months). I hope this helps!

 

[triple p]

I read the blue print you included from the CIC website a bit closer in regards to "young offender". I hope that you won't even have to do the criminal rehabilitation application. Again, the best thing to do is talk to a lawyer regarding the specifics or CIC. CIC will hopefully be able to answer your question and hopefully save you some legal fees if a criminal rehabilitation application is not necessary.

 

[justfromerica]

Did she complete her sentence by about June, 2011? If so, I would recommend possibly sending in the criminal rehabilitation and spousal application together in about June, 2016. I would also still check with CIC and a lawyer as I do not know all the specifics of your case. It seems like waiting A long time, but it does take some time to get all the documents together (e.g. FBI reports from US is about 3-4 months). I hope this helps!

If by complete her sentence, you mean was done with all the probation/fees/classes would have been towards the end of 2010. Is that where the 5 years starts? Not from the initial arrest?

I did the the US process all on my own successfully without lawyers or any issues, so I was hoping I could figure this out on my own. I will talk to the CIC tomorrow and go from there.

 

[scylla]

If by complete her sentence, you mean was done with all the probation/fees/classes would have been towards the end of 2010. Is that where the 5 years starts? Not from the initial arrest?

Yes - that's where the 5 years starts. From the time she completed all of the probation/fees/classes (not from the initial arrest).

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Given the fact that your wife was already above the age of 18 when the crime was committed and it specifically states in the CIC info you quoted that Canada recognizes a youthful offender as being under the age of 18, I think there is little chance of avoiding the full rehabilitation process.

 

[justfromerica]

Given the fact that your wife was already above the age of 18 when the crime was committed and it specifically states in the CIC info you quoted that Canada recognizes a youthful offender as being under the age of 18, I think there is little chance of avoiding the full rehabilitation process.

That's sort of how I read it too, but because it didn't say like "12-17" instead, I wasn't totally positive.

Does anyone have a better way to reach the CIC from outside Canada? I called and got transferred using another number but every time I call they're too busy to pass me along to an agent, sigh.

 

[scylla]

Even if you get through - the chances you're going to get a half decent answer to your question are pretty much nil. The help desk is good for only the most basic question (and they mess up even those). Your quesiton is complicated and there's a good chance they either won't be able to answer it or will lead you astray. If you want a consult, you'll need to engage a Canadian immigration lawyer.

 

[justfromerica]

Yeah, I called the free consultation line but they said all the lawyers were busy and to call back, so hopefully someone is able to answer my question. I'm wondering if the rehabilitation process, if necessary, would be more straight forward than others given her crime compared to some other things, or if that even matters.

 

[scylla]

I would honestly forget about the consults and assume you need to go through the rehabilitation process. I don't see how you would be able to avoid it.

It should be pretty straight forward - however it will increase your overall process time. So the sooner you kick off the application & rehabilitation process - the better.

 

[scylla]

Sorry - just to add - don't apply until 5 years have passed since she completed her sentence. Hopefully that date has already passed or you are very close.

 

[saria1]

Hey everyone,

I'm a Canadian citizen living in the US with my American wife. I have my 2 year conditional green card, but we are unhappy here in the US and want to move to Canada.

However, we have one complicated element to our case:

My wife got a DUI December 2009, so over 5 years ago. She had turned 18 that previous June. She had the case plead down to Youthtful Offender, because in the state of Alabama, they don't expunge. Essentially the best they could do to remove it from her record, so it hasn't shown up on background checks for jobs etc.

I know DUI's render you inadmissible to Canada, but if it says "Youthful Offender" on her police clearance, or nothing at all, would she still be considered admissible? She paid a fee, had her licence suspended for 9 months, and had to go AA/NA/Drug School for 3 months and was on probation for 6 months.

This is all I found on the CIC website:

This is really important because it's going to decide if we are going to apply for Canadian PR from here, or move closer to Canada just to be closer to everyone, and then apply for Rehabilitation there.

We are just sick of being so far away and I really want to know our options. We'd prefer to live in Canada, but if that's not possible right now, we'd rather move up to Washington state and go from there.

Please help!

First I would contact a channeler like Field Print and pull her FBI report to review with her. Some States report cases of minors to the FBI along with prints. But that law didn't come into affect until somewhere in the around 2006-2008 range. Initially most states refused to report the crimes of minors to the FBI. Sadly though, many states are reporting minors charges to the FBI and creating rap sheets that will follow the kids for the rest of their lives (think school yard fights, police are arresting, charging and reporting this to the FBI).

If her reports are all clear, then I don't see why it needs to be disclosed. I'd confirm with a lawyer though.

 

[Ponga]

First I would contact a channeler like Field Print and pull her FBI report to review with her. Some States report cases of minors to the FBI along with prints. But that law didn't come into affect until somewhere in the around 2006-2008 range. Initially most states refused to report the crimes of minors to the FBI. Sadly though, many states are reporting minors charges to the FBI and creating rap sheets that will follow the kids for the rest of their lives (think school yard fights, police are arresting, charging and reporting this to the FBI).

If her reports are all clear, then I don't see why it needs to be disclosed. I'd confirm with a lawyer though.

She was NOT a minor when she was charged, since she was 18 years old at the time.


IMHO, the applicant still needs to answer the question truthfully in her application, since she was in fact charged with the DUI, even though it was reduced to a lesser charge. If she's not truthful (even if it's not on the FBI PCC), it could be seen as misrepresentation.