Permanent Resident with US Infraction

[coolraz]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post in this forum. First of all you guys are awesome and give the best suggestions and tips ever. I am a recent permanent resident who landed in Canada last month. I applied for a US visa and recieved it as well after doing my landing formalities by flagpoling. Last week I was visiting Washington State and I recieved a Non Traffic Infraction ticket on the highway for flicking a cigarette butt out of the window for USD 1,025. I responded to the court by admitting to the guilt, paying the fine off and learnt my lesson the hard way. My question is will that affect my Canadian PR by any chance. As I dont have my PR card yet and am waiting for it in the mail, will crossing border to the US and back to Canada cause any problems for me. Please advise.

Thanks.

 

[coolraz]

LEON please reply.

 

[Dejaavu]

If it is not a criminal offence you should be fine.

 

[coolraz]

Thanks Dejaavu I was getting worried. It says on the back of the ticket that it is a non criminal offence but I am worried on the Canadian side of things if it does have an impact or not.

 

[Dejaavu]

If it is not criminal then don't worry about it. Non-criminal offense would be serious but my aunt is from New Jersey and she got a ticket in California a long time ago and she never paid it because she disagreed. She is ok driving now in NJ. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[on-hold]

It wouldn't matter if it was a criminal offense -- you're a PR, you'll only lose that for violent crimes within Canada. I don't know what they would do about a violent crime in the States, but the criminal/non-criminal distinction is not the one you need to worry about.

 

[coolraz]

Thanks a lot for your advice and help on-hold and Dejaavu! That relieves me from a lot of stress and worry .

 

[Dejaavu]

If it was a criminal offense, then you would be banned entry to US and then you would need to get a waiver of inadmissibility.

 

[coolraz]

Well on the back of the ticket it says clearly that it is not a criminal offence so I guess I should be good crossing hopefully.

 

[Msafiri]

An offence in a jurisdiction outside Canada would be compared with the Canadian equivalent under the criminal code. Depending on the possible maximum punishment for the offence this determines if the PR is inadmissible on criminality grounds...I haven't looked into the Canadian equivalence of the Washington issue you faced but I doubt it would be an issue. You can always check the exact wording on the ticket including any reference to legislation as a start...I guess smoking is indeed bad for your health and pocket!

 

[coolraz]

Yeah I hope to stop that habit soon , the Canadian equivalent to it would be littering as indicated on many cities's websites such as the one for Calgary that carries the By-Law fine so I am not sure if that would have an effect.

 

[on-hold]

msafri, I have a question -- if a PR committed a violent crime in the United States, would Canada consider that grounds for revocation of PR status? I guess it would be moot if the PR was in jail for more than 3 years in the States, but it would probably be possible somehow. How about something like drunk driving? Does Canada revoke PR status for that?

 

[zardoz]

msafri, I have a question -- if a PR committed a violent crime in the United States, would Canada consider that grounds for revocation of PR status? I guess it would be moot if the PR was in jail for more than 3 years in the States, but it would probably be possible somehow. How about something like drunk driving? Does Canada revoke PR status for that?

Take a look at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/enf/enf01-eng.pdf for the list...

 

[on-hold]

That's inadmissability, not revocation.

 

[zardoz]

That's inadmissability, not revocation.

Yes, but one leads (via due process) to the other...