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soon to be married but very worried...bad background

enviouz

Newbie
Jul 12, 2008
2
0
hello everyone. im not sure if this is the correct place to ask this but i cant seem to find any aswers on my own so i thought i would give it a try.

first a lil background info. im us born citizen living in us. 27 yrs old. back in december i met this great woman over the net. she is a canadian born citizen and is a registered native american living in canada. we started talking. we immediately jus clicked. jus one of them things where you feel like you have kno this person ur whole life. in a past life even. like ur spittin image except in femine form. we honestly couldnt be more alike. since then i have paid for her to come and visit me twice. 3 weeks each time.

last time she visit we decide we will get married..november 5th of this yr to be exact. she is now pregnate with my child as well. she is due in febuary. we decide marrige will take place in canada due to the fact that i really cant see making her family pay to fly down here as they dont have much money. no to mention the fact that i have zero contact with my family so it just seemed like the logical decision.

now i plan on moving up there to be with her and our child. of course i wanna do everything by the book though. get my citizenship & whatnot so im able to work...able to support my family.

however a possible issue has poped up. i will be flying up there on october 15 for a 1 month stay. the wedding will take place during this time. however i do have a criminal record. It's all part of my old days when I made poor choices which i have now overcome. I will explain this.

There is a "operating without owners consent". This is 7-8 years old. It
was charged as a felony but as part of a plea bargain was dropped to a
misdemeanor. But the case file still has an "f" in it meaning felony
because it was originally charged as such.

There is a "simple" possession of marijuana. 6 years old. Was a
marijuana cigarette.

There is 2 simple theft charges (5th degree. less than $100 usd).
Misdemeanor. These are 4 years old.

There is 2 telephone harassment charges (misdemeanor) These are 3 and
4 yrs old respectively.

I'm not on probation or parole of any kind. My probation has been
finished for 3 years now almost 4. And i haven't been in any trouble with the
law since then not even so much as a parking ticket. I've never been to prison. I've also never had a drunk driving charge. I understand canada is very hard on that issue. But i
have none.

all my convictions took place in the us.

Now i know I'm no saint. We all make mistakes. I have since turned my
life around. I realize these may cause problems with citizenship. but what are the chances of me being denied entry for my 1 month visit due to this?

should i bother with rehabilitation or jus figure out a backup plan for us to be together?

the visit and marriage is my main concern at the moment. we arent getting married so i cant get citizenship though. actually originally after we got married she was gon move here. BUT i just dont feel rite taking her away from her family.

any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated including those on the citizenship process as im totally lost as far as the whole process goes.

thankx in advance.
 

rgvinson777

Hero Member
Dec 12, 2007
219
0
NOTE: To immigrate to Canada, you would be applying for "Permanent Residency" not citizenship. That comes later.

The felony of course may or may not be considered an "indictable offense" in Canada. Immigration officers will determine if what you did in the U.S. would be considered a felony (indictable offense) if you had commited it in Canada. If they determine that it is an indeed an indictable offense, you will be deemed inadmissable (disqualified) to immigrate and/or visit Canada. If a period of 10 years have passed since the completion of any fines or incarceration you may be deemed as "rehabilitated." 7 or 8 years leaves you in the inadmissable category. As far as the other offenses, they are what is referred to as "Summary Offenses." You can be deemed inadmissable for summary offenses also. (A traffic ticket is a summary offense.) For summary offenses, for 2 or more offenses, 5 years must pass since fines were paid or jail time served for you to be automatically deemed rehabilitated. 4 years on the summary offenses leaves you in the inadmissable category also.

My suggestion is that you acquire the complete court records pertaining to all of your offenses while waiting for the 10 year mark to pass on the felony and the 5 year mark to pass on the summary offenses.

Look here.....http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/ob036.asp

Best Wishes