Can You Travel Overseas With a Drug Conviction

Below is another excerpt from the second edition of Love, Roberts & Klingele, Collateral Consequences of Criminal Confidence: Law, Policy & Practice (Westward/NACDL, 2nd ed. 2015)(forthcoming), this one nigh restrictions on international travel based on criminal tape.  The showtime section discusses the subject area in general terms, while the 2nd department describes restrictions on travel to Canada for individuals with a strange conviction, and the methods of overcoming these restrictions.  (An earlier post described methods of neutralizing Canadian convictions for purposes of travel to the U.Southward.)

2:61. International travel restrictions — In general*

A conviction tin can restrict a U.S. denizen's freedom to travel outside the United states of america in several ways. Beginning, domestic laws revoke passports for individuals convicted of designated offenses. When a person is convicted of a felony drug law-breaking for acquit that involved international travel, for example, his passport will be revoked under federal law[1]. The revocation period lasts for the full duration of the judgement imposed for the drug law-breaking[2].

Persons with a felony conviction commonly will not qualify for "trusted traveler" programs operated by U.Due south. Customs and Border Protection, such as the Global Entry programme ("expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States"), or the NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST programs (pre-cleared personal and commercial travel across the U.S. borders with Canada and United mexican states).[3]  All applicants for these programs "undergo a rigorous background bank check and interview before enrollment."  Ironically, in low-cal of the stated purpose of these programs to expedite international travel, persons who apply and are rejected based on criminal history may find themselves routinely selected for further examination when inbound the United states of america.

Strange laws may also restrict the travel of individuals convicted in U.Southward. courts.   Some countries, most notably Canada, prohibit individuals bedevilled of certain offenses from entry.[4]  However, countries that just require travelers to present their passport for admission generally do not screen for a criminal record.  Canada is a special case, as the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) border agents have admission to the National Crime Data Center (NCIC) database, using the traveler'due south passport, which allows them to run into any conviction going back to a traveler's xviii^th birthday.[v]

Other countries practise non have immediate access to the NCIC database, which means that this result only arises if the individual is applying for a visa to visit, work, report, or immigrate.  On visa applications, there is unremarkably a question regarding criminal convictions and arrests, and failure to answer truthfully may take serious consequences.  U.S. citizens may also be asked to nowadays a "certificate of skillful conduct" or "lack of a criminal tape" for a variety of reasons for utilise abroad including adoption, school attendance, or employment.[6]

Some countries do not automatically exclude individuals with prior convictions from entry but require certain convicted individuals to apply to the country for pre-clearance prior to travel.[7]  Individuals with criminal records who wish to travel internationally should first contact the local U.Due south. embassy of the nation they wish to visit for up-to-date information about the nation's policies regarding admission.

ii:62. International travel restrictions – Canada

Before travelling to Canada, individuals with a criminal history should verify their entry status, since even seemingly minor offenses may render an individual inadmissible to Canada.

The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)[8] states that a strange national may exist inadmissible on the grounds of criminality if convicted outside of Canada of an offense that, if committed in Canada, would establish an "indictable crime" under an Act of Parliament.[9]  Thus, just, any offense committed outside of Canada that would exist considered indictable in Canada results in criminal inadmissibility. Any offense that could be treated as either summary or indictable is known as a hybrid criminal offence. Hybrid offenses, a bulk of the offenses in the Canadian criminal code, are considered to exist indictable offenses for the purposes of Canadian immigration.  Summary offenses practise not result in inadmissibility.[10]

A significant part of the application process to overcome inadmissibility is determining the equivalence of strange offenses with Canadian offenses.  Information technology does non matter how lightly or severely a given crime is treated in the country where information technology occurred, or whether information technology is styled every bit a felony or misdemeanor.  Thus, a misdemeanor nether U.S. law may return an individual inadmissible to Canada while someone with a felony conviction may not exist inadmissible.[11]  In some cases it is possible to fence non-equivalence or equivalence to a minor offense to circumvent the inadmissibility regulations and allow the individual to enter without applying for permission.

Once the equivalence has been established, it is important to make up one's mind the maximum authorized judgement under Canadian law, which will exist relevant to determining the price and likelihood of success when applying for relief from criminal inadmissibility.  Offenses that comport a maximum sentence of ten years or more nether Canadian law are considered serious criminality and relief is more difficult to obtain.  Non-serious criminality is a conviction for an offense with a maximum sentence of less than 10 years. The processing times and fees for applications involving not-serious criminality are less.

When a strange conviction is adamant to be an indictable offense under Canadian constabulary, whether information technology will return the traveler inadmissible depends on several factors:

1. How long ago the conviction occurred;
2. The severity/nature of the offense in Canada;
3. How many offenses the private has been bedevilled of; and
4. Whether the individual can demonstrate they are unlikely to reoffend.[12]

If travelers tin testify that they have not been bedevilled of an offense that would render them inadmissible because they take received a deferral or conditional discharge or because the criminal offense has been expunged or pardoned, applying for relief is not required.

Criminally inadmissible visitors to Canada may petition for a "Criminal Rehabilitation" from the Canadian consulate if at least 5 years have passed since the completion of their sentence, including payment of fines and completion of probation or parole.[xiii] If granted, such a document overcomes barriers to entry. If fewer than v years take passed, an individual with a meaning economic or humanitarian & compassionate reason to travel to Canada may request a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), to temporarily overcome inadmissibility.[14]  An private who has only one non-serious conviction (conviction for an offense carrying a maximum sentence of less than 10 years nether Canadian constabulary) may also be "deemed rehabilitated"[15] if more x years have passed from the completion of all weather of their sentence (or 5 years in the case of two or more summary offenses).[16]

Only a lawyer certified by i of the provincial bar associations in Canada, or a certified Canadian immigration consultant, is authorized to represent an individual in a Canadian immigration application, including Criminal Rehabilitation and TRP applications.[17]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* The authors wish to thank Marisa Feil of Montreal, Canada, for her contributions to §§ 2:61 and ii:62.

[i] 22 U.S. Code § 2714 (a) http://www.constabulary.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2714

[2] 22 U.South. Code 2714 (c).

[3] These programs are described at http://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs.

[four] IRPA S.C. 2001, c.27 s.36(2).

[5] http://world wide web.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/bureau-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/infosource-eng.html.  See § 2:62.

[six] See http://travel.country.gov/content/passports/english language/abroad/legal-matters/criminal-tape-check.html.

[7] In the Uk, for example, individuals with criminal records are encouraged to seek entry clearance prior to travel. Clearance will ordinarily be denied for "conviction in any country including the U.k. of an offense which, if committed in the United Kingdom, is punishable with imprisonment for a term of twelve months or any greater punishment or, if committed exterior the United Kingdom, would be then punishable if the conduct constituting the offense had occurred in the U.k.." U.K. Imm. R. 320(xviii).

[8] IRPA Southward.C. 2001, c.27 south.36(ii)   http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/.

[ix] Immigration and Refugee Protection Human activity, SC 2001, c 27, southward.36 http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-two.5/.  Canada does not employ the misdemeanor/felony classification system; offenses in Canada are either summary or indictable offenses, depending on the authorized penalization.

[10] Summary offenses under the Canadian Criminal code include Trespassing at Night, Causing a disturbance, or taking a motor vehicle without consent (not Theft of an automobile).  http://world wide web.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/enf/enf02-eng.pdf

[12] http://www.cba.org/cba/cle/PDF/IMM11_Sedai_ENF14%20%282008-04-21%29.pdf.

[thirteen] IRPA S.C. 2001, c.27 s..36(3).  The application for Criminal Rehabilitation is available with instructions at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/data/applications/rehabil.asp.

[xiv] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english language/information/inadmissibility/permits.asp.

[15] Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27 south. xviii(two).

[16] http://world wide web.cic.gc.ca/english/data/inadmissibility/rehabilitation.asp.

[17] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english language/information/representative/rep-who.asp.  The penalty for a receiving compensation on this blazon of awarding past an unauthorized representative is a fine of upwardly to $100,000. http://news.gc.ca/web/commodity-en.practise?nid=824719.

• Near the Writer
• Latest Posts

• "The Loftier Cost of a Fresh Offset" - February 14, 2022
• CCRC seeks intern to assist with Restoration of Rights Project - February 10, 2022
• CFPB documents the financial burdens imposed on justice-involved individuals - Feb 2, 2022
• When banks enquire loan applicants about their arrest record - Feb one, 2022
• Reintegration Champion Awards for 2021 - January 27, 2022
• "From Reentry to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2021" - January 24, 2022
• A radical new approach to measuring recidivism risk - January 12, 2022
• "Public opinion and the politics of collateral effect policies" - January six, 2022
• VIDEO: Governmental Barriers to Small Business Financing for People with a Criminal History - November 23, 2021
• Forum on governmental barriers to pocket-size business financing for people with a criminal history - Nov x, 2021

View All Posts

mahoneydeass1966.blogspot.com

Source: https://ccresourcecenter.org/2015/01/02/international-travel-restrictions-based-criminal-record/

Share this post