Criminal Rehabilitation Waiting Period

How to Determine When You're Eligible After a DUI

Canadian immigration law states that at least 5 years must have passed before a foreign individual with a DUI is eligible for Criminal Rehabilitation. This five year waiting period does not begin on the date of the drunk driving charge. It also does not begin on the date of the DUI conviction. If you are a resident of the United States and are interested in Canadian Criminal Rehabilitation so you can travel to Canada with a DUI hastle free, here is how to determine when your waiting period is complete.

• For a suspended sentence you will count 5 years from the date of the sentencing.
• If there is a fine with the suspended sentence, the 5 years starts from the date you paid the fine. If a payment plan was used, the 5 years starts when the last payment is made.
• For imprisonment with no parole the 5 years begins on the day that imprisonment ends.
• Imprisonment with parole, the 5 years starts at the end of probation.
• Probation: this is a part of a sentence and the 5 years starts when probation ends. This is the same for driving probation including court-order license suspension.

To further explain when you are eligible to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation Canada, here are some examples. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor or felony on January 12th, 2017 and you received 3 months in jail (and nothing else), you should be eligible for Rehabilitation 5 years after your time in jail ends. If your jail sentence ended April 12th, 2017, you are eligible to apply for Rehabilitation on April 12th of 2022. This is only if there are no other terms to the sentencing.

If the conviction was for a DUI and your driver’s license is suspended (but you had no probation), you will count from the date that it is reinstated. For example, if you are convicted in June of 2018 and your license was suspended for 1 year, you got your license back in 2019 and you should be eligible for Rehabilitation in June of 2024, which would be 5 years later. This is assuming all fines were paid by the time your license revocation ended.

If you had a reckless driving conviction (also considered a major crime in Canada) on May 15th 2015 that resulted in 3 years of probation, you should be able to apply for Rehabilitation in May 2023. Even if it was non-reporting probation, which means you didn't really have to do anything special, it still counts as part of your sentencing in the eyes of the Canadian government.

Pro tip: Wondering when you will be eligible for Criminal Rehabilitation? Call a Canadian immigration law firm and ask for a free consultation.

For people who need to come to Canada, but cannot apply for Criminal Rehabilitation because 5 years have not gone by since the end of your sentencing, it may be possible to request special permission to enter the country via a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP). When applying it is important to check the box that states for information and include all of the required documents. There will be additional fees for processing this type of application. Although DUI Entry to Canada is annoying (some people would even refer to it as a "pain in the ass"), if you have a criminal record and have no choice but to visit Canada the hassle can be minimized if you do things right. A qualified legal professional will typically take care of the hard work for you, and can give you legal peace of mind assuming they are excellent at what they do.

If you can afford to pay the entire monetary fine suggested by the criminal prosecutor, and crossing the Canadian border is important, you may not want to negotiate to pay it in instalments since this payment structure can sometimes delay your ability to qualify for Criminal Rehabilitation. Since DUI and DWI offenders are only eligible for Rehab five years after they finish their entire sentence, spreading your fine out into monthly payments could potentially add an additional 6 - 12 months to your CR qualification timeline since it can result in completion of your sentencing take significantly longer.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) let's people know the exact processing time for almost all services with the exception of criminality related applications. You can go online and see exactly how many days it will take for officials to process your Temporary Resident Visa needed by some green card holders in order to visit Canada, but you can never see exactly how long your Temporary Resident Permit will take (it could be 3 months it could be 5 months).

In cases of an administrative license suspension, if the revocation was not court-imposed the Government of Canada may not consider it part of your official sentence. For example: if the DMV suspended your driving privileges because of a drunk driving incident, but the court did not, you could become eligible for Criminal Rehabilitation earlier than expected but it is always best to speak with a qualified lawyer.