After 3 years in process my husband finally has his COPR and passport in hand! He will be flying through Toronto on Sunday. I have a question on how to handle the CBSA questions of "have you ever been charged/convicted of a crime" and "have you even been denied entry to Canada" based on information we found out during our application. I did ask our lawyer but I think she figures she has fulfilled her obligation on receipt of COPR as she ignored my question.
Background: My husband was once denied entry to Canada, after having entered Canada 4 times previously without any issue. He's St Lucian and prior to 2012 didn't need a visa and all his travel to Canada was pre-2012. On his 5th entry to Canada in 2011 they denied him entry and he returned to St Lucia on the next flight. We disclosed this in our application but we got a PFL saying that we didn't disclose the reason and when we requested the information through ATIP the reason the border agent gave in the document was that my husband had outstanding arrest warrants in his name in the US. This was not accurate. He had traveled to the US in 2003 and 2004 but was not charged/convicted of any crimes and we provided an FBI clearance and subsequent to the PFL provided State and City police clearances to prove that this was not true and ultimately the IRCC agreed with us.
I know he'll be asked whether he has been convicted of a crime - to which we can say no. I'm thinking he should carry the police clearances with him as backup? And he has been denied entry to Canada so would say yes to that question but is there anything else he should say/provide? He can confirm that this was disclosed and discussed with the IRCC.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Background: My husband was once denied entry to Canada, after having entered Canada 4 times previously without any issue. He's St Lucian and prior to 2012 didn't need a visa and all his travel to Canada was pre-2012. On his 5th entry to Canada in 2011 they denied him entry and he returned to St Lucia on the next flight. We disclosed this in our application but we got a PFL saying that we didn't disclose the reason and when we requested the information through ATIP the reason the border agent gave in the document was that my husband had outstanding arrest warrants in his name in the US. This was not accurate. He had traveled to the US in 2003 and 2004 but was not charged/convicted of any crimes and we provided an FBI clearance and subsequent to the PFL provided State and City police clearances to prove that this was not true and ultimately the IRCC agreed with us.
I know he'll be asked whether he has been convicted of a crime - to which we can say no. I'm thinking he should carry the police clearances with him as backup? And he has been denied entry to Canada so would say yes to that question but is there anything else he should say/provide? He can confirm that this was disclosed and discussed with the IRCC.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!