Criminal History and Effect on Application

[lavender15]

Hi everyone,

So I realise this is probably a question I should direct to a lawyer, but honestly money is tight so I thought I'd get some advice here.

I am going to be sponsoring my husband to come to Canada via the outland approach. One problem we have though is about 8 years ago my husband was arrested for possession of cannabis less than 2 g. It was a really stupid mistake made when he was a teenager that he regrets.

I understand one should probably apply for rehabilitation in this case since it has been more than 5 but less than 10 years; however, here is the problem. After he spent the night in jail, he got his bill to go to court and pay his fine. He went to court and they had absolutely no record of the event on the system and told him to just forget about it. His criminal record check also is clear. Admittedly he lives in a country where the law is very disorganised and it might be possible that the police never actual filed anything official or its been sitting on someone's desk for years. Who knows.

Having looked at the rehabilitation application, it requires a lot of documents from the police which he cannot give since as far as the police there are concerned they have no documentation that the event ever happened. It appears there is no record of it (or at least one found in the normal channels).

Now, I know lying to CIC is misrepresentation and a crime, plus CIC does there own background checks which maybe could find something, so we do not want to do this. So I guess he should explain everything in his part of the application. Will this hurt our application? Should he try to apply for rehabilitation anyways?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Ponga]

Was he under the age of 18 when this occurred (since you say that he was a teenager)?

You have no choice but to be honest about this in his application. Including a very detailed letter will certainly help.


One option is for him to apply for rehabilitation, but check off the section that says `information only'.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp

If you need to come to Canada but cannot apply for rehabilitation because five (5) years have not passed since the end of the sentence imposed or you are not eligible to apply for a record suspension (formerly a pardon) for convictions in Canada, you may request special permission to enter or remain in Canada. To do this, complete the Application for Criminal Rehabilitation (IMM 1444) (PDF, 1.18 MB) and make sure you check the box that states “For Information Only”. Attach the documents outlined in the Document Checklist.


The fact that there's no record of it in the system where he was arrested is certainly strange, but it doesn't change the fact that he was arrested and detained. Being truthful in his application about this is paramount.

Good luck!