DUI

[triple p]

About to send in our entire application spousal application. I am a Canadian citizen and my hubby is a US permanent resident. He has a DUI from 9 years ago (did community service, etc. at that time).
Will our application be sent to LA?
If so, how long could it take to process?
I understand he may have to fill out some criminal rehabilitation paperwork. I would appreciate any assistance support from anyone that is/was in similar circumstances. We already have a law firm representing us..

 

[taffy7]

No one can tell you if your application will go to LA. At the moment US applications are going very fast.it seems to be less than 6 months start to finish .Their is a U.S thread , take a look it will give you a better idea .

As for the DUI and the rehabilitation forms i would look into that asap . Lots of information on the forum for that too . Sorry i cant help to much . Senior member will hopefully join in .Barjones search for him he is a wealth of knowledge on the DUI system .

 

[bartjones]

About to send in our entire application spousal application. I am a Canadian citizen and my hubby is a US permanent resident. He has a DUI from 9 years ago (did community service, etc. at that time).
Will our application be sent to LA?
If so, how long could it take to process?
I understand he may have to fill out some criminal rehabilitation paperwork. I would appreciate any assistance support from anyone that is/was in similar circumstances. We already have a law firm representing us..

I'm assuming his DUI was a conviction in the U.S. and his blood alcohol level was .08 or higher. I'm also assuming that he completed his sentence less than 10 years ago.

Assuming that's correct he will be inadmissible to Canada and will have to submit an application for Criminal Rehabilitation in order to overcome his inadmissibility. You can submit that application with his application for PR. Without an approved application for Criminal Rehabilitation his PR application will fail.

You can find the Criminal Rehabilitation forms and read about the process here;

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp

It can take CIC some time to process those applications. You can expect that your PR application will move slower than most.

Alternatively, if your husband lives near a Canada/U.S. border crossing, you can submit your Criminal Rehabilitation application there. They are processed much faster if you do it that way. Chances are your lawyers won't be aware that this option is available to you.

If you do it at a border crossing, be sure to include a letter with your PR application advising CIC that you have submitted or intend to submit a Criminal Rehabilitation application to overcome the DUI conviction, otherwise they won't know. Good luck.

 

[triple p]

Thanks for the information!

 

[taffy7]

I'm assuming his DUI was a conviction in the U.S. and his blood alcohol level was .08 or higher. I'm also assuming that he completed his sentence less than 10 years ago.

Assuming that's correct he will be inadmissible to Canada and will have to submit an application for Criminal Rehabilitation in order to overcome his inadmissibility. You can submit that application with his application for PR. Without an approved application for Criminal Rehabilitation his PR application will fail.

You can find the Criminal Rehabilitation forms and read about the process here;

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp

It can take CIC some time to process those applications. You can expect that your PR application will move slower than most.

Alternatively, if your husband lives near a Canada/U.S. border crossing, you can submit your Criminal Rehabilitation application there. They are processed much faster if you do it that way. Chances are your lawyers won't be aware that this option is available to you.

If you do it at a border crossing, be sure to include a letter with your PR application advising CIC that you have submitted or intend to submit a Criminal Rehabilitation application to overcome the DUI conviction, otherwise they won't know. Good luck.

+1 I knew you could help explain

 

[bartjones]

+1 I knew you could help explain

 

[triple p]

My hubby got his criminal rehabilitation paperwork done through a different lawyer than the firm representing our spousal sponsorship application. He let the firm doing our spousal application know this and they said it was fine. The spousal application firm stated: 1. File for criminal rehabilitation first 2. We will get a number after they receive the criminal rehabilitation application 3. Send the spousal application and attach the criminal rehabilitation number #. Lawyer stated it would be about 1.5 yrs for full process. I hope they are right.

Does that sound like correct information? Also, do we need to send FBI and state clearances in for both applications now? If so, how do we get a state clearance? I appreciate all of your help!

 

[bartjones]

My hubby got his criminal rehabilitation paperwork done through a different lawyer than the firm representing our spousal sponsorship application. He let the firm doing our spousal application know this and they said it was fine. The spousal application firm stated: 1. File for criminal rehabilitation first 2. We will get a number after they receive the criminal rehabilitation application 3. Send the spousal application and attach the criminal rehabilitation number #. Lawyer stated it would be about 1.5 yrs for full process. I hope they are right.

Does that sound like correct information?

Yes, you can file the crim rehab application in advance of the PR application. I'm not sure about the timing of receiving the file number. As I indicated above, crim rehab applications are low priority items for CIC so I'm not sure when they will assign a file number to your application. For example, my wife initially submitted a crim rehab application to Manila and then a second application for crim rehab at the Detroit/Windsor tunnel three months later. By the time she received crim rehab in Windsor, Manila hadn't even opened the envelope containing her application.

If you don't have the crim rehab number at the time you submit the PR application I would either call the CIC help line and ask if the file number for the crim rehab application is available. If it's not, I would suggest just including a covering letter advising them that you have submitted a crim rehab application to office xyz on date abc. CIC should be able to track it down through their computer system.

Also, do we need to send FBI and state clearances in for both applications now? If so, how do we get a state clearance? I appreciate all of your help!

You will need the FBI clearance at least and you will need to submit that for the crim rehab application now. Don't know about the state clearance. Maybe someone else can help.

 

[triple p]

Thanks for the information! I talked to our law office today and they stated we can still send in the spousal application at this point. We write on Schedule B that a criminal rehabilitation application will follow in about Feb., 2015 after we receive the police clearance letter. We will also include the details of the lawyer who will be representing the criminal rehabilitation application.The law firm representing the spousal application will also make these notes on the cover letter and also re-iterated that this charge was from 9 years ago.

Since the first 2 months is the spousal application process, they do not expect any difficulties. I am so excited that in the next week or so that this application will be out of my hands!!!