ETA not approved after 3 weeks - London, UK

[huma757]

Hi everyone, I'm reposting my question from another thread.

I am a permanent resident and will be landing in Toronto in 1 month's time. My dad was due to come with me to help me settle. He applied for an ETA 3 weeks ago but still has not heard back. He has a criminal charge for a non-violent offence, related to planning permission / buildings. I am worried now that he will be denied entry because of this. Do they deny everyone with a criminal charge, even if it is non-violent or minor? What should we do? We already booked our flight tickets, they are non-refundable.

After 3 weeks we have still not heard back and we were due to fly very soon. He visited the high commission in London for advice but they wouldn't let him in. They say that everything is dealt with online. We submitted a web form enquiry ages ago and no response to that either. Don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[scylla]

There's really nothing you can do but wait. Yes - the criminal charge is most likely the problem and IRCC is evaluating what it equates to in Canadian law to determine if he is admissible or inadmissible to Canada. It's really impossible to say how long it will take for this process to complete. Could be very soon - or it could drag out beyond your date of travel.