My husband wants to sponsor me but I have a criminal record. Has anyone been through this?

[Jennyurs]

Hey everyone,

So this is a little complicated but I’m an American citizen and my husband is a Canadian citizen (born) and works as a physician. We have been dating for over 5 years and recently got married (yay!) unfortunately I have a criminal record- was charged with criminal mischief (property damage- it was a felony charge). The charges got dropped and has been expunged out of my records. I was never convicted of the crime but did pay restitution. Now, how serious is this? How severely would this affect my PR process? Any answers will help. Please let me know your opinions if you have any! Thank you so much!! We really appreciate it.


P.S. I have travelled to Canada over 10 times and I’ve never been stopped or questioned about my dropped criminal charge (does this mean anything?) perhaps a good sign?

Thanks again!!

 

[k.h.p.]

If the charge was dropped and expunged, it's not likely on your criminal record as a conviction. The ongoing admissions to Canada tend to support that.

In this case, it shouldn't negatively impact your PR application.

However, be aware that there are questions in the application that ask if you have ever been "arrested, charged, detained, convicted, or committed" a crime - since you (a) committed it, (b) were charged for it, (c) maybe were arrested or detained for it, you still have to declare and explain, much like you did here.

 

[Jennyurs]

Hey k.h.p,

Yea that’s what I wasn’t thinking as well. It doesn’t say convinced on my record since I was never convicted and they’ve never stopped/detained/questioned me upon visiting Canada. So hopefully it doesn’t impact it negatively. I have no knowledge of the Canadian laws on criminal records so it’s always good to hear answers like your! Thank you for the heads up about the application. Very much appreciate it. Thanks again!!