Can you enter Canada with a criminal record?

Your past criminal record in a foreign country—even if considerable time has passed—can prevent you from being allowed into Canada.

Under Canadian law, any non-citizen can be denied entry on account of criminal inadmissibility.

If you’re eligible, there are ways you may be able to overcome criminal inadmissibility, depending on a variety of factors, such as the time elapsed since your sentence was completed and the severity of the crime(s).

This article will cover

• How Canadian authorities classify and assess criminal inadmissibility;
• Offence classification based on severity;
• Options available to you for overcoming criminal inadmissibility;
• The consequences you may face for being criminally inadmissible; and
• The types of offences that may make you inadmissible to Canada.

How Canada assesses criminal inadmissibility

Unless you’re a Canadian citizen, you may be found “criminally inadmissible,” and denied entry into Canada due to your past criminal history.

To result in criminal inadmissibility, an offence must have been a crime in the jurisdiction in which it took place, and must correspond to an equivalent offence under Canadian law.

As a non-citizen, you can be found criminally inadmissible to Canada on account of

• Having committed an offence, (regardless of whether you were charged or convicted for that offence);
• Having been charged with an offence, (even if you were not prosecuted or convicted for that offence);
• Being under pending charges for an offence, (regardless of whether you committed that offence or not); or
• Having been convicted of an offence.