return to canada after deportation

[simsim28]

I was deported from Vancouver in 1997. I had accumulated a criminal record over a number of years due to alcoholism/drug addiction. I have now been clean 17 years and would like to return to Canada to visit family. All fines, waiting periods and sentences have been served. I have applied and received all court informations for each of my criminal record charges. I am confused as to the correct next step. Do I apply for ARC or criminal rehabilitation? both? Do I need to get a pardon? Record Suspension? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[scylla]

I was deported from Vancouver in 1997. I had accumulated a criminal record over a number of years due to alcoholism/drug addiction. I have now been clean 17 years and would like to return to Canada to visit family. All fines, waiting periods and sentences have been served. I have applied and received all court informations for each of my criminal record charges. I am confused as to the correct next step. Do I apply for ARC or criminal rehabilitation? both? Do I need to get a pardon? Record Suspension? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

If you were deported, you will certainly need an ARC.

If you have multiple convictions, you may need to apply for rehabilitation as well. You'll need to determine if they were summary convictions. If all of them were summary convictions, then I don't believe you'll need to apply for rehab. If one or more were not summary convictions, then I believe a rehab application will be required.

 

[simsim28]

thank you so much for your reply. Very helpful. One is indictable. So I estimate that the best course of action would be to apply for an ARC, criminal rehabilitation and record suspension all at once. I wonder do you have to apply one at a time...is there a progression or can you apply (or is it necessary) to apply for all?

 

[scylla]

thank you so much for your reply. Very helpful. One is indictable. So I estimate that the best course of action would be to apply for an ARC, criminal rehabilitation and record suspension all at once. I wonder do you have to apply one at a time...is there a progression or can you apply (or is it necessary) to apply for all?

You should apply for rehab now. It can take anywhere from a few months to well over a year to process. So the sooner you get started on that the better. Once rehab is approved, you would apply for a TRV, the ARC will be automatically processed as part of the TRV (you'll need to pay additional fees and expect longer processing times).

You don't need to apply for record suspension.

 

[simsim28]

Wow that long. Thank you so much for clarifying this for me. Very much appreciated

 

[zardoz]

thank you so much for your reply. Very helpful. One is indictable. So I estimate that the best course of action would be to apply for an ARC, criminal rehabilitation and record suspension all at once. I wonder do you have to apply one at a time...is there a progression or can you apply (or is it necessary) to apply for all?

Note that in general, a hybrid offence is treated as if it is "indictable" for immigration purposes, even if the conviction was actually as a summary offence.

 

[simsim28]

Note that in general, a hybrid offence is treated as if it is "indictable" for immigration purposes, even if the conviction was actually as a summary offence.

thank you ...