URGENT!!!!!- Common Law Sponsorship applicant with Dui arrest but no conviction

[Spotnik85]

Hello,

My PR application.

This is my timeline:

- Inland application - Common Law sponsorship (estimated processing times 12 months)
-AOR 12th of September 2017
- Merdical passed ( 22nd of May 2018)
- Additional doc. not required
- Interview: You do not need an interview
-Biometrics: You do not need biometrics
-Background check: We are processing your background check. We will send you a message if we need more information
- Final decision: Your application is in progress. We will send you a message once the final decision has been made.

I was charged with a DUI on June 4th 2017 ( I did put this on my application)
On September 2018 and agent called me and requested my police report and my CSQ issued by the Province of Quebec. (I send both papers).
On April 2019 my DUI case was conditionally discharged. (I sent the proces-verbal (which states that I was conditionally discharged) to the agent who asked for my police report.
Since then I haven't heard from Immigration.
On May 2nd I wrote to Immigration about my application and they reply this:

" Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
We verified the information provided and can confirm that your application is still in process.
While the processing times may vary with each case, we will make all the necessary efforts to finalize your application as soon as possible.
Rest assured that we will communicate with you once a decision is taken."

Please if anyone can help me with any advise/info it will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[21Goose]

See my post below for an updated version with a link to an official IRCC source .

 

[k.h.p.]

You need to wait now. A conditional discharge, while it is not a conviction per se, is on your criminal record as a conditional discharge until you are discharged and then for 1-3 years afterwards as noted as a discharge. You've been discharged because you complied with the conditions.

The visa officer is now determining whether or not you are admissible based on the criminality of your arrest and discharge. You will hear more from them when they have decided how to handle your case.

You would have been much better off to wait until you were discharged to apply.

 

[Spotnik85]

I received this post:

This is not a problem for IRCC because they are not looking to find out if you are guilty or not, only if you were convicted. A conditional discharge, although an indication of guilt, is not a conviction but rather an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant to admit to the offense and follow a probationary period in exchange for not receiving a criminal record. Canada honors this agreement and treats the applicant as someone who's not guilty even though a guilty plea was entered and the case documents show abundance of evidence that portray the applicant as being guilty to any lay person. This is also the case when the offense is committed abroad and was disposed of in similar manner, especially when the foreign jurisdiction has similar values and foundations as Canadian law. Take for example in many US states a charge may be dismissed with a "continuance without a finding" process which is essentially a conditional discharge agreed by the prosecutor. The defendant pleads guilty but the judge continues the case indefinitely therefore not entering a conviction record. In such case the applicant is not inadmissible if the disposition is final.

To understand this further, the IRCC never pursue the case or put the applicant under trial again for admissibility purposes, they do not act as judges or jury. The only exception is an offense committed abroad for which charges are pending or may be laid in the future in which case they only need to have some objective evidence that the applicant had committed the offense and they only need to believe this on a reasonable grounds basis (balance of probabilities for PRs).

 

[21Goose]

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ble-canada-past-criminal-activity.html#5312E4

For an absolute or conditional discharge:

• If the offence occurred in Canada, you are not inadmissible.

 

[Spotnik85]

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ble-canada-past-criminal-activity.html#5312E4

For an absolute or conditional discharge:

• If the offence occurred in Canada, you are not inadmissible.

Hello thank you for the information.

Yes in my case the offence occurred in Canada.

 

[21Goose]

Hello thank you for the information.

Yes in my case the offence occurred in Canada.

Then according to this official IRCC guide, you are not inadmissible on the basis of your conditional discharge. It's only been a month since you sent the report, so you should just wait patiently.

 

[Spotnik85]

Then according to this official IRCC guide, you are not inadmissible on the basis of your conditional discharge. It's only been a month since you sent the report, so you should just wait patiently.

Thank you for your time,

In this case my application can take any amount of time to be processed? Let's say 1 more year or even more?

 

[k.h.p.]

Thank you for your time,

In this case my application can take any amount of time to be processed? Let's say 1 more year or even more?

The timelines are completely out the window.

 

[k.h.p.]

The problem here is that you were charged before you applied and the conditional discharge only occurred partway through the processing of your app. That the discharge was entered during the processing of your application is a major miracle, and that IRCC didn't declare you inadmissible due to the charge - that hadn't yet been resolved and could have been a conviction - before now is also a miracle.

That is why your case is taking so long. I imagine someone at IRCC called the Crown's office and asked their intention as to proceedings and decided to wait until a resolution was entered on your file to begin processing it again.

 

[Spotnik85]

The problem here is that you were charged before you applied and the conditional discharge only occurred partway through the processing of your app. That the discharge was entered during the processing of your application is a major miracle, and that IRCC didn't declare you inadmissible due to the charge - that hadn't yet been resolved and could have been a conviction - before now is also a miracle.

That is why your case is taking so long. I imagine someone at IRCC called the Crown's office and asked their intention as to proceedings and decided to wait until a resolution was entered on your file to begin processing it again.

Yes I believe they waited to see a resolution, I just hope it won't take extremely long.

Thank you.