The War on Terror hasn’t caught many terrorists. But at the Canadian border, it’s snagging thousands of tourists who are denied entry due to convictions decades ago for relatively minor offenses.
Did you inhale and get caught in the 1960s? If you did, and were convicted of even misdemeanor possession of marijuana, you won’t be permitted to enter Canada. Any criminal offense you might have committed from the day you turned 18, no matter how trivial, and no matter how long ago, is now part of a vast database shared with Canadian immigration authorities.
Prior convictions for trespassing, public intoxication, and shoplifting will exclude you from entering Canada…although you’ll be glad to know that parking tickets or fines for littering don’t count against you. Don’t expect that past visits to Canada will get you re-admitted, either You may have almost forgotten about a youthful indiscretion 40 years ago, but the computer hasn’t.
Credit a sweeping information-exchange agreement between the United States and Canada, placed into effect after 9/11, for this result. And that’s just the beginning: similar agreements are on tap with other countries.
The U.S.-Canadian "Smart Border Action Plan" is a model for similar agreements with all other countries with "visa waiver" agreements with the United States. The agreement provides immigration officials in other countries access to U.S. arrest and conviction data complied by the Department of Homeland Security information, and gives U.S. officials access to comparable data in Canada.
The silver lining is that it’s often possible to wipe the slate clean by obtaining a certificate called a "Ministers’ Approval of Rehabilitation." This permit, granted only at the discretion of the Canadian government, is granted if you’ve been pardoned for your offense or are deemed to have been "rehabilitated."
Needless to say, the demand for these certificates is skyrocketing. Don’t expect a quick turnaround if you need to obtain one quickly.
For more information on offenses that prohibit entry to Canada, go to the Canadian Consulate’s Web site at http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/seattle/visas/inadmissible-en.asp. And to apply for a Ministers’ Approval of Rehabilitation, go to http://cic.gc.ca/english/applications/rehabil.html.