Court Documents

Don't wait for them. Google an explanation for conditional discharge and submit the waiver. Make sure you also explain in the personal letter what that means. Submit waiver. If they ask for court documents after, by that time you will have them anyways. They probably will not ask.

@Tallman1234

You have a quite interesting experience to share.

A suspended sentence is a conviction and your record will show unless you received a pardon. A conditional discharge is not a formal criminal record in Canada and after 3 years it normally gets expunged. Unfortunately for many, they don't wipe them out and you must get fingerprinted to remove it.

If you received a conditional discharge, it would explain why your record is now clear. I assume they let you through because you were not planning to enter the country at the Philadelphia airport. If your intention was to catch a flight to another country, they have no reason to detain you.

I was arrested about 2.5 years ago and managed to enter the US on a conditional discharge. It seems everyone has different experiences when dealing with CBP. My concern now is that if I attempt to enter a second time, I am likely going on the lifetime waiver bandwagon.

@tallman, now that makes sense..unfortunately, there are very few lawyers who understand Conditional Discharges and how they work in relation to a criminal record. C. Discharge shows on CPIC as a criminal record for 3 years from date of sentence. It is removed after the 3 years, this is why your criminal record is now clear. It sounds like you traveled to the USA before the 3 years purging was done and it showed up...this is why Customs stopped you..If you were my client, I would advise you must wait for the court documents to show what you were charged with and that sentence was a C. Discharge.

And sorry I may have used the wrong term. I received a conditional discharge.

Thanks John. I think you misunderstood. When I was apprehended at the airport I did not even know I needed a waiver. I went through the court process without a lawyer and my public defender was no help. I didn't know I would have any issues crossing the border at that time.

It's now been 5 years since that airport incident happened and 7.5 since my arrest. I'm putting my waiver application together now and doing as much homework and preparation as I can. I've seen written here a few times that court documents might not be necessary and am hoping this may be the case here.

@tallman 1234, John is right, a suspended sentence is a conviction..not sure why your record is showing clear, and the court house timeline is not unreasonable...at one time Red Deer court house was taking 10 months..

@tallman1234

-a suspended sentence means you were CONVICTED. Why is your record clear?
-You made the classic mistake. You gave them a clear criminal record check, but you failed to explain what happened to your charge/conviction. Was it a conditional discharge? Was it pardoned? Now they want PROOF of what happened. This is the type of waiver where the proper help would have avoided this mess. You cannot just pretend the arrest didn't happen, or just give them a clear record search and fail to show proof of the disposition. Homeland Security isn't going to search for this information themselves.

For everyone who does their own waiver....everything must be SPELLED OUT for Homeland Security. Meaning, you must show PROOF of what happened to your criminal record. If the charges were withdrawn/stayed/dismissed, you have to SHOW them. Otherwise they ASSUME you were convicted and have now hidden it. If you have a pardon, you need to show the pardon so they can SEE what you did. A suspended sentence is NOT an acquittal. I am shocked at the people at the airport I meet who think "Homeland Security has that" or "they already KNOW this" as if Homeland Security is your buddy from a local pub.

Tallman1234 you need to show proof that you at least have attempted to get a copy of whatever court document you are trying to get and you need to craft a proper letter of explanation that EXPLAINS why your record is blank. You have 87 days and then your file will be closed, no extension will be given. That also means you will be starting from scratch and will have to do EVERYTHING over. Worse, it might mean you get to pay the new fee. the $1415 instead of the $585.00.

Call me if you want and we can try to find a solution, but you only have a limited time.

416-843-1371
John