Ummm John...you have no idea what we do and we do other things besides waivers.. I am not here to debate anyone on immigration. Plus, I have already explained the relationship regarding CPIC, Pardons and DWCs...So there is no further need to go over it again.

HATS BOOTS is usually spot on in his statements...John, I do not know why you debate with HATS BOOTS...We are all here to share knowledge at so. Plus he is right in #32...

Plus not many things impress me....but HATS BOOTS definitely knows what he is talking about and will even elaborate on things that I choose not to though..lol

HATS BOOTS I want to add that sometimes you will need a waiver for Assault. Specifically, if you just shoved your wife into a corner, then it will be a conviction for Assault but it will be a Domestic Violence Assault. However, it will just say Assault on CPIC and often the CBP officer will ignore it if it just says Assault. However, if he finds it was an Assault against a family member like the wife, then that would still technically render a person inadmissible to the USA.

Also, September Letters can be obtained for other offences besides 1 & 2. It will depend on the offence as you mentioned...However, it will also depend on a few other things too HATS BOOTS that you may not be aware of.

HATS BOOTS I not gonna debate you because I can see that you know your stuff..lol

@HatsBootsHatsBoots you have some things correct, and you have some things incorrect. I have no idea why you "advertise" the fact you do waivers, then criticize others for being in the business of doing waivers. When people call me for information from here, they never cease to comment about how ridiculous you sound, trying to be some "expert" when your clearly not.

Pardons work like this. You get a pardon, you are no longer visible on CPIC. Canadian Police Information Computer.

Vulnerable person check is a different type of search, this is how they differentiate between:

“I have no criminal record”

“I have no criminal record but cannot pass a vulnerable persons search".

Crossing the border. Regardless of the "speculation", Homeland Security can see 2 things.

1. If you are on CPIC or not

2. If you have been denied entry/flagged

If a client has never been denied entry:

Telling a client that they should just do a pardon is AGAINST my profit motive. If I tell them to do a waiver:

-they can never stop doing waivers
-they still have a record and may do a pardon.

But I tell them to do a pardon
- I get one pardon, and NEVER get a single waiver out of them.

I started doing pardons and waiver in 1996 with Pardon Services Canada. (no ALLCleard) I ran their Toronto office.

I have done pardons for thousands of clients, relatives and friends. I once ran a rugby club and for members of that club I did at least 10 pardons. Imagine how many people i have told the above facts to, that they need a pardon (but not a waiver) since 1996.

What are the odds that all these people, some relatives, some friends, thousands of clients are sneaking across the border with these pardons, but being seen anyways, and NONE of them are being caught. DO you know how much money I would be making EVERY day if they suddenly were all being caught?

Michelle has clearly said she 'errs of the side of caution. Nothing wrong with that.

This is what Ken just said:

"There is a myth on the internet that DWCs push in that if you get a pardon, CBP will not see your conviction.”

Except a "discount waiver company" ONLY makes money if you do a waiver, right? SO the statement is ridiculous. Ken knows the truth BUT he ONLY does waivers, so of course he makes no money if you do a pardon and hide the record....right?

I am correct. If I was wrong, I would be happy because I make more money, but before I make money, I am ethical and honest.

If ANYONE has a single experience which contradicts what I just said, post it. Prove me wrong. I guarantee I am not.

You have my name, you have my business name, and my number. I am willing to stake my reputation on my knowledge.

First nations are governed by the Jay treaty and are subject to different immigration rules. Most get a free pass. After all, Europeans did somehow take over their land and tossed them to the curb. Just saying.

Since 911, the US is very strict to anyone that visits or immigrates. Before 911, people would fill out waivers until they would get a permanent waiver. That all changed after 911. We can see that it is becoming even harder under the current regime. Border security sharing has made it incredibly hard for both Americans and Canadians to visit each other's country. It is sad and ridiculous if you ask me.

You don't need a US waiver to cross the border if you were convicted or plead guilty to assault and DUI. According to INA which is the US immigration statute of law, if you are found guilty or admit guilt to a crime that is of moral turpitude, you are inadmissible to the US. All crimes apart DUI and assault are of moral turpitude. Moral turpitude is also quite a vague concept. If you read INA, many crimes do not involve moral turpitude but certain circumstances have to be taken into consideration. It is very hard to prove to DHS that your crime did not involve moral turpitude. Moral turpitude means you did the deed with evil intent and thus you are a danger to society.

As stated before, US immigration law also has some loopholes which are the following:

1) if your crime was tried summarily, was only one crime involving moral turpitude and the max sentence you could get is less than six months imprisonment according to US law, you don't need a waiver. This excludes prostitution/solicitation and any narcotic offences (including driving under the influence of drugs and getting caught with weed). This means you would need a waiver if it involved sex or any drug offences.

2) your crime was committed under the age of 18 and if you were released from prison for up to 5 years after 18, then you don't need a waiver. You fall under juvenile delinquency. If you did the crime under the age of 18 and got released 5 years later from prison when aged 18 at the time of sentencing than you need a waiver.

*** In cases 1 and 2, you will get a September Letter***

3) A canadian pardon is not recognized by US officials.

4) absolute discharges are generally tolerated by US officials. Conditional discharges are not because they involve probation. Peace bonds are tolerated as well because they are treated as deferred adjudication by US law.

5) Because INA stipulates that admitting guilt to committing a crime even though you were never convicted means that US border officials can deny you entry. Even though, you get your charges dropped, discharged or acquitted, they can see you were fingerprinted on CPIC and force you to admit your crime, thus denying you entry.

6) Even if your crimes did not involve moral turpitude, you cannot have spent more than 5 years in prison for this said crimes. Then you need a waiver.

A way to remove your fingerprints is to get a file destruction. It is up to the police force to destroy them and remove them from CPIC. It is not a guarantee but most police forces will agree if enough time has passed and you didn't get into trouble again. A pardon doesn't necessarily remove your fingerprints and a file destruction may be needed as well. Most police forces would agree to destroy them after 10 years if you have a crime free history. Off course, the 10 years start after your sentencing is complete. For absolute or conditional discharges/peace bonds/acquittals/stayed charges/ dropped charges, the timeframes vary between a day to 3 years.

Even though, your discharge should be removed automatically, most often than not, it is not removed. You need to take the steps to do so.

Don't ever lie to immigration officials. The general rule of thought is to remove as much information from CPIC as you can before travelling. If asked, say the truth.

At the end of day, we don't know what CBP see when you cross the border on CPIC even if you have a pardon or file destruction.

if you feel you will be denied, do the waiver. If you are deemed admissible you will get a September Letter. The only way to get one is to prove to DHS that your crime was not of moral turpitude. The circumstances have to be right and you qualify only if your situation meets conditions 1 or 2 as stated above.

We all agree that the whole system is a money grab.

1) Also, local police forces share info with US customs right now. Many provinces have agreements with states on sharing individual driver records. This includes any outstanding unpaid tickets. Any criminal charges can be downloaded onto a CBP database.

2) There is also Interpol. Any serious sexual offences or serious criminal activity will get you listed on Interpol. A pardon will never erase that info. Interpol is shared by all countries.

3) There is a no fly list. Getting charged can get you on that list.

4) There is APIS. Every passenger crossing US airspace will be screened 24 hours prior before bording their flight even though they will never land in the US. All your past criminal activity can be revealed and stored into APIS.

5) There are several other databases including gang members or missing children that are shared between both countries as well. This information can also be stored on CPIC.

Basically anything that will caught the eye of a CBP officer about you will most likely get you banned from entering the US. The best approach is to answer truthfully and show no fear. Don't look for confrontation. Remove as much info as you can from CPIC before traveling. If you've done these steps, you can risk it and go there without a waiver. If you are banned, then do the waiver next time. Never lie to US immigration officials no matter what. Might as well do the waiver from the start and avoid all the humiliation at the border.

The current regime is very hard on sex and drug crimes right now.

We need to be patient and hope for a change of laws in the near future. I believe as more and more people denounce these practices, change will come. There is hope.

I have posted here in the past. I do waivers for people who happened to get caught up unfortunately in the system doing something wrong. I am not here looking for customers. I speak from my own personal experience. Some people have learned their lesson but current laws offer no relief when crossing the border.

Let me start by saying that society doesn't believe that offenders change although canadian laws do permit for certain ex offenders to get a second chance. That chance is called a pardon.

Before Harper, you had to wait 5 years for an indictable offence to get one after your sentence was complete. For summary offences, it was 3 years. There was a few exceptions to these rules but normally almost every crime would get you a pardon if you showed rehabilitation. The fees were very low to get one. Harper doubled the timeframes and eliminated pardons for offenders who had more than 3 strikes (meaning convicted of 3 or more indictable offences). Also being convicted of sexually assaulting minors or murder makes you ineligible for a pardon nowadays. Although I personally agree with the 3 strike rule, the timeframes to me seem unreasonable. BC and Ontario courts ruled against these timeframes. Liberals promised to reverse these changes but we have yet to see legislation. I believe it will come once pot is legal after October 17th this year.

The difference between a summary and an indictable offence is that a summary offences get you a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or 5000$ fine, in some cases both. Indictable offences get you a maximum sentence that is more than six months imprisonment. Death threats or uttering threats however have a maximum of more than six months and up to 18 months imprisonment when treated summarily. Most crimes in Canada are hybrid meaning that the prosecutor can elect to proceed summarily or as indictable.

There are many dispositions in Canada that avoid you a criminal record. People need however to understand that once you are charged by police, you technically have a criminal record because your fingerprints are stored in CPIC. Any negative interactions with police make you a person known to police. A criminal record according to canadian law means that you were convicted of a crime however.

Absolute discharges and conditional discharges are a slap on the wrist meaning that you plead guilty to the offence and after a year, your criminal record should be clean after the date an absolute discharge is granted. In case of conditional discharges, it is 3 years. In case of a peace bond, it is a year. In case of stayed charges, it is a year as well. When charges are dropped or you are acquitted, nothing will show up on your criminal record. There are however things people need to know about CPIC.

People need to realize that CPIC is a complex animal and contains 4 levels. We don't know exactly what it contains to be honest about an offender. What we know is that level 1 is a basic record check meaning any criminal record will show. A pardon will wipe out that info on level 1. Once more, any convictions will show up here without a pardon will.show up here. Level 2 will show discharges that have yet to be removed or outstanding charges that have yet to be resolved. Level 3 will show all charges regardless of disposition. Level 4 is for the vulnerable sector. This means a pardon will show up here and all charges that were dropped, old discharges or charges the accused was simply acquitted of. Level 4 also contains info about a person with mental health history who negatively interacted with police. A person who was found not guilty because of mental health will be flagged on level 4 if searched. The RCMP claims that such records about mental health show up for 5 years but we don't know for sure if they ever get removed.

A pardon does not wipe out your record clean. It simply seals your criminal record meaning if you re-offend it will be re-opened. Police will ask the federal government to release the info about your past criminal activity if your job requires a vulnerable sector check even if you have a pardon. It is up to the federal government to release the info to you and for you to tell your future employer about it. Also, local police forces would reveal irrelevant information because they hold their own personal records about offenders and individuals they interacted with in the past.

Laws were not always like this but many provinces adopted laws to help ex offenders to regain employment and a normal life. As I mentioned local police forces would voluntarily release all kinds of information about individuals which prevented them from being hired. Ontario changed that recently.

A pardon however does not guarantee free passage to the US or any other country for that matter. I will continue about US immigration laws on a second post below.

@27...Ken you brought up a point I forgot...First Nations individuals fall under a whole different set of rules and almost never need a Waiver...Thanks for pointing that out.

#26. Michelle is 100% correct. I do wish to elaborate though on some of the things that I know for a fact that they can see at CBP. I will be speaking in terms of clients in B.C. They can see all charges and convictions. They can see if you called 911 and threatened suicide. This stuff is in the Canadian databases. They can see if you have a Canadian gun licence and information from ICBC. They cannot see your medical records or tax info. They can see all USA databases to include FBI and more. They have different systems at CBP that contain different data. Sometimes they have to go to different systems for verification. Also, sometimes data in buried in one of the older systems and they have to try and spend time to put it all together...Like putting together a puzzle.

There is a myth on the internet that DWCs push in that if you get a pardon, CBP will not see your conviction. This is not always correct. An example is that you have a pardon and your info is sealed by CBP before it is downloaded into TECS. However, your name is still in the BC Gang Task Force database(if this applies to you). This information is provided by the Gang Task Force to CBP on a regular basis. So it will still be loaded int their system even though you have a pardon. I know for a fact that Vancouver PD will not destroy charges that have been stayed or whatever for a person that is in their special databases. Also, the airlines provide your information if you are on a flight entering USA airspace. Your name is automatically scanned for criminality and this data is downloaded into TECS.

We have an individual that had a pardon and CBP could not see his info at all. So they then decided to apply the pressure on him to admit criminality...which he did and he now needs a waiver, even though CBP cannot see his conviction for PPT in the system.

A lot of people don't know the difference between a charge and a conviction. A charge itself can be used against a person if certain criteria are met. An example is that you had been charged with Bank Robbery but the charge was stayed. You then voluntarily admit to CBP that they charge was stayed because the Crown could not prove your involvement. The CBP officer will ask you what happened with the robbery and you tell him that you hid the money in your basement and it was never found. You will then need a waiver based on your admittance in a sworn statement. This stuff is all based on how the USA immigration could is written and applied.

Anyway, the point is there are many things that could get you deemed inadmissible to the USA. Again, Michelle is 100% correct and I highly respect her and her opinion.

#19 If you have a conviction for Fraud over $5,000 then you need a waiver. I will assume that you don't qualify for any other relief like having USA citizen parents and you are not First Nations. You really don't need the court records for the DUI and the Assault is not likely an issue unless it was for Domestic Violence. Your case is not as bad compared to others.

usentrywaiverservices.com

I would like to address the topic of Pardons in relation to the USA. I am not going to "disagree" with anyone on here. As I respect John and Ken very much and I have learned a lot from them. I do want to say, that John, Ken and myself own and run successful business' that have zero complaints against us, and we have all been in business for years. Our agenda is to help people and to make a living doing what we enjoy. With that being said it is obvious that we have differences of options on certain topics. And this is one of them. Keep in mind that no-one really knows what access to information USA Customs has, so all of us are supplying information from experience, which should be noted when you are giving advise. I do have clients that have Pardons and have been denied entry at the Border..they traveled for years, never had a problem. The real reason they were denied...who knows, maybe they worn a red shirt that day and that flagged them for Customs to search and find something on them. I have clients who had C. Discharges and Stayed charges denied. I have also had clients denied just because they were driving someone else vehicle without paperwork. My advise and I stand behind it is "be honest, Don't lie, or try to hide the true, if you are questioned about something - tell the truth...it might suck to admit to something..but if you need a waiver to cross legally into the USA - then do it. My guidelines are, if you were charged and convicted of a criminal offense, regardless of the now outcome such as a Pardon, Discharge, Stayed or whatever, you run the risk of being denied, unless you have a DUI or an Assault. Everything else is a gamble. If you want 100% guarantee to enter the USA the right way..do the waiver...it eliminates guessing, spending a lot of money and getting frustrated.. If you don't want to do it right or spend the money, then don't travel to the USA, or take your chances and travel until you are caught and denied. I personally don't sell Pardons to clients who want to travel..but that is my rule. A final note, the Parole Board states on their Pardon Granted certificate the following "A Pardon does not grant you entry privileges into another country". My 2 cents...Thanks!

@24 Jazzsax, I would like to answer your question regarding pardons, The Parole Board states that waiting time starts "once all fines, restitution, probation orders, ect are completed. So your conviction date is not that important, it is the completion of the court disposition. And currently, ON and BC are exempt to the current guidelines per the Supreme Court. However, you must be a resident living there to be exempt. It does not matter where your conviction was, it is where you currently live that matters. You cannot be living in AB or SK when the paperwork is received by the Parole Board. I didn't go into the guidelines as there are many..but this is the basic to your questions.

John --- on pardons... is the timing after sentence from the ending of probation, or ending of sentence?

Also, what if the sentence / charge / conviction was in Ontario, but you've moved to another province (ie, Alberta).

Seriously sucks if some provinces have to wait extra years. So stupid.

My understanding is if you were crossing with no issues, they were likely never pulling cpic. Once they look into cpic there, it gets tagged to your file.

So, if you go through the process to get the pardon and seal your file, it should be gone.

I'm sure John or HatsBootsHats will point out if I'm out to lunch here. I agree with John though, if there is *no* need for the waiver, don't both.

@John Rogers
I’m aware that it’s possible if I get a Canadian record suspension they won’t be able to see the record when I cross. My concern is, one of my charges was over 20 years ago and I used to cross the border regularly up until then, my memory isn’t the greatest and I might have crossed over once after my charge which means they would have me on cpic and the Canadian record suspension would have no effect. I’m just not willing to take a chance. In addition to that, to get the record suspension I would then be in a situation of having to wait for the court to send me the documents for the dui and given the long time frame of that i wouldn’t be receiving the pardon in time for August 2019 which is when I require it.
Thank you so much for the advice but in this case I really just need a waiver once and most likely won’t be reapplying at a later date anyways.
Can you tell me, if I’m submitting my waiver request without the court information for the dui, should I still be writing the explanation for the charge or leave it out?
Thanks

@Jlynn

Pardon application in Ontario

eligibility : 3 years for summary (after the sentence) 5 years for indictable (after the sentence)

Fingerprints, court documents, local police check

Processing cost : Parole Board - $631

No one does a waiver unless they HAVE to. Homeland Security has no idea who you are....you want to keep it that way.

Seal the record. You have no record, and never need to do anything again for the rest of your life.

Remember the waiver for for example is going up to $930 in the future....avoid it.

Jlynn you do not need a waiver. If you file a waiver your making a huge mistake.

Seal the record with a pardon. If you do it yourself its a little more money, but you will never need a waiver for your entire life.

@John Rogers
I’m confused now, I thought on the I-194 application it says I need to have all the court documents with the application? I dont know if this makes a difference or not but I don’t have a Canadian record suspension and I’m not intending to get one as it’s never effected my employment etc. Actually I’ve never even attempted to cross the border since my charges because I knew I might not be allowed due to my criminal record. The only reason I need the US waiver is my wife wants to vacation in Florida and I don’t want to risk not being allowed to cross at that time.

Also would you recommend I still write the required explanation for the DUI even though I’m not submitting the court records for it?

Further to Michelles point, in Ontario I rarely even wait for the court documents period. I get the client to submit, and in 19 out of 20 times its never asked for. Go to Niagara Falls, rainbow bridge and hand it in. Be careful this weekend because Canada Day might be busy, so if handing it in Monday got after 5 pm. Remember, you may want to avoid July 4rth which is Wednesday.

No need to wait at all.

Niagara Falls - Rainbow Bridge
Monday to Thursday 2pm to 9 pm

There is usually no waiting.

#14 JLynn,, I don't make a habit of it, but I have had cases like this and yes, for a simple DUI, client did not submit copies due to the courthouse at that time was taking 1 year. We made a note in the personal letter advising this, and said that we would send copy via courier if required. Client got approved waiver back long before we ever received the court documents..If it was something more serious, I won't do this, but a DUI, is not a big deal..

I’m in Hamilton Ontario. I was planning on going to hand it in at the border crossing in niagara. My concern is I don’t want to get denied the waiver based on not having the court records for the dui, at the same time if I wait the 6 months it probably doesn’t give me enough time to have a waiver approved for Aug 2019. My guess is that since the charge is so long ago and the courthouse it originally was in has since amalgamated with a different courthouse that I would be waiting only to receive the info that they no longer have the records anyways.

@jlynn if your in Ontario its fine. Go ahead and hand it in.

Michelle has pointed out that certain ports in her area of the west are different. I'll let her weight in on those.

Where are you?