@John and Miles, no changes in my timelines..3 - 4 months for me to gather the paperwork, (depending on court houses)..and 4-6 months from time of deliver to US Customs to receive waiver - very few - less 1% arrive sooner..(speaking for Saskatchewan area)..Had a lady deliver to Edmonton International last week..will advise when she receives her waiver...

@Miles not if the waiver is granted and its fairly straight forward. 60 days once it is handed in in Ontario. eSAFE is even faster. Out west may take longer because as Michelle has said, we think they may not submit them immediately. I am not sure if that is every port or just some. Michelle can update us and let us know if that has changed.

Nobody waits for a long time nowadays?

This site has been so helpful!

Filed with e-safe on Dec 27, 2019. Visited the good folks at Rainbow Bridge the first week of January and received my waiver two days ago. Very efficient!

The only concern in my case is the birth date year is incorrectly 2019. Any thoughts on who to contact to have that changed?

@jazzsax1

You can email me at kiwicanuck123 at gmail dot com

@Kiwi super interesting. Would love to discuss further with you as I'm actually a tax accountant and you're one of the first I've heard that got charged for failing to pay CRA. I have clients who owe them 200K plus and have judgements against them but CRA never took court action other than registering tax liens.

What was your actual charge? Was it under the criminal prosecutions program?

I had a fraud charge with a similar sentence as you (2 years less a day conditional, with 18 months house arrest and probation), so in October I am 5 years post conviction. I have a need to travel to the USA for some business interests, my clients will write glowing letters, I have been making large payments towards the restitution (i didn't actually take any money --- long story) but I'm worried they will be jerks when I apply. My charge was completely unrelated to accounting and was from an isolated incident unrelating to my current work.

John / Michelle / Ken et all suggested I wait until October to apply but all felt we would have a good chance at succeeding depending on how the letters are written.

Too bad we didn't have a private message option here, I'd love to discuss your circumstances further (especially as it might relate to my clients too)

@jazzsax1 re:post #12

I was sentenced in Sept 2013 and got an 18-month conditional sentence.
Even though my charges were not criminal in Canada (failing to make a payment to CRA) the USA considered it a Crime of Moral Turpitude, as they consider it the equivalent to Tax Evasion.
I paid everything owing to CRA plus the court fine and waited till I was almost 5 years post-sentence before applying, I wanted to get the application in before the fees went up, so that's why I applied a few months early.

The approval letter states the "basis of favorable action" Humanitarian.

I prepared the application myself, spent a lot of time on the personal letter, especially the proof of rehabilitation part which was difficult to get right without sounding insincere.

Good luck to you.

@Kiwi - how much time was it post conviction? (ie, when were you sentenced) and what was the charge?

I applied using eSafe on Jan 2nd, 2020 and got my waiver today, 4th Feb., so about 33 days.

The visa waiver is good for 1 year, I'll refile in 7-8 months and hope for a 5 year waiver and hopefully the cost has not gone up by then.

I had applied back in 2014 and after waiting 27 months got a denial letter.

It had been 4 years and 10 months since my sentence was completed when I filed the application.

@John Rogers ... I'm going to surmise that your comment at #9 was meant for @USWaiver and not directed to me. Am I correct?

@Adelaide I didn't go this last Tuesday, but I have been there most Tuesdays. Did you see me in the lawn chair at Pearson Airport? And your case seems very typical in terms of how long esafe takes.

@Adelaide

Applied in in Pearson airport, the whole process took less than 30 minutes, today my Waiver has been approved for an year, first time applicant. (took ~ 1 month)

@Steve 2725...Thank you for sharing your story..I learned something new also..I have never had a waiver refused or revoked for a client..and I have had them do some "goofy" things, where there was threat of "revoking" a waiver. So, I was very surprised to learn of your situation. Could you explain bit more about the Immigration part. Does your waiver allow you to travel and have other benefits? Were you attempting to live/work in the USA? Sorry, I am just confused and very curious...Thanks!!!

@Steve2725 Thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations! It's encouraging to know that E-Safe processing times are so efficient. I'm sure there will be many questions from the other contributors on this forum. I have a couple. How long did the December 10th application interview take? What was the complete cost?

I am a Canadian Citizen. Three years ago I was granted a 5 year waiver to overcome my inadmissibility to the US in relation to a felony fraud conviction that took place in the US. After travelling freely to the US using my waiver on almost a bi-weekly basis, on my last attempt to enter I was told that my waiver had only been granted under one ground of inadmissibility, and as a result, my waiver was revoked. Turns out the waiver was granted covering the criminal ground of inadmissibility and not the immigration portion, as a result of the criminal conviction. I paid a lawyer $5,000 to obtain such waiver and it took 10 months for my approval, which was for 5 years, B1/B2.

On December 10th, 2019, I submitted my new waiver application using the new E-Safe system and completed my biometrics same day at the Rainbow Bridge. So, my application was submitted to the ARO on December 10th, 2019. I was concerned that because my previously approved waiver revoked I and had to explain in writing the circumstances surrounding such revocation that my application would be a tad more complicated.

This morning, Thursday, January 16, 2020, I received an email from the E-Safe system notifying me that my application had been updated and to log in. I ran to my computer, logged into the E-Safe system, and my waiver application was approved, 5 years, B1/B2, and covers both grounds of inadmissibility. What a day! It basically took one month, keeping in mind that the process went on throughout the holidays, which most likely resulted in a 10 day delay.

Please note that I wrote and assembled all documentation myself for this application with no outside assistance whatsoever, and it was approved. Last time I hired a professional do do this it turns out that it wasn't done properly which resulted in the revocation. Nobody can explain your situation and make a plea for admissibility better than yourself!

@USWaiver

Just curious as to what Port of Entry you applied at. In addition when you did apply how long did it actually take for them to process your paperwork through the system... less than 20 minutes or longer?

Applied e-SAFE more than a month no response yet.

@TravisT YOu still put the waiver package together and upload it. You pay online. You then have 45 days to get fingerprinted at a Port of Entry. Once you are fingerprinted, 9 days seems to be the norm. The waiver is not mailed, you download it and print it.

So the whole process is much faster. The "regular way" takes 60 days once you hand the waiver in, although I recently has someone in 42 days.

@TravisT Anecdotally hearing two weeks even one week for the e-SAFE process. Keep in mind you still have to get your biometrics done (someone jump in and correct me but I've heard you can only get this done at a land point of entry for e-SAFE). You also need to do C-216C with the RCMP which can take a week or so. It's much faster overall from what I've been hearing (when the system is working). Best of luck