First off I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that you all are able to spend time with your loved ones! I am lucky to have my family, friends, and hubby here for the holidays! YaY!
In my last blog I told you all about my new job and how I wouldn't be able to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation at the border due to not being able to take 3 continuous days off from work. Unfortunately, I got injured at work a couple of weeks ago and have been unable to work since then ( currently waiting to see an orthopedic doctor to decide when I can return to work). Well, since I've been off work and my husband is here visiting, we decided to take a chance and apply for Criminal Rehabilitation at the border.
The official application for Criminal Rehabilitation can be found here Application for Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada Because of Past Criminal Activity. You will need to include the document checklist, the application, your FBI and state background checks, original court documents, proof of completion of sentencing, the Canadian Law equivalent to the law you have broken in which ever country the crime occurred, as well as any supporting documents you may have (i.e. letters of recommendation, proof of recent education, proof of volunteering, etc). All of this information can be found in the application link above. We pre-paid for the application processing fee online, but later found out that we would have to pay in person. ONLY SUBMIT PAYMENT ONLINE IF YOU ARE MAILING YOUR APPLICATION.
After receiving some advice from a member of the CanadaVisa.com forum, we decided to go to the Detroit - Windsor Tunnel border crossing to submit our application. This crossing is actually a shorter drive than the Champlain - LaColle crossing I usually go through. We left Virginia on 12/17 and stopped in Cleveland, Ohio to rest up before heading to Detroit the next day. On 12/18 before leaving Cleveland, we made a stop at the house from the movie A Christmas Story ( I highly recommend going if you ever have a chance!).
Once our tour was over we made the 2.5 hour drive from Cleveland to the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Crossing. This was the moment of truth. After having checked and double checked the application at the hotel, we were ready to take our leap of faith. When we arrived at the port of entry we told the CBSA officer that we were not seeking entry into Canada at this time, but wanted to speak to a CBSA officer to submit my application for Criminal Rehabilitation. The officer was very nice. He gave us a ticket and showed us where to park to go inside. When we parked another agent took our ticket and showed us where to enter the building. Once inside another CBSA officer was there waiting for us. He took my passport and driver's license along with my application and asked me to have a seat. He went over the application for the next hour. He read all the letters and made sure I had all of the documents needed. He then put everything in order and called me back to the desk. (I didn't include pictures of how I organized my application since the agent will put the documents in order there). He told me that since the DUI from 2008 was my only crime, it was non-violent, and that since I hadn't been in trouble since, he had no problem giving me a recommendation for approval. He told me that from this point he will send my application to his supervisor who will have the final approval.
He said that since it is the holidays, we will probably receive something in 6-8 weeks. He said that we may receive a phone call if there are any other questions regarding my application. We were advised that our pre-payment online would not apply since we are applying at the port of entry and we would have to make another payment while we were there. We went to a payment window and paid the $200 (CAD) via credit card and were given a refund form for the online payment. The officer then made a copy of our receipt and sent us on our way. All in all it was a very easy process and the officer was very friendly.
When we left the Canadian port of entry, we turned right around and headed back to the U.S. port of entry. The border patrol officer asked us how long we had been in Canada and we explained to him that we hadn't actually entered the country, we had been at the immigration office to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation. He asked us for proof, but all we had was the receipt from where we paid. Apparently this wasn't enough and he sent us inside to speak to and officer. Once inside we again attempted to explain that we had not entered Canada, but had only been to the immigration office to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation so that we could proceed with our application for Permanent Residency in Canada. We gave him the receipt to show where we had paid, but it offered little to no information. After about an hour of him interviewing my husband, the officer finally said he was "taking our word for it" and allowed us to leave. He said in the future we need to have some kind of documentation showing that we are going through the process for getting either myself status in Canada or for Pierre-Louis getting status in the USA. Apparently, it raises a red flag for the border agents because we do not currently live together in either Canada or the USA ( even though that was the whole point of us making this trip... to get Criminal Rehab. approval to be able to apply to get status).
Anyway, when we finally left the border we headed south and stopped in Columbus, Ohio for the night. We continued our journey back home the following day. Over the next couple of days we will be working on our application for Permanent Residency! We are hoping to be able to submit it sometime next month! I will keep you guys posted with updates on that whole process as well.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Below is an updated list of costs and the current total amount of money spent on the process thus far.
ITEM COST SENT DELIVERED RECEIVED
FBI Background Check -- $18.00 --- 7/17/2015 ---- 7/22/2015 ---- 10/29/2015
VA Police State Check -- $20.00 --- 7/17/2015 ---- 7/20/2015 ------ 8/13/2015
Fingerprints (#1) ---------- $5.00 ---- 7/17/2015
Postage --------------------- $11.50 --- 7/17/2015
Passport Photos (4) -------- $27.36 --- 7/30/2015
Court Documents ---------- $2.00 ---- 7/30/2015
Passport (booklet) --------- $110.00 -- 8/7/2015 ----- 8/9/2015 ----- 9/15/2015
Postage/Money Order ----- $7.00 ----- 8/7/2015
DMV Driving Record ----- $8.00 ----- 8/7/2015
Fingerprints (#2) ----------- $10.00 ---- 8/10/2015
FBI Background Check --- $18.00 ---- 8/13/2015 --- 8/17/2015 ----- 11/14/2015
Postage ---------------------- $5.75 ----- 8/13/2015
Criminal Rehabilitation --- $200.00 -- 12/18/2015
Application Fee (CAD) or $160 USD
Current Total = $402.61 USD
Thanks for reading!I hope you find this and future entries helpful!
