My Canadian Criminal Rehabilitation Application Was Denied, Now What?

If a US citizen is considered criminally inadmissible to Canada because of a past misdemeanor or felony conviction, they can apply for Criminal Rehabilitation (CR) if they wish to permanently overcome their inadmissibility. Applying for Rehabilitation is a complex legal procedure that usually takes about 6 to 12 months for government processing. Getting approved is not easy, many successful Criminal Rehabilitation applications are more than 50 pages long. If an individual has several criminal convictions, it can be common for a CR application to be longer than 100 pages.The Canadian Government's standards are extremely high, and even a single error or omission can result in an applicant being denied Criminal Rehabilitation.

If an American applied for CR on their own and the application was rejected, they will often decide between avoiding Canada forever and hiring a Criminal Rehabilitation lawyer to redo the paperwork. Our Canadian immigration law firm has been retained by many people who tried to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation on their own and were not successful. The client will frequently have a copy of their previous application, allowing us to take a look at what might have been the problem.

Possible Reasons for Criminal Rehabilitation Denial:

• Incomplete paperwork (application did not contain everything Immigration Canada was looking for)
• Lack of supporting documentation (important claims not properly supported by documents, inadequate character references, etc.)
• Weak evidence of rehabilitation (applicant failed to convince the adjudicator he or she would never re-offend)
• Incorrect supporting documentation (wrong court documents, background check in the wrong format, etc.)
• Various administrative errors (submitted paperwork incorrectly, wrong processing fee, etc.)
• Possible ineligibility (the onus is on the applicant to prove all sentencing was completed more than five years prior)
• Missing documents (one of the required background checks was missing, no court disposition containing sentencing info, etc.)

These are just a few of the reasons an American could have their Canadian Rehabilitation application denied. At the end of the day, the Government of Canada takes criminal inadmissibility extremely seriously. If the high standards of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are not met, an application will be rejected.

Denied Canada Criminal Rehabilitation but want access to the country? Contact our team today for a FREE consultation!

Why is Applying for Criminal Rehabilitation So Difficult?

American citizens will commonly apply for Rehabilitation Canada because of a misdemeanor DUI conviction in the United States. Some of these people will end up shocked and confused at the complexity of applying for Canada CR, finding it almost hard to believe they would be expected to deal with so much paperwork just to cross the border. Part of the reason applying for Canada Rehabilitation is such an extensive procedure is because it is not specific to DUI convictions or other misdemeanors. Some applicants have spent years in jail for violent or drug-related crimes. Even if someone is a "good" candidate, they must apply for Criminal Rehabilitation Canada correctly if they want to get approved.

Questions about a Criminal Rehabilitation Denial? Contact our legal team now!