I have a DUI conviction from 20 yrs ago. What if a plane I’m on lands in Canada?
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Anonymous
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I have a lifetime prohibition on traveling to Canada due to a misdemeanor DUI conviction from 2003 in California. (No one with a DUI conviction is permitted to enter Canada)
What would happen to me if a plane I was on had to land in Canada for some reason (transatlantic flight needing to detour to Gander, Newfoundland because of an engine problem)? Because a coworker was telling me this afternoon that her flight from Paris in December had to land in Gander because of some problem with an unruly passenger and they had to stay in Gander for almost an entire day because the flight crew had reached some kind of time limit or something. So everyone left the plane and went through customs and then some left the terminal and even the airport for a while to get dinner, ect. What would happen if I was in that circumstance? Would I have to stay on the plane? If they wasn’t an option, would they take me into custody/detain/arrest me? I don’t really care about any possible criminal record from Canada but I also don’t want to be detained and miss my flight when it’s time to go because I’m sitting in some cell in Canadian customs. What happens? |
Anonymous
| As long as you don’t leave and go through customs you’re fine. |
Anonymous
Based on what she said, it wasn’t an option NOT to go through customs. They had to. |
Anonymous
| This is such marginal worry that I wouldn't worry about it -- they might not let you enter Canada so you'd have to stay in the terminal. You are not under a Canadian order for arrest. And I doubt that there was no one with a DUI conviction on a plane on 9/11 and I'm pretty sure they put no one in the pokey. |
Anonymous
| You get kept in the customs area in immigration isolation. You usually get to keep your phone but you are "locked" up in a room. It's not a cell, but you do have to use the intercom on the wall to make requests. You're then put on the next plane either going to your destination or your home country if that is not your destination. Typically, they put you on whichever flight leaves first. |
Anonymous
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I have literally never heard this.
When you show a passport at immigration they don’t check for criminal history unless you’re actually wanted or on an Interpol list. |
Anonymous
No, they can't release you back into the terminal on good faith that you wouldn't leave. You aren't arrested, but you are detained until the first available flight to your destination. However, if you were a US citizen flying from the US to Paris and your plane diverted to Canada for some odd reason, you'd get detained and most likely put on the first plane going back to the US not to Paris since flights to the US happen more frequently than to Paris. |
Anonymous
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You’re fine. It was 2003. I believe they consider you rehabilitated after 10 years. At the 5 year point after your sentence is complete (so whatever probation/jail time), you can apply to get a rehabilitation waiver to cross into Canada. Anything more recent and you’re SOL.
Canadian border agents do have access to these records though!! |
Anonymous
You also can't enter Canada with multiple misdemeanor convictions or a felony conviction, especially not any drug charges. You can quickly apply for a Canadian TRP to be granted temporary access and a lot of the time you can do that right at the border. At least I know you can when crossing in person by car. My uncle has a misdemeanor drug conviction on his record from the 70s. When I would visit him and my cousins during the summer in Buffalo, we'd have to allow an extra hour for him to apply for TRP at the border. You can apply before the trip, too, and I think once granted it is good for 2-3 years. He always said it was better to apply in person because the agents had a harder time saying no when you were there in person pleading your reason why you wanted to enter Canada, which in our case was always shopping, ha. We made the trip probably a dozen or so times and he was never denied entry. |
Anonymous
Yes, this! A little more info - OP you are not banned from Canada for life. More than 10 years have passed and you can enter Canada just as you would had you never got convicted. You don’t need to apply for any waiver because your dui was prior to 2018. If it was in 2018 or beyond, you’d have to apply for the waiver even when 10 years have passed. So go to Canada! The Canadian Rockies have some of the most beautiful scenery in the world! |
Anonymous
| They will not let you in. You will need to turn around and go home. |
Anonymous
NP Nope. Wrong. Unless OP applies for the TRP and receives it ($350 each app, btw) it IS a lifetime ban on entry. The US is the only first world nation that lets people with criminal records stroll unchecked across its border. Canada doesn’t put up with that stuff. |
Anonymous
Canada and Australia. |
Anonymous
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This is exactly what happened to those Israeli kids in Tehran (the series). Much higher stakes, admittedly. But same concept.
Those of you being dismissive of this concern are liable to end up face down in the toilet in some third world prison one day. Keep your head on a swivel. |
Anonymous
Correct. I’ve seen this numerous times with tour busses (I worked as an interpreter during college) crossing from Niagara Falls. Invariably, if it was an American tour group, at least one person on the bus would be forced off and sent on their way elsewhere as the bus continued on with the tour. Oddly, I have NEVER seen a non-American denied entry for a DUI - only Americans seemed to ever admit to them. And I seriously doubt that Americans are the only people that ever drive drunk. I guess literally the whole rest of the world just lies about it. |