How Will the Canadian Border Know That I Have a DUI?

Many Americans interested in entering Canada with a DUI or DWI wonder how the Canadian border knows if a visitor has a criminal record. Canada's front-line border agents now have access to more information than ever to help identify potential security risks when screening visitors. As of November 2015, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers have full access to the FBI criminal database at their primary checkpoints, which allows them to instantly detect when a visitor has a criminal history. United States criminal records are visible to border officers through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Operated by the RCMP, the CPIC central police database is interfaced with the United States National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which is the FBI CJIS database interlinked with all federal, tribal, state, and local agencies in the US. The CBSA also has access to many USA driving records thanks to information sharing with several state DMV agencies.

A DUI is now a serious crime in Canada that can be punished by up to ten years in jail, so even a single intoxicated driving offense from long ago can cause an American to be denied entry at the Canadian border. Many other misdemeanor and felony offenses can make a person ineligible to cross the border, and even an arrest with no conviction can cause problems. In the past, only visitors sent to secondary screening when entering Canada were fully screened against the CPIC database, which contains information about Americans from the FBI criminal database. During the initial screening, passports were only scanned into an internal "lookout" system that contained a database of wanted individuals and lost, fraudulent, or stolen passports. This is no longer the case, however, which has greatly increased the likelihood of criminally inadmissible individuals being detected when crossing the Canadian border. According to La Presse (Canadian news company), more than 30,000 Americans were refused entry to Canada in 2016 compared to only 7,509 in 2014, so the border getting full access to the FBI database has made a big difference.

If you want the ability to enter Canada but have a past driving or criminal record, you can overcome inadmissibility with a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) or Criminal Rehabilitation (CR) which can both enable successful admittance. A TRP is an entry waiver available for a maximum duration of three years, but requires a person to have a valid reason for travel such as a business trip. CR is a permanent fix and can be used for vacation travel but is only available if a person finished their entire sentence at least five years ago. Even civil traffic violations such as DWAI in New York State and OWI in Wisconsin can render an American inadmissible to Canada on grounds of criminality despite only being a non-criminal citation.

Want to learn more about going to Canada with a past DUI? Phone us today for a FREE consultation.

Every month millions of people show up at Canada's borders, and most travelers are processed in approximately 30 seconds. In an effort to keep traffic moving, before 2016 not every visitor was fully screened for a driving record or criminal record by border agents. When people arrived at a Canadian border crossing, their passport was scanned through a CBSA lookout system that contained details about immigration violators and lost or stolen passports but was not necessarily checked against Canada's national police database called CPIC. Likewise, a traveler arriving at a land border with an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL) was not always checked to see if their driving record contained anything involving alcohol. Standing for Canadian Police Information Center, the FBI shares criminal information with CPIC enabling Canadian authorities to identify Americans who could potentially pose a threat to the country such as those with criminal records back home in the United States.

In years past, the primary determining factor on whether or not a foreigner with a criminal record would be caught by authorities when entering Canada was whether or not their record had been transferred into the CBSA lookout system. Of course, even if an arrest or conviction was not on the CBSA lookout list, if the person raised any suspicions at the border or was randomly selected for secondary screening officials could check CPIC to see if they had ever committed a crime. Now, however, the CBSA lookout system contains CPIC information so people who are inadmissible to Canada due to criminality will be more easily detected during the initial screening process.

In addition to driving under the influence (DUI), Americans who have been charged with other alcohol related driving offenses such as DWAI, OWI, OVI, and reckless driving can also be denied entry at the border. More than a dozen US States share their DMV records with Canada, allowing the border to also detect non-criminal impaired driving offenses as well as violations such as driving with a suspended license.

Increased Scrutiny at Canada's Border

In 2015, the Canadian Federal Government also earmarked an additional $1 million for border security and announced that they had increased the number of border service officers by 26%, making it even more unlikely for someone to slip through the border undetected with a misdemeanor or felony. In 2016, Canada also implemented an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) system as part of their border security improvement initiative. While American citizens and Green Card holders do not usually require an eTA to fly to Canada, many people living in the USA do which can cause them to get flagged for a DUI before even getting to the country. In December 2018, a DUI became a serious crime in Canada. Consequently, CBSA authorities started viewing anything related to drunk driving similar to a felony.