Yes, you can visit Canada with a DUI, but not automatically. A single impaired driving conviction makes you criminally inadmissible under Canadian immigration law, and border officers routinely turn away travelers whose records show one. To get in, you generally need to fit one of three paths: deemed rehabilitation if your offense is old enough and clean enough, individual rehabilitation as a permanent fix, or a Temporary Resident Permit for a specific trip.
Why a DUI Blocks Entry in the First Place
Canada decides admissibility by comparing your foreign offense to its own Criminal Code. If the conduct would be an indictable offense in Canada, you are criminally inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, no matter how your state classified it.1Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Canada’s inadmissibility rules explicitly list impaired driving as a disqualifying offense.2Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Reasons You May Be Inadmissible to Canada
A border officer maps the elements of your U.S. DUI onto the closest Canadian offense. Impaired driving in Canada is a hybrid offense, meaning it can be prosecuted either summarily or by indictment. Under IRPA, any hybrid offense is treated as indictable for immigration purposes.1Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act So even a first-offense misdemeanor DUI counts.
The December 18, 2018 Dividing Line
The date your offense occurred controls which options you have. On December 18, 2018, Canada’s Bill C-46 took effect and raised the maximum penalty for impaired driving.3Government of Canada. Government Announces New Alcohol-Impaired Driving Laws Will Come Into Force Under IRPA, an offense punishable by a maximum of at least 10 years qualifies as “serious criminality” rather than ordinary criminality.1Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
If your DUI happened before December 18, 2018, it falls under ordinary criminality, and deemed rehabilitation may eventually apply. If it happened on or after that date, it is serious criminality, and your only routes back into Canada are individual rehabilitation or a TRP.4Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Convicted of Driving While Impaired
Deemed Rehabilitation: The Free Automatic Path
Deemed rehabilitation is the simplest option because it requires no application and no fee. Enough time passes with a clean record, and Canada considers you rehabilitated. It only works for offenses under ordinary criminality, which for DUI means pre-December 18, 2018.4Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Convicted of Driving While Impaired
You must meet all of the following:
- Only one conviction on your record.
- At least 10 years have passed since you completed every part of your sentence, including fines, probation, community service, and any other conditions.
- The offense did not involve property damage, physical harm, or a weapon.
If you qualify, you can assert deemed rehabilitation directly at a port of entry. No paperwork gets filed in advance, and there is no cost.5Government of Canada. Deemed Rehabilitation Bring your court records and proof of sentence completion so the officer can verify eligibility on the spot.6Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. What Does It Mean To Be Rehabilitated in Respect to Entering Canada
Individual Rehabilitation: The Permanent Fix
If your DUI is post-2018, or you don’t qualify for deemed rehabilitation for some other reason, individual rehabilitation is the way to permanently clear your admissibility. Once approved, the inadmissibility finding is gone for good. The tradeoff is a formal application that routinely takes over a year to decide.7Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. How Long Will It Take To Get a Decision on My Individual Rehabilitation
You can apply once at least five years have passed since you finished your entire sentence, including probation, fines, and any other court-imposed conditions.8Government of Canada. Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada Due to Past Criminal Activity The application is form IMM 1444.9Government of Canada. Application for Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada
Along with the form, plan to submit:
- Court documents showing the charge, plea, conviction, and sentence for your DUI.
- Completion certificates for probation, counseling, or any substance abuse programs.
- A personal statement explaining the circumstances, what has changed since, and why the offense won’t be repeated.
- Police certificates from every country where you lived for six consecutive months or more since turning 18. For most Americans that means an FBI background check and possibly state-level records.10Government of Canada. When To Get a Police Certificate
- Character references from employers or community members who can speak to your stability.6Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. What Does It Mean To Be Rehabilitated in Respect to Entering Canada
Officers are looking for a full picture of someone who has moved past the offense. Bare-minimum applications tend to fare poorly. The more concrete evidence of rehabilitation you include, the stronger your case.
Temporary Resident Permit: For a Specific Trip
A Temporary Resident Permit lets you enter Canada despite your inadmissibility, but only for a defined trip or period. It expires when that period ends and can be cancelled at any time.11Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Temporary Resident Permits It is an exception, not a cure.
Approval turns on one question: does your reason for entering outweigh the health or safety risk your record represents to Canadian society?12Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Who Can Apply for or Request a Temporary Resident Permit Business meetings with a Canadian client, a family emergency, or a booked professional conference are the kinds of reasons that succeed. General tourism rarely clears the bar.
You can apply in two ways. Submit an application to a Canadian visa office before you travel, or request TRP consideration at the port of entry when you arrive. Applying at the border is faster but riskier: the officer decides on the spot, there is no appeal, and a refusal means you have made the trip for nothing.13Government of Canada. How To Apply for or Request a Temporary Resident Permit
A strong TRP package includes the court documents for your DUI, a written explanation of why you need to enter Canada, supporting evidence for that reason (an invitation letter, a hospital letter, event registration), proof of financial means for the stay, and personal identification.
Costs and Timing
The processing fee for both individual rehabilitation and a Temporary Resident Permit is $246.25 CAD per person.14Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Application Fees Deemed rehabilitation has no fee. On top of the government fee you may also pay for police certificates, notarization, translation of any non-English or non-French records, and any legal fees if you hire an immigration lawyer.
Rehabilitation applications routinely take over a year to process.7Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. How Long Will It Take To Get a Decision on My Individual Rehabilitation If you know you’ll want to travel to Canada, start well ahead. A TRP filed at a visa office also takes time, though less. A TRP requested at the border is decided immediately, for better or worse.
Why a Pardon or Expungement Usually Doesn’t Help
A governor’s pardon, a presidential pardon, or a state-level expungement of your DUI does not automatically restore your admissibility to Canada. Canadian immigration law runs independently of the U.S. system, and Canada generally does not treat a foreign pardon or expungement the way it treats a Canadian record suspension.
The equivalency analysis asks whether you committed conduct that would be a crime in Canada. A later pardon or expungement is a feature of U.S. law, not Canadian law. Narrow exceptions may exist depending on the specific mechanism your state used, but relying on an expungement at the border is a gamble that frequently fails. Individual rehabilitation or a TRP is the more reliable route.
The same caution applies if your DUI was reduced to a lesser offense like reckless driving. A border officer can look at the underlying conduct. A plea bargain that changed the label doesn’t necessarily change the equivalency result.
What Happens at the Border
Show up without deemed rehabilitation eligibility, an approved rehabilitation, or a TRP, and expect to be refused entry. Canada Border Services Agency officers have access to U.S. criminal databases, and a DUI conviction typically appears during screening. The officer’s decision is final at the port of entry, with no on-the-spot appeal.15Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Overcome Criminal Convictions
Even with an approved rehabilitation or TRP, the officer retains discretion. Carry your original approval documents, court records, and supporting paperwork. Digital copies are not a substitute for originals.
Do not lie about your record. If a CBSA officer asks whether you have a criminal history and you deny it, you face a misrepresentation finding under IRPA, which triggers a five-year inadmissibility ban on top of your criminal inadmissibility.16Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – Section 40 The officer has already pulled your record before asking. The question is a test of honesty. Answer it truthfully.