How Long After a DUI Can You Go to Canada?

If your DUI happened before December 18, 2018, and it’s your only offense, you can enter Canada 10 years after you finish every part of your sentence without filing anything. If your DUI happened on or after that date, or you can’t wait that long, you’ll need to apply: Criminal Rehabilitation becomes available five years after sentence completion, and a Temporary Resident Permit can be requested at any time for urgent travel. So the answer to how long after a DUI you can go to Canada depends on when the offense occurred and which route you take.

The 10-Year Automatic Wait

Canada calls this “deemed rehabilitation.” It works like a statute of limitations on your inadmissibility: once enough time has passed, the bar lifts automatically and no application is required. You qualify only if all of the following are true:

You have exactly one conviction and no other indictable offense.
At least 10 full years have passed since you completed every part of your sentence, including fines, probation, community service, license suspension, and any court-ordered treatment.
The offense, under Canadian law as it existed at the time, was punishable by less than 10 years imprisonment. Pre-2018 DUIs meet this test because the maximum was five years.
The offense did not involve serious property damage, physical harm, or weapons.¹

The clock starts from the date the last part of your sentence was fulfilled, not from the conviction date. If you were convicted in 2010 but your probation didn’t end until 2013, the earliest you could be deemed rehabilitated is 2023.²

Why the Date of Your DUI Matters

In December 2018, Bill C-46 amended Canada’s Criminal Code to raise the maximum prison sentence for impaired driving from 5 years to 10.³ That 10-year threshold is the line between ordinary “criminality” and “serious criminality” under Canadian immigration law.⁴

For DUI offenses committed on or after December 18, 2018, deemed rehabilitation is permanently unavailable.² Waiting doesn’t fix a post-2018 DUI. You have to apply.

Applying for Permanent Clearance After Five Years

Criminal Rehabilitation is a formal application that, if approved, permanently removes your inadmissibility. It’s available whether your DUI was before or after the 2018 change, and it’s the primary path for anyone who can’t or won’t wait 10 years.

You become eligible to apply five years after completing every part of your sentence, calculated the same way as deemed rehabilitation. If your license suspension ended on June 3, 2021, you could apply starting June 3, 2026.²

The application asks you to show you’re unlikely to reoffend. Officers look at the number and seriousness of your offenses, your behavior since the conviction, your explanation of what happened, community support, and your current circumstances.²

The government processing fee depends on how Canadian law classifies your offense:

Criminality (pre-December 2018 DUI): $246.25 CAD
Serious criminality (post-December 2018 DUI): $1,231.00 CAD⁵

You’ll also need certified court records, an FBI Identity History Summary as your U.S. police certificate, and possibly fingerprinting.⁶ Processing typically takes over a year, and you won’t have permission to enter Canada while the application is pending.⁷

Entering Canada Before Any Waiting Period Is Up

A Temporary Resident Permit is the short-term option when you need to enter Canada before you’re eligible for anything else. There’s no waiting period. You can apply the day after your sentence ends.

A TRP grants entry for a specific purpose and a limited time, up to a maximum of three years.⁸ It doesn’t permanently resolve your inadmissibility. The trade-off is that you need a compelling reason to travel. A business conference, family emergency, or a work assignment that can only happen in Canada tend to succeed. A ski trip generally won’t. The officer has to be satisfied that the benefit of admitting you outweighs any risk.

You have two ways to apply. Submitting a complete application to a Canadian consulate in advance is the safer path, since you get a decision before you travel. Applying at a port of entry is possible but riskier: the decision rests with the individual border officer, and denial means turning around. The government processing fee is $246.25 CAD.⁵

Expunged or Dismissed DUI Charges

If your DUI was dismissed or you were acquitted, you are generally not criminally inadmissible.⁹ Arrests without convictions can still show up in database searches, so bringing documentation of the dismissal will help.

Expungement is different, and this trips up a lot of Americans. Getting a DUI expunged or sealed under U.S. state law does not automatically make you admissible to Canada. Canadian authorities evaluate foreign convictions under Canadian standards, not U.S. procedural outcomes. If you received a pardon or discharge abroad, Canada requires you to verify with the appropriate visa office whether that pardon is recognized before traveling.⁹ Many U.S. expungements aren’t treated as resolving the underlying conviction. Confirm your status with the Canadian consulate, or apply for Criminal Rehabilitation to be safe.

What to Bring When Your 10 Years Are Up

Deemed rehabilitation happens automatically by operation of law, but border officers still verify you qualify. Showing up empty-handed is how eligible travelers get turned away. Canada recommends bringing:

Your passport or birth certificate with photo ID
A copy of court documents for each conviction
Proof that all sentencing requirements were completed
A recent criminal record check
A police certificate from the country where you were convicted and from anywhere you’ve lived for six months or longer in the past 10 years¹

Some travelers also carry a legal opinion letter prepared by a Canadian immigration lawyer, analyzing the offense under Canadian law and explaining why deemed rehabilitation applies. It’s not required, but it gives the border officer a professional analysis to work from and can speed up screening.

Quick Reference by Situation

Pre-2018 DUI, 10+ years since sentence completion, single offense: you likely qualify for deemed rehabilitation. Bring your documents to the border.
Pre-2018 DUI, 5 to 10 years since sentence completion: apply for Criminal Rehabilitation ($246.25 CAD). Expect over a year of processing for permanent clearance.
Post-2018 DUI, 5+ years since sentence completion: apply for Criminal Rehabilitation ($1,231.00 CAD). Deemed rehabilitation is not available.
Any DUI, less than 5 years since sentence completion: a Temporary Resident Permit ($246.25 CAD) is your only option, and you’ll need a strong reason for travel.
Urgent travel at any stage: apply for a TRP through a Canadian consulate in advance, or at the border as a last resort.

Whichever path applies, preparation matters more than anything else. Organized documentation and honest disclosure will do more for you than hoping a decades-old conviction has quietly disappeared from the system.

1
Government of Canada. Deemed Rehabilitation
2
Government of Canada. Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada Because of Past Criminal Activity
3
Department of Justice Canada. Criminal Code RSC 1985 c C-46 – Section 320.14
4
Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act SC 2001 c 27 – Section 36
5
Canada.ca. Citizenship and Immigration Application Fees: Fee List
6
Government of Canada. How to Get a Police Certificate: United States
7
Government of Canada. How Long Will It Take to Get a Decision on My Individual Rehabilitation Application?
8
Government of Canada. Guide 5554 – Applying to Stay in Canada Longer as a Temporary Resident Permit Holder
9
Canada.ca. Overcome Criminal Convictions