Flight Over USA from Canada

From my understanding, you should be fine as long as you don't have an arrest warrant against you, you don't land on US soil or your name is not flagged up by Interpol for serious crimes (being a sex offender, a drug trafficker or murderer for example). Having a pardon is a plus because your conviction is erased from CPIC and if other countries ask for info, they see nothing. That being said, your info may have been given to Interpol even if you get a pardon especially when you have an active warrant against you.

The US is different because they have full access to CPIC without Canada's permission, getting a pardon does not help here. Having full access to CPIC means that your criminal record after receiving a pardon will show as sealed. The Americans may have also downloaded your record before you received your pardon. There's a lot of things governments and police forces don't tell us. You can thank Harper for giving them full control, but I'm pretty sure any other ruling party would have done the same. Since 9/11, North American society is driven to punish people for petty crimes while the true criminals seem to get all the help to restart. A lot of civil liberties were thrown out and many people are fighting to get them back.

That being said, the 72 hours requirement is only required by DHS (the Bush administration's idea). George Bush Jr. himself had a record, but he became president.

The US tried to convince all countries to participate, but a lot of country simply did not cooperate. You have too understand most South American countries rely heavily upon Canadians to boost up their tourism industry. The US government does not realize it's harming it's own industry. Applying for a waiver is nothing more than a money grab and many people refuse to go to get them for this reason.

That being said, there's always a risk, so be prepared. Take a direct flight that avoids landing in any US city and make sure that your name is not on Interpol's database.

Hello,

Thank you for the response. I appreciate your insight. I searched myself on Interpol and it displays zero results. I do not have serious charges like sexual assault, murder or drug related offences. I have flown to Central and South America many times from Europe. I have zero reason or motivation to enter the United States.

It's incredible how difficult it is to ascertain general information related to these matters.

Thanks again.

The sad truth about this whole data sharing business between countries is that Canada's CBSA was unable to access FBI records when Americans crossed the border unless they pulled them in for secondary. Recently, they were given access to them. CBSA filled a complaint.

To what extent they were given access too only the US government knows. Considering many US politicians have been convicted and have rose to power makes you wonder how convoluted the whole US justice system seems to be.

It's kinda sad to think that many Americans were coming here without ever being pulled into secondary while Canadians have been denied entry to the US for trivial matters such as simple accusations that have been dropped or that didn't result in a criminal conviction whatsoever. We can congratulate the brilliant politicians we have.

Way to go to Canada!!!

Thanks again for the response. I totally agree with your post. Do you have any experience with the waiver of inadmissibility? Is it actually glued into your passport or is it a paper copy you keep with you. I might apply for one but having it glued into my passport or in my carry on concerns me when I travel to other countries. I worry about passport control noticing the visa and potentially denying me entry into countries I have no issue entering. Although connecting in the USA would save me about 5 hours on some trips, this is a concern if I apply for a waiver.

Thanks again!

Great. Another headache to deal with. I wonder how hard it is going to be to get a visa for entry to Europe. Going to be interesting to see how this will cripple tourism in the EU.

Considering the EU is going through a major existential crisis, I hardly believe the EU electronic travel authorization will be operational by 2020. It took Canada more than a decade to implement their own version of it. The EU with its 28 members, including other non EU Schengen countries, the focus right now being on Brexit and the rise of anti-EU sentiment, we won't see this electronic visa operational for probably many many years. Many of these member countries have yet to implement EU protocols and standards to say the least.

The country who wants this to be implemented the most is Greece because it will cost 5 € to get one and it will be valid for 5 years. Greece seems to think
It will bring the country out of its misery. In essence, it's a money grab.

I don't think also that the criteria to get one should be that difficult. You have many EU citizens who have non EU citizen children living in North America. A lot of those non EU children have convictions in North America and regularly travel back and fourth. We can only wait and see. As for now, you can go to Europe for another 2.5 years. They started taking fingerprints of every one though because of the terrorism threat and have started taking more travellers into secondary screening. This could potentially flag up your criminal record but most EU countries do not bar petty criminals from entering.

I have been through secondary numerous times especially when I fly into Frankfurt from our new office in Doha, Qatar. Never had issue with the criminal record. To be completely honest, I have only seen customs and immigration agents screen passengers through the Interpol system. I have seen them perform the search many times. When they ask me what I was doing in middle East I simply tell them I have business interests in the Middle East. As soon as I show them my business card of business based in Canada they return my stuff and off I go. I have a cousin from Belgium who did 5 years for aggrevated assault and he travels here to Canada to visit his girlfriend 5 times a year and Canada Customs never stops him. I can't figure it out. He passes all the screening and they never see his criminal record. I bet so many foreigners arrive into the United States and Canada with criminal records and are never caught.

The issue will and forever be the US. For us Canadians, it's harder because both Canada and US share info on their citizens. Our politicians seem to always obey to the US demands and often to the detriment of our civil liberties. A lot of people can get their record expunged and will never show up when travelling depending on each country's laws.

We do not know for sure what foreign border guards see or cannot see. My thoughts would be if you are suspicious to them, you would be denied. So always have your paperwork, proof of sufficient funds and always have proof that you will be returning back home.

i'm trying to make my own thread on this site but i keep getting a message saying permission denied

Any idea how to fix that ?

Hello everyone,

I am interested in applying for a waiver. I wanted to know if the waiver is glued into your passport or is it a separate card/document that you present when you cross the border?

Has anyone travelled a direct flight from Canada to Mexico? We are wanting to take a holiday this winter but not sure if entering Mexico will be a problem? Fraud over conviction.l do have a valid Canadian passport. Will Mexico know about my criminal record?