With the Olympics coming up sooner than most of us realize, a lot of Oregon and Washington sports fans will be heading to Canada in a few months. What many won't realize is that a DUI arrest here could cut their trips short. Under Canadian law, a person with a DUI conviction is criminally inadmissible.
This is an issue I dealt with a lot as a DUI lawyer in Seattle. Here in Oregon, it is slightly less common, but it is still a real concern. Canadian law prevents entry to anyone who is convicted - and sometimes even accused - of a crime that would be a felony if committed in Canada.
Unlike Oregon, where a first offense driving under the influence charge is a misdemeanor, in Canada a DUI would be treated as a felony. For this reason, DUI falls in the class of crimes that prevent entry into Canada.
If you have a DUI conviction in your past, you must first show that you are rehabilitated before you will be allowed to enter Canada. This can be a very lengthy process. It must have been five years since your conviction, and sometime it takes as much as a year just to get the paperwork through the Canadian government. People are also ineligible to enter Canada if they have pending DUI charges against them. This means just for being arrested, you may be prevented from entering Canada if you are still awaiting trial.
If you have been charged with a DUI and you are found not guilty, your entry into Canada should not be bared. Therefore, if entry into Canada is important to you, and you are arrested in Oregon, it is vital that you fight your case to the fullest.
