curious said:
I have a friend who is thinking about making a trip to Canada this year. A few years ago she was arrested for DWI, but the charges were dropped after she completed a drinking and driving education program. She never went to trial and has no conviction record. Is she still required to get a special waiver to enter Canada?
On the State Department Web site, it mentions "convictions" but not arrests without conviction.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1082.html
Curious,
First of all the chances that she will be detained for interrogation by Customs, which is the only setting in which the questions Bumfie and I have discussed would be asked, is about 1 in 10 to 1 in 15 based on my personal experience. I think detainments are done randomly and without cause.
Assuming that she gets detained, she likely will be asked about DUI arrests and she better say YES and disclose it because they will find her arrest. Arrest records are easily obtained at a number of different websites. They will have access to those records so she better not try to lie.
As to whether or not the arrest, without a conviction, is ground for turning her back if she doesn't have a waiver, my guess is NO, but she may be at the mercy of the Canadian customs official's discretion. That discretion, on a bad day, could be ruthlessly exercised. Or maybe she will meet a sympathetic customs guard who, like Dee, believes in the innate goodness of his fellow man, and he will trust her to not drink, drive and kill someone in Canada. If I were your friend, I would call the Canadian consulate and ask for advice.
