Heading to Canada for the holidays? Minor offences can get you turned away at the border

If you’re planning to visit your loved ones in Canada, it’s important to know that even less serious blemishes on your record can see you denied entry to the country.

Non-citizens with a criminal record, even if consisting of seemingly low-level offences, may be turned away at the border on the basis of criminal inadmissibility.

Immigration officers assess how offences committed abroad map to Canadian law—so even if your crime was considered “minor” overseas, that may not be the case in Canada.