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stressfree · May 5, 2009, 10:26 AM

Hello, last yr (April 2008) my husband was arrested for Battery (Domestic Violence). But all charges was dropped, and his case was dismissed with no conviction. He just applied for expungement which was granted. We are in US on work permit. However, he needs to go to Canada for business. In the Visa application he honestly answered "yes" to question of arrest, and also mentioned that his case was dismissed and NO conviction. The canadian embassy returned his passport asking him to provide the state and FBI records. He just wants a non-immigrant business visa, and provided the court disposition and expungement notice, since he didn't have the state/fbi records then. Will he have problems getting the visa? However, since his case was just recently expunged, the state and FBI records r not yet updated (they said give at least 2 months for the whole process). Since he needs the Visa in a month, should he go ahead & get state & fbi certificates with the arrest record showing? Is there a chance he'll get the Canadian Visa? Please help!

Lowtax4eva · May 7, 2009, 10:29 AM

Can he not wait the 2 months for his record to get cleaned up before applying for the visa?

You could send the state and fbi records in and include any documentation showing these charges were dropped if he can't wait.

I'm sure there is a chance he will get it, they may want to request an interview to have him explain the situation.

stressfree · May 11, 2009, 06:20 AM

Thank you for your answer lowtax4eva. He went to the court and the arresting agency and they said they have forwarded his expungement notice to the state records, which will take up to 2-3 weeks to update. And once the state updates their record, THEN they'll fwd to FBI, which will in turn take 4-5 weeks to update... not to mention that these are the timeframes they normally give, yet it takes longer.
As far as the canadian consulate, my husband DID send them the court disposition and the expungement notice... yet they asked for the state and fbi records. Being that he needs to go to Canada to meet his client, he cannot wait more than 5 weeks to apply for the visa, in which case at least his fbi record will show the arrest. We r worried that although he did send his court disposition and expungement earlier, will it still bias the VO's mind seeing an arrest on fbi record? However, canadian embassy website clearly states that if there is no conviction, the candidate is NOT considered ineligible, then why so much fuss? We just want them to stick to what they say, since we r providing the documents.