US Waiver for Canadians

The Admissibility Review Office (ARO) located in the Washington, DC area and a department within Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been the sole agency adjudicating I-192 waiver applications since 2005. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created the ARO in an effort to achieve consistency in the adjudication of all nonimmigrant waivers ( CBP Memorandum from March 22, 2005 ). Processing times Application processing for the I-192 waiver can vary from case to case. AROs goal is to process each application within 120-180 days of the filing date, but there are many cases in which the processing period is much longer. The delay is not always with the ARO, but sometimes with other federal agencies responding to the necessary background and security checks (often referred to as secondary security checks). First time waiver applications usually involve the longest processing time with subsequent waiver applications being completed much quicker – often within 90-120 days. Recentl...

Expect to have your pot record expunged once marijuana is legalized? Think again. Why? Well, when someone is charged with a crime, the laws in place at the time of the offence dictate how that individual will be punished if convicted. An exception is outlined in Section 11(i) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms : “Any person charged with an offence has the right . . . if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment for the offence has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing to the benefit of the lesser punishment.” The Charter says nothing about granting amnesty to a convicted individual whose offence later ceases to be a crime. That’s why, if marijuana is legalized in Canada, the legislation will probably not come with an amendment that allows all those previously convicted of possession of marijuana to be pardoned and have their criminal records expunged. Tens of thousands of Canadians are charged with possession each year. Pardons woul...