What crimes can get you deported from Canada?

What does it mean to be deported from Canada?

Deportation from Canada is the enforcement of a removal order, an official direction requiring a person to leave the country. Being deported from Canada means being subject to that removal order, which can follow when a person is found inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the federal law that governs who may enter and stay in Canada. IRPA sets out several grounds for deportation from Canada, known in law as grounds of inadmissibility, including security, human rights violations, and misrepresentation, but the one behind most everyday concerns about what crimes can get you deported from Canada is criminal inadmissibility.

One distinction matters above all others: Canadian citizens cannot be deported while they hold citizenship, whether Canadian-born or naturalized. Removal applies to permanent residents and foreign nationals (visitors, workers, students and others without status). The narrow exception is revocation: under section 10 of the Citizenship Act the Minister may revoke citizenship obtained by false representation, fraud or knowingly concealing material circumstances, and IRPA section 40(1)(d) then makes that person inadmissible for misrepresentation, so removal becomes possible. That exception is rare, which is a major reason eligible permanent residents often pursue Canadian citizenship, citizenship puts deportation off the table. Maintaining status also matters in its own right, which is why staying onside of your permanent resident residency obligation goes hand in hand with keeping a clean record.

What crimes can get you deported from Canada? Criminal inadmissibility explained

Section 36 of IRPA sets out two grades of criminal inadmissibility: serious criminality, a conviction for an offence punishable by a maximum of at least 10 years or one where the sentence imposed was more than six months, and criminality, a conviction for an indictable offence or for two offences not arising out of a single occurrence. The grade depends on how the offence is punished, and it decides who is at risk of removal.

The key takeaway is that serious criminality is what most often puts a permanent resident's status at risk, while ordinary criminality reaches only foreign nationals, meaning temporary residents and people applying to enter. The label turns on the maximum possible penalty for the offence and on the actual sentence, not on how minor the incident may feel. A hybrid offence, one the Crown may prosecute either summarily or by indictment, is deemed indictable for this purpose even when it was prosecuted summarily (IRPA section 36(3)(a)).

Common crimes that lead to deportation from Canada

The crimes that can get you deported from Canada are most often serious-criminality offences, and because serious criminality is defined by the penalty rather than the name of the offence, many ordinary-sounding crimes fall inside it. Impaired driving has carried a 10-year maximum penalty in Canada since 2018, which is why a single DUI conviction can now amount to serious criminality. The following are commonly cited examples of offences that can lead to criminal inadmissibility in Canada. Whether removal actually follows depends on the charge, the sentence and the person's status, so treat these as illustrations, not verdicts.

The same picture, by category:

• Impaired driving: a single impaired-driving conviction is serious criminality because the offence carries a 10-year maximum, whatever sentence the court actually imposes.
• Violent offences: assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm and more serious violence carry maximums of at least 10 years, which puts them in the serious-criminality band.
• Property offences over $5,000: theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000 are serious criminality, while the same offences under $5,000 carry a two-year maximum and are not.
• Break and enter: breaking into a dwelling house carries a maximum of life and breaking into any other place carries 10 years, so both sit in the serious-criminality band.
• Drug offences: trafficking, or possessing for the purpose of trafficking, a Schedule I or II substance carries a maximum of life, and a Schedule III or V substance carries 10 years.
• Weapons offences: the maximum varies widely between firearms and weapons offences, so a weapons charge has to be checked against its own Criminal Code section before you can tell which side of the 10-year line it falls on.

The other grounds: security, human rights violations and organized criminality

The grounds that can get a non-citizen deported from Canada are serious criminality and criminality (IRPA section 36), security (section 34), human or international rights violations (section 35), organized criminality (section 37) and misrepresentation (section 40). A criminal conviction is only one of them.

Section 64 of IRPA then decides who may appeal. There is no appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division for a person found inadmissible on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, sanctions, serious criminality or organized criminality, and for serious criminality that bar applies once the crime was punished in Canada by a term of imprisonment of at least six months. That is a different threshold from the one that creates the inadmissibility in the first place, which is a sentence of more than six months under section 36(1)(a). Six months is not a safe number: a six-month sentence does not by itself trigger serious criminality under section 36(1)(a), but it does remove the appeal right under section 64(2) where serious criminality is otherwise made out.

Can a permanent resident be deported from Canada?

Yes, a permanent resident can be deported from Canada, but generally only for serious criminality. Your status changes how much is at stake, because the same offence does not carry the same immigration consequence for everyone. The table below compares how a criminal conviction can affect each type of status.

The clearest pattern is simple: only citizenship takes deportation off the table, permanent residents are exposed to serious criminality alone, and foreign nationals carry the broadest risk. The detail behind each row follows.

• Permanent residents: a permanent resident can be removed for serious criminality under section 36(1), and section 36(2) criminality does not apply to them at all. A permanent resident found inadmissible for serious criminality may have a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, but section 64(2) removes that appeal where the crime was punished in Canada by a term of imprisonment of at least six months.
• Foreign nationals: visitors, students, workers and applicants can be inadmissible for both serious criminality and section 36(2) criminality, and they have fewer protections against removal.
• Canadian citizens: a Canadian citizen cannot be deported while they hold citizenship. The narrow exception is revocation of citizenship obtained by fraud or misrepresentation, which is rare, and it is the clearest reason eligible permanent residents consider applying for citizenship once they qualify.

Can you avoid deportation? Rehabilitation and other options

Four routes can overcome criminal inadmissibility: criminal rehabilitation, deemed rehabilitation, a temporary resident permit, and, for a permanent resident, an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division where one is still available. Which of them is open to you depends on the offence, your status and how much time has passed.

• Criminal rehabilitation: an application to IRCC, available a set number of years after you complete your sentence, that can permanently resolve the inadmissibility.
• Deemed rehabilitation: a status that can apply automatically to less serious offences once enough time has passed, without any application.
• Temporary resident permit: a permit that can allow entry or a stay for a compelling, time-limited reason despite the inadmissibility.
• Appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division: a right a permanent resident facing removal may still hold, unless section 64 has removed it, which it does where the crime was punished in Canada by a term of imprisonment of at least six months.

Why impaired driving (DUI) is now a deportable offence

Of all the crimes that can get you deported from Canada, impaired driving surprises people most, because a DUI feels minor compared with the offences usually associated with deportation. The legal problem is the maximum penalty, not the perceived severity. Since 2018, impaired-driving offences in Canada carry a maximum penalty of 10 years, which places a single DUI squarely in the serious criminality band of IRPA section 36. A single impaired-driving conviction can therefore make both foreign nationals and permanent residents criminally inadmissible and, in some cases, lead to a removal order.

Because the consequence turns on the charge, the sentence and your status, an impaired-driving charge is something to take seriously and get assessed early, ideally before any application to IRCC. Where the conviction has already happened, options such as criminal rehabilitation or a temporary resident permit (TRP) may help overcome the inadmissibility once enough time has passed.

Does a charge or an arrest count, or only a conviction?

Criminal inadmissibility for criminality and serious criminality is built on a conviction, not on an arrest or an unproven allegation. Both grades of inadmissibility under IRPA section 36 turn on a conviction and on the penalty attached to the offence, the maximum possible penalty and the actual sentence imposed. That distinction matters because the same incident can resolve very differently depending on the final charge and outcome, which is exactly why an impaired-driving or assault charge is worth getting assessed while it is still in progress rather than after a refusal.

It is also why a conviction from abroad can matter: an offence committed outside Canada can make you inadmissible if the equivalent act would be a crime under Canadian law. If you are unsure whether an old record creates a criminal inadmissibility problem, an honest assessment before you apply is far cheaper than a refusal afterward.

How Wild Mountain Immigration helps (and when you need a lawyer)

If you are worried that a conviction could affect your status or a future application, the most useful first step is an honest assessment. Working under a licensed RCIC (CICC #R706497), we can review your situation, explain whether an offence is likely to raise a serious criminality concern, and, where it fits our scope, help with an application to IRCC such as criminal rehabilitation or a temporary resident permit. We confirm current rules on canada.ca before advising, because criminal-inadmissibility provisions are technical and consequential.

We are also clear about our limits. We do not represent clients at removal hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board, in appeals, or at the Federal Court, that is a lawyer's work, and if your matter has reached that stage we will say so plainly and point you in the right direction. You can read more about the difference in our guide to an immigration consultant vs lawyer, or book a call for an honest read on where your case stands.

The bottom line on what crimes can get you deported from Canada: deportation flows from criminal inadmissibility under IRPA section 36, and serious criminality, an offence with a 10-year maximum or a sentence over six months, is the band that most often leads to a removal order for both permanent residents and foreign nationals. Citizenship is what takes removal off the table, so if you are eligible, applying for Canadian citizenship is the surest protection, and if a conviction is already on your record, an honest admissibility assessment is the right first step.