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. There are several 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. Removal applies to permanent residents and foreign nationals (visitors, workers, students and others without status). That 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.

Criminal inadmissibility: the real trigger for deportation

When people ask what crimes can get you deported from Canada, the legal answer lives in section 36 of IRPA, which sets out two grades of criminal inadmissibility: serious criminality and ordinary criminality. The grade depends on how the offence is punished, and it determines 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 more typically affects 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.

What crimes can get you deported from Canada? Common examples

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:

• Impaired driving (DUI), a 10-year maximum offence since 2018, which is why it now sits in the serious-criminality band.
• Assault causing bodily harm and other violent offences.
• Theft over $5,000 and break and enter.
• Fraud over $5,000.
• Drug trafficking and certain other controlled-substance offences.
• Weapons offences.

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 Canadian citizens cannot be deported, permanent residents are exposed mainly to serious criminality, and foreign nationals carry the broadest risk. The detail behind each row follows.

• Permanent residents can be removed for serious criminality, but ordinary criminality generally does not cost them their status. A permanent resident found inadmissible for serious criminality may, in some cases, have a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, though not always, particularly where the sentence is long.
• Foreign nationals, visitors, students, workers and applicants, can be inadmissible for both serious criminality and ordinary criminality, and have fewer protections against removal.
• Canadian citizens cannot be deported at all, which is the clearest reason eligible permanent residents consider applying for citizenship once they qualify.

Can you avoid deportation? Rehabilitation and other options

A criminal record does not always end an immigration journey. Depending on the offence, your status and how much time has passed, there can be ways to overcome criminal inadmissibility:

• Criminal rehabilitation, an application to IRCC, available a set number of years after you complete your sentence, that can permanently resolve inadmissibility.
• Deemed rehabilitation, which can apply automatically in narrower cases after enough time has passed for less serious offences.
• A temporary resident permit (TRP), which can allow entry or a stay for a compelling, time-limited reason despite inadmissibility.
• Appeal rights, where available, for a permanent resident facing removal, decided by the Immigration Appeal Division.

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 grade 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. Only Canadian citizens are immune, 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.