I’m a permanent resident convicted of a serious crime. What will happen?
You could lose your status and be forced to leave Canada if all of the following apply:
- the crime is a ,
- Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) takes steps to end your permanent resident status and force you to leave Canada,
- those steps lead to you being ordered , and
- you don't have a right to appeal or your appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division of the (IRB) is not successful.
No matter how long you've lived in Canada, you:
- can be deported, and
- have no right to come back.
What’s a serious crime
A crime is serious if:
- the maximum that the law says you can get for it is 10 or more years in prison, even if you get a shorter sentence or no time at all in prison, or
- the sentence that you actually get is more than 6 months in prison or jail.
Time that you spend in jail waiting for your criminal can also count as part of your sentence.
After you’re convicted
When someone who's not a Canadian citizen is charged with a crime, the police give this information to CBSA.
Once you're , CBSA can prepare a report that says you may be .
The report can lead to an at the Immigration Division of the IRB. The Immigration Division can order that you be deported.
If this happens, you may be able to appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division of the IRB.
