Can you go to Canada with a DUI? The old answer stopped being true
This is the single most asked question about life after a conviction, and most of what circulates predates a rule change. The border does not care what a forum said in 2015.
A DUI can make you inadmissible to Canada
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada treats a conviction for impaired driving — by alcohol or by drugs, including cannabis — as grounds for inadmissibility on serious criminality, whether the offense happened in Canada or anywhere else.
18 December 2018
The date matters more than anything else. Tougher penalties took effect on 18 December 2018, and offenses committed before that are assessed under the rules in force at the time: they may count as ordinary criminality rather than serious criminality, which is what makes the familiar ten-year route possible.
Deemed rehabilitation
Deemed rehabilitation is the automatic path people mean when they say “after ten years it stops mattering”. It applies at a port of entry only if you had a single conviction, at least ten years have passed since every part of the sentence was completed, the offense is not considered serious in Canada, and it involved no serious property damage, physical harm or weapon.
Individual rehabilitation
Individual rehabilitation is the application route, and it opens five years after the end of the sentence — including probation — or five years after the act itself. Routine applications take six months or more, so it is not something to start the week before a trip.
Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Convicted of driving while impaired and IRCC, Deemed rehabilitation, checked 2026-08-30. Canada advises getting assessed by a consulate before traveling rather than testing it at the border, where a refusal can bring enforcement action rather than a polite turnaround.
Where it reaches your working life
The conviction does its damage in specific places rather than everywhere at once, and the first of them is anything that involves driving for a living.
Commercial driving
The commercial limit is half the ordinary one — 0.04% — and it applies while operating a commercial vehicle regardless of what your personal license allows. In Texas a commercial driver who violates the limit faces sanctions on top of the ordinary penalties, and California reports a DUI conviction on a commercial record for fifty-five years.
Anything requiring a background check
A criminal check and a motor vehicle report are separate products. Employers hiring drivers usually order both, which is why a case that looks quiet in one place is plainly visible in another.
Getting the license back at all
Before any employer sees anything, reinstatement itself has conditions: an interlock in most states, an insurance filing for two to three years, and a fee. Missing any one of them keeps the suspension in place regardless of how the court case ended.
Military service, nursing, teaching and security clearances each run their own review, and those are decided by the body that issues the license or clearance rather than by the court. What that body sees is the record — so how long the record lasts matters more than the sentence did. How long it stays →
Travel and career questions
Can you go to Canada with a DUI?
Often not without dealing with it first. Canada treats a conviction for impaired driving as grounds for inadmissibility, whether the offense happened in Canada or elsewhere. There are routes back in — deemed rehabilitation, individual rehabilitation, or a temporary resident permit — but arriving at the border and hoping is how people get turned around.
I had a DUI 10 years ago — can I go to Canada?
That depends on when the offense was committed, not only on how long ago. Canada tightened impaired-driving penalties on 18 December 2018 and assesses earlier offenses under the rules in force at the time, which is what makes the ten-year deemed rehabilitation route possible for them. For offenses committed after that date the offense is treated as serious criminality, and the automatic ten-year route does not apply.
How long after a DUI can you go to Canada?
Individual rehabilitation can be applied for five years after the end of the sentence, including probation, or five years after the act itself. Applications routinely take six months or more, so the practical answer is that this is planned months ahead rather than days.
Can you get a CDL with a DUI?
The commercial limit is 0.04% — half the ordinary one — and a conviction reaches a commercial record far harder than a personal one: California reports it for fifty-five years. Whether you can hold or regain the license depends on your state and on how many offenses there are, but the record itself does not fade the way an ordinary one does.
Will a DUI show up when an employer checks?
A criminal check and a motor vehicle report are different products, bought separately. An employer hiring drivers usually orders both, so the answer for driving jobs is almost always yes, and for other roles it depends on which check was ordered.
Whether it counts as a felony → Getting the license back →
Attorney advertising. InterlockDeviceNearMe is not a law firm, does not practice law, and does not give legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Requesting a consultation connects you with an independent attorney or a legal referral service, who decide separately whether to take your case. Case outcomes depend on facts we do not know, and no result is ever promised. Deadlines in DUI cases are short and vary by state — speak to a licensed attorney in your state before relying on anything you read here.