www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I was told a story today that made me wonder if any of you have had or delt with a similar situation.

My Buddy's Brother was returning from a wedding and was using his GPS to lead him home. His Garmin travels led him to the Canadian boarder where they ran his pass-port and then started questioning him about past run in's with the police. They asked him if he had ever been arrested where he proclaimed that he had not. The Canadian boarder patrol claimed Bull Shit and asked him to try again. Well, This guy thought for a minute and then told them that he had gotten a DUI conviction 22 years ago. They then asked him what he blew into the breathalizer of which he could not remember. They told him how much he blew and then asked him if that was the only time he had been arrested. It ended up that he had gotten another DUI 30 years ago.

The point of this story is that his DUI was a mistameaner (sp) in the USA and a felony in Canada. Canadians do not allow felons to travel into there country. This guy told the agent that he was not aware of the law in Canada and that he was willing to just get back into the car and head back into America. Nope,,,,,, That was not good enough and the detained him and his wife for several hours. The condition of their release was that they had to sign a document stating that they would never enter Canada again, and if they do come back to Canada, they will be arrested on the spot.

Now it gets better.......... They would be allowed to go into Canada if they got a statement from the police officers that arrested him 22 and 30 years ago, but it had to state that he was a model citizen and that he was no longer a threat to society.

My question to you guys is this. Have you heard of anything like this when trying to get into CR? Also, I have been charged with a DUI back in 1996 and was wondering what the charge is for DUI in CR? It would suck if we were to get all the way down there and just get put on the next plane home because of something foolish that I (we) did in the past (minus a real serious crime)

Thanks for the assistance.

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LT

I would not worry about it. I have traveled to Costa Rica and by not means am I a model citizen. +the serious prison time. If you want to be sure call the Costa Rica consulates office here in the states.

No need to worry. CR is a safe haven for criminals. Seriously. Many people running from the law end up in CR.

I used to work in the travel industry. Yes this is an issue with Americans traveling to Canada. If you have a DUI, you may be refused entry and/or detained. We had to warn our customers that if they had any DUI's they needed to check with the Canadian consulate before they went. And even that was no guarantee, the border officials have discretion.

Never heard of this being a problem going into Mexico or anywhere in Central/South America. Only Canada.

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Man I'm living life like a great white shark swimming with minnows! It's all about panocha, great scotch, fine cigars, loud-ass rock music and speed, speed, speed - plus spending as much time as possible in paradise on earth, Costa Rica!

Only if there is a warrant on you from INTERPOL I think. I know several guys with outstanding warrants in the states that are here and had no problems getting into CR. Although they better be careful. Old Joe Arpaio might come looking.


the DR


<-------OG hiding guys in the basement.......

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“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity"

As big brother becomes bigger, look for a situation like that to become more the norm, however, I do not believe CR has interlinked Dbs that would provide such ancillary criminal history info, ...yet. However, they may have active crime info accessible when you enter the country, but chances are they would get you in the U.S. before you ever left. 9/11 caused all police agencies to want to have this and in the end, they will have it, it just takes time to work out all the data sharing agreements between countries.


However, depending upon where your friend got busted, he could have had the whole bloody mess expunged or dismissed after the probationary period in some jurisdictions. He should look into this, so that it does not hinder him in the future.

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“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” And we are the guys that keep them in Eggs & Grits

There is no such thing as a felony or misdemeanor in Canada. They are called indictable and summary offences. But DUI is a very light charge in every province in Canada. Only after multiple offences would you possibly serve time. However I have heard this before about the border situation for Americans with misdemeanors trying to gain access to Canada. I have no doubt your story is true.

There is a thing called CPIC in Canada and Canadian LE have access to the records of every American, even juvenile records. You will be denied entry if you were caught shoplifting in the United States when you were 14 years old.

That sucks. Oddly enough, once you in Canada you can commit a large amount of crimes and get little to no punishment for it.

The horror that I will never be able to go north..

This replicates my experience in every way. I had planned to retire to Vancouver and so traveled there in 2005. Got held in Immigration for 6 hours and then put on a plane back to Seattle (Can. Govt. expense). Thus I discovered Costa Rica.

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

The Canada DUI rule is true... I have been with friends that got sent back at the boarder

I did run into a guy from Scotland at the SL, He had come to Costa Rica on biz for a few weeks

He had to clear customs in MIA enroute to SJO... he was denied entry to the USA for a minor drug thing that was 12 years prior.... had to return to London and re- book the trip though Spain to avoid the US... He had to get to SJO and it cost his boss 4000 for the only ticket availible

So if you are not a US citizen you may run into trouble if you have a stop over in the US....Do not know why the US does not have quaritined area for traveles just passing threw

Canada and the US exchange information on criminal offenses. That is not the case with CR.

BTW, the US will also not let Canadians in who have had DUI convictions (it falls under their criteria of a "Crime of Moral Turpitude"), so it's not a case of Canada doing something that the US won't. It's bullshit from both a Canadian and a US perspective really. I once got pulled off a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale and "escorted" out of the country for a minor crime I did over 25 years ago. What really sucks is that as part of my job, I had been flying in and out of the states for years, with no problems, but because this was a cruise, the border cops in FL had the passenger list well in advance and they did a deep background check on everyone. And now, because they flagged me on that one check, I can no longer travel to the US without a waiver. Doesn't matter that I have received a pardon for that crime, nor that I never even had to do any time for it way back when. They seem to think that a citizen who has security clearances to work in aviation and who has not even gotten a parking ticket in the last 20+ years is a danger to their country because of some stupid mistake he made during a bachelor party 25 years ago. But they will let any asshole in as a refugee, who has a good sob story and no background history... as long as they are the right color

To add insult to injury, the waiver needed to travel thru the US takes up to a year to get and can cost as high as $5000 by the time you pay for the forms and the lawyer fees... and it only lasts for 3 years!

So, I have written the US off... they will never see my shadow again , nor a cent of my money. Their loss. They can keep building the walls higher and higher for all I care. I enjoy the world. The US can rot in isolation and paranoia... with their two-bit AA credit rating, lol.

Gee, can you tell you started a topic that hits a nerve with me?

It is a bullshit rule,but i'm glad it works both ways.
I have seen many loud obnoxious canadians in vegas who think the law does not apply to them.You would think that the countries that share such information would be able to refine it so misdemeaners would not count.

as a follow up
are the rules applied to everyone the same?
we have a lot of tourists from canada-doubt they all have squeaky clean records.
How does it apply to our govt. officials and atheletes who we know dont have clean records.
Like i said previously its a bullshit rule for both countries.