by Voletear » Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:22 pm
Well, I've looked into Canada's 'procedure' for addressing this and, let me tell you, it's a doozie. They take your 250$ (I think that was the amount, anyway) and, if they decide to turn you down they just keep it. Yeah, and it takes over a year for them to do it. There are people who say they will do it for you for $750 and get it quicker but Canada is warning of scams in this regard. You must also gather all the records involved in your case no matter how old. In my case, the county involved (in another state) "archived" all records "that old" and for them to dig through the basement for them would have cost big-time.
The worst part of all this is they're supposed to let you in if 5 years has elapsed, 10 if there's more than one. But the agent has the power to over-ride that, I guess, since it's been over 25 years in my case.
I know they have to be on the lookout for terrorists and such but this is hurting a lot of good people (it's not just the one they deny entry to but friends, family, and, especially - kids) and you'd think with all the money and technology going in up there that they could come up with a system that was a little more selective in who they do this to.