Note: Under pressure from the PC Federal Government, the newly named Parole Board of Canada raised their Application Filing Fee from $50.00 to $150.00 as of December 29th, 2010. And they are now proposing to raise it to $631.00. For more information CLICK HERE:

Note: The RCMP, Parole Board, Courts and Local Police are experiencing major backlogs at this time due to the recent Federal Government changes in law regarding sexual offenders, and the proposed changes in eligibility requirements regarding sexual offenders and multiple Indictable offenders, and the proposed increase in the PBC Filing Fee.

Last updated 01/05/2012

Current Canada Pardon Application Processing Times

At this time, for biometrically submitted fingerprints with 1 to 3 Summary convictions, it is taking 6 to 8 months to assemble a Pardon application and courier it to the Parole Board of Canada, and then another 14+ months for the Parole Board to process the application, unless it is prioritized. Note: If your application has 4 or more Summary Convictions or 1 or more Indictable Convictions, it could take the RCMP up to 6 months to process your Certified Record (plus 3 to 4 months to obtain your Court and Local Police Records) and then it could take the PBC up to 16 months to grant you a Pardon. For Ink submitted fingerprints it is now taking the Ottawa RCMP between 6 and 8 months to process a Certified record, and if you have 4 or more convictions it can take them up to 12 months. If your record contains multiple Indictable convictions it can take up to 8 months for the RCMP to process your Certified Record, another 4 months to get all Court Records, and then another 14 months for the Parole Board to process the application, unless it is prioritized, which would then reduce the Parole Board processing time period by about 7 months. Unfortunately, there is no other way to speed up the Pardon process, no matter how much you pay.

Applications with only 1 to 3 Summary offenses (or 1 ten-plus year old Indictable offense) that are prepared by our office and have no recent charges on the applicant's Local Police Record Check, are usually processed by the PBC within 14 months, after the file is received by the PBC. Currently, the PCB is working on applications that were received between October and December of 2010. Note: Ink submitted fingerprints can add an additional 4 to 8 months onto the RCMP Certified Record processing time. Note: Emailing or calling our office (or the Ottawa RCMP or the PBC) will NOT help speed up the processing of your application. Note: The Ottawa RCMP are no longer responding to any update requests until after 6 full months have past after they received your fingerprints.

Please Note: These time-lines are based on what is happening right now. They are not in anyway a projection of what we expect to happen in the future. For this reason, we cannot say how long this process is going to take from this point. All we can tell you is that we still measure time in minutes, hours and sometimes days, but it seems all other government offices involved in this process are now measuring time in months.

Note: We recently confirmed that PBC staff are still working overtime and on weekends, in an effort to help reduce backlogs.

Please Note: The reason why the PBC is so bogged down with applications is because in July of last year the Harper Government made many changes to the application process, and proposed to not grant Pardons to certain people in the future, and they proposed to increase the filing fee by another $430.00. This has led to a huge increase in the number of people trying to get a Pardon ASAP, which is causing huge delays in obtaining a Pardon, as well as Certified Records, Court Records and Local Police Records. Another reason why the PBC is so bogged down is because every day they receive hundreds of applications that are not completed correctly, and many of them are from people who mistakenly believe they needed a Pardon in order to receive a Passport, and/or who in rushing their applications, make several errors and omissions in the process. Unfortunately, such applications end up in a huge "sludge pile" and it takes several months for the PBC to return those files, along with letters explaining some of the problems. However, the biggest problem is due to many complications regarding the recent changes in law regarding sexual, multiple and Indictable offenders, and the proposed changes in eligibility requirements regarding sexual offenders and multiple Indictable offenders, all following the Karla Homolka and Graham James scandals. For more information see: changes in eligibility requirements and new record suspension legislation.

Note: We have very good reason to believe that all Passports are now encoded with an FPS (FingerPrint Section) number if you have a criminal record on CPIC at the time your Passport is processed. To see an example of what happens when your Passport is scanned by US Customs CLICK HERE.

Current U.S. Waiver Application Processing Times

At this time, for biometrically submitted fingerprints, with 1 to 3 Summary convictions, it is taking 5 to 8 months to assemble a U.S. Waiver application, unless you have been pardoned, which can then reduce the time frame by 3 to 4 months. If you have 3 or more Summary convictions or any Indictable convictions on CPIC, it can take up to 10 months to assemble your Waiver application, along with Court Records. Processing times by U.S. Customs/Homeland Security can take anywhere between 7 to 10 months, largely depending on what you were convicted of.

Current U.S. Waiver Renewal Application Processing Times

Waiver Renewal applications with biometrically submitted fingerprints are now taking between 4 to 6 months to receive a Certified Record from the Ottawa RCMP, unless you have been pardoned, which can then reduce the time frame by 3 to 5 months. In addition to that time it is now taking between 3 and 6 months to process the application, after it is received by the ARO. Note: Ink submitted fingerprints are currently taking between 4 and 6 months to receive a Certified Record from the Ottawa RCMP, whether or not you have been pardoned.

Note: Emailing or calling our office (or the Ottawa RCMP) will NOT help speed up the processing of your Certified Record/CPIC Report, and emailing the ARO an update request after 3 full months does not speed up the processing time of your Waiver application, it only confirms that your application is being processed.

Note: Most US Waiver Applications are still being sent to a central processing facility (Admissibility Review Office) located in Herndon, VA. Due to this office's interpretation of existing Privacy Act Laws, this office no longer responds to our emailed update requests, and does not provide any other method of contact. Clients can submit an email update request after 3 months, and every 30 days after that time, however, such requests will NOT speed up the process, and are often ignored by the ARO. Note: The ARO is now saying it must be 90 days before follow-up update requests can be made. If you do not receive your Waiver Certificate after 6 full months, please contact our office and we will email you an inquiry form to forward to the ARO and formally request information as to the status of your application. (This service is reserved for our clients only).

Note: In 2008 Homeland Security increased the screening procedures and the required documents for all applicants who have been charged with multiple offenses and any indictable offense(s) within the last 15 years. If you were convicted of illegal drug possession, sexual assault, assault, theft over $1000, fraud or any indictable offense(s) or crimes involving moral turpitude within the last 15 years you will most likely receive a letter from the ARO instructing you to submit Certified Court and Police Records for all convictions, within 87 days, or else your application will be forfeited. Our fee to obtain Certified Court and Police records is $60 each (plus GST) plus per-page court transcript fees (if required).

Note: On November 23rd, 2010 Homeland Security increased the I-192 Department of State Filing Fee from $545.00 USD to $585.00 USD. Some US Customs offices are also still charging a $70.00 cash only fee for FBI biometric fingerprinting, and many offices are now charging a $6.00 Document Processing Fee when they complete your Arrival & Departure Record. Note: Since July of 2007 all first time applicants have only received a 1-Year Waiver Certificate, and many Waiver Renewal applicants who have Indictable offences within the last 10 years are only receiving a 1 or 2 year Waiver Certificate. For Currency Exchange Rates Click Here.