# So what does it mean that having a criminal record can "spoil travel plans"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411 "2015-12-14T12:56:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/21 "2015-12-14T21:10:26Z")
Fingerprinted? I was fingerprinted when I was applying for a visa to spend a year in Switzerland. I presume they used it to search for a criminal record. Now I would have to say I have been fingerprinted? I once called 9-1-1 because someone parked in my driveway. Does this also mean I am in their database? This is absurd. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/22 "2015-12-14T21:32:48Z")
You called 911 because someone parked in your driveway? Since when is that a police emergency? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/23 "2015-12-14T23:30:54Z")
Last summer, I got my US passport stamped in eleven countries, and I was never asked anything by anybody. In some cases, I never even saw the immigration officer – passports were collected on the train or bus, and disappeared, and came back later and handed back to the passengers. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/24 "2015-12-15T01:57:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Last summer, I got my US passport stamped in eleven countries, and I was never asked anything by anybody. In some cases, I never even saw the immigration officer – passports were collected on the train or bus, and disappeared, and came back later and handed back to the passengers. If you were part of a tour group then probably the tour guides filled some forms for you and ticked no on the box asking if you had a criminal record. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/25 "2015-12-15T02:10:26Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > You called 911 because someone parked in your driveway? Since when is that a police emergency? In a lot of areas if you call the non-emergency number for the police department, they will instruct you to call 911 for dispatch. I’d always call the non-emergency number first but it’s not unheard of to have to call 911 for an issue that requires a police officer go to your location. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/26 "2015-12-15T02:27:57Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > If you were part of a tour group then probably the tour guides filled some forms for you and ticked no on the box asking if you had a criminal record. In some 25 countries, I can’t recall ever being asked if I had a criminal record. It may have been asked on some of the more complex visas, but I don’t think it’s come up when I’ve gone to visa-on-arrival places. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/27 "2015-12-15T02:44:08Z")
Although it’s not like Canada actually asks if you have a criminal record either; they just look it up when they run your info. Other countries might do the same, although presumably they don’t have access to as much data as the Canadian authorities have on US citizens. A law abiding globetrotter wouldn’t really know which countries are or aren’t checking. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/28 "2015-12-15T03:29:46Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Could you please share information on this . . . I have a friend who would like to be able to get back into Canada. Would they need to hire a Canada lawyer? Or could they fill out paperwork themselves. No idea, I’m afraid; I don’t know anything about the rules or process for getting permission to enter. Good starting point is likely this website from Citizenship and Immigration Canada: [Determine if you are inadmissible](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/infORmation/inadmissibility/index.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/29 "2015-12-15T03:38:29Z")
Japan refuses entry to anyone with a felony conviction, as Russell Brand learned when he and then-wife Katy Perry arrived there for her scheduled concert. He had some sort of drug conviction and was turned back. Not sure, but I think Thailand has something similar, but there are so many foreign criminals running around this place that they obviously don’t check that closely. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/30 "2015-12-15T04:33:49Z")
I’ve heard recently that Panama has been denying entry to those with a criminal record. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/31 "2015-12-15T05:27:14Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > If you were part of a tour group then probably the tour guides filled some forms for you and ticked no on the box asking if you had a criminal record. I was not. I was traveling alone, just lining up in the queue. I was never given a form to fill out, anywhere. Nor asked any questions at all. Not even a question entering Ukraine, which was sort of at war at the time, and immigration officers were in camo. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/32 "2015-12-15T08:54:53Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Could you please share information on this . . . I have a friend who would like to be able to get back into Canada. Would they need to hire a Canada lawyer? Or could they fill out paperwork themselves. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > No idea, I’m afraid; I don’t know anything about the rules or process for getting permission to enter. > > Good starting point is likely this website from Citizenship and Immigration Canada: > > [Determine if you are inadmissible](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/infORmation/inadmissibility/index.asp) IIRC, that page’s questionaries don’t just give a pass-fail but also the reasons why. Your friend may want to take that information and contact the Canadian embassy with it when he asks about what is to dot and what ts to cross; I’ve found most embassies very helpful whenever I contacted them asking for information on their countries’ entry processes (well, most of the ones I’ve contacted, which isn’t exactly the UN roster). ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/33 "2015-12-15T21:09:18Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > No idea, I’m afraid; I don’t know anything about the rules or process for getting permission to enter. > > Good starting point is likely this website from Citizenship and Immigration Canada: > > [Determine if you are inadmissible](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/infORmation/inadmissibility/index.asp) A guy I used to work with told me a story of how many years ago he had to go to Canada for a training, but hadn’t realized an old DUI would be a problem at the border. The border agents were able to give him some sort of temporary rehabilitation permit thing for $200. As far as he could tell, his temporary rehabilitation consisted _entirely_ of paying $200. If it had been a border guard in almost any other country, he would have been pretty sure it was a bribe. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/34 "2015-12-15T22:20:18Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Fingerprinted? I was fingerprinted when I was applying for a visa to spend a year in Switzerland. I presume they used it to search for a criminal record. Now I would have to say I have been fingerprinted? I was fingerprinted a number of times when I worked in the banking industry. I was told the prints are sent to the FBI. I wonder if they are still on file - I was laid off in 1999. ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/35 "2015-12-16T05:16:52Z")
Not a lot of chance visiting Australia if you’ve spent twelve months in jail. You could try and lie your way into Australia however get caught and you obviously failed the good character test. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/36 "2015-12-17T01:17:16Z")
There are lots of reasons to be fingerprinted. When I worked a government job back in the 1980s, I had to be fingerprinted as part of an FBI clearance. The wife had to be fingerprinted just to renew her US visa this past time, and I was fingerprinted the last time I entered Japan 2-1/2 years ago (although that was just a single finger). I think they’re planning to start fingerprinting all foreigners entering Thailand soon too. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/37 "2015-12-17T02:35:38Z")
The US fingerprints foreigners when entering even from a visa waiver country (Australia) and so does Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/38 "2015-12-17T03:26:06Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The difference is, in Canada before Harper’s Law-and-Order obsession, you could get a pardon if you kept your nose clean for 5 years after the sentence was up. A pardon meant you could honestly answer “no” for the question “do you have a criminal record?” the only Law and Order question that could be asked on an employment application (plus “are you bondable?”) > > The US border guards can ask “have you ever been arrested?” or “have you ever been fingerprinted?” (Which makes me think their records access includes the Canadian fingerprint databases) . You can’t really answer “You have no right to ask that” because (a) they do and (b) being uncooperative will get you denied too. And an expungement for criminal law purposes doesn’t mean the conviction is wiped out for U.S. immigration law purposes. You still have to answer “yes” to the question about whether you have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime, and if you don’t answer truthfully and you are caught, that’s fraud - another ding against you, possibly worse than the ding for whatever the conviction was for. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/39 "2015-12-17T03:27:08Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The US fingerprints foreigners when entering even from a visa waiver country (Australia) and so does Japan. I was fingerprinted in April on entering Panama as a tourist. IIRC they were fingerprinting everyone, not just U.S. citizens as tit-for-tat. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411/40 "2015-12-17T06:12:36Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > And an expungement for criminal law purposes doesn’t mean the conviction is wiped out for U.S. immigration law purposes. You still have to answer “yes” to the question about whether you have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime, and if you don’t answer truthfully and you are caught, that’s fraud - another ding against you, possibly worse than the ding for whatever the conviction was for. Yes, the pardon was only useful for employment application purposes. Different rules apply at the border. When the USA went to the fingerprint scans, the only foreigners exempt were Mexicans and Canadians, as a result of NAFTA. I have heard of several other countries (Brazil comes to mind) who have imposed a reciprocal tit-for-tat arrangement where US citizens are fingerprinted. A large number also retaliate for the cost offloads - if the USA or Canada charges $X for our citizens to get a visitor’s visa, we will charge the same amount for them to visit here… IIRC it was $60 for a Turkish entry visa for Canadians, but $30 for EU citizens… Brazil and Argentina IIRC also charge these reciprocal fees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-does-it-mean-that-having-a-criminal-record-can-spoil-travel-plans/740411.md?page=3)