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Entering Canada after a DUI: TRP & rehabilitation fees in CAD

A DUI conviction follows a driver across one border in particular. Canada treats impaired driving as serious criminality for immigration purposes, which makes a US DUI holder inadmissible until they use one of the published routes back in. This page prices those routes from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's published fee figures — in Canadian dollars, labelled as such, and never converted into a US-dollar total.

Why a misdemeanour DUI bars entry to Canada

Canadian inadmissibility is assessed against the Canadian equivalent offence and the maximum penalty it carries, not against how the US state graded the case. Since December 18, 2018, most impaired-driving offences map to serious criminality under section 36(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, as IRCC's own help-centre guidance states — with two practical consequences IRCC publishes alongside it. First, the temporary resident permit fee waiver that exists for some criminality cases is expressly unavailable for serious criminality, including most impaired-driving offences. Second, deemed rehabilitation — the automatic route that once restored admissibility with the passage of time for lesser offences — does not cure a post-2018 impaired-driving inadmissibility. A driver who assumes an old or minor DUI will simply be waved through is relying on rules that no longer apply to this offence.

Two paid routes remain, and IRCC publishes a fee for each. A temporary resident permit (TRP) is the short-term route: an officer may issue one where the traveller's reason for entering is considered justified in the circumstances and the traveller does not pose a risk, it can be issued for up to three years, and it does not remove the inadmissibility — each new period of travel needs its own authority. Individual criminal rehabilitation is the permanent route: once approved, the conviction no longer makes the traveller inadmissible unless they offend again, but it is available only after at least five years have passed since the end of the criminal sentence — every part of it, including probation and payment of fines — and IRCC warns the applications can take over a year to process. The fees differ by classification, which is why the table keeps the two rehabilitation rows separate.

The published Canadian fees, in Canadian dollars

Every figure in the table is a Canadian government processing fee in Canadian dollars, taken from IRCC's published fee list as reproduced in current Canadian immigration references. IRCC's older help-centre pages still display a C$200 TRP figure in places; the current fee-list figure is C$246.25, and that discrepancy is flagged here rather than hidden, because a traveller budgeting from the older page would understate the fee. Processing fees are not refunded if an application is refused. Legal help with either application is a private professional fee with no published schedule, and this page does not estimate it — nor does it convert any Canadian figure into US dollars, since the exchange rate is not a government fee.

Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): help-centre guidance on criminal inadmissibility and the TRP fee waiver (qnum=142 and qnum=143), and the IRCC fee list figures for temporary resident permits, criminal rehabilitation and biometrics, as reproduced in current Canadian immigration references. All amounts are Canadian dollars. Last verified: October 2026.

What no authority publishes for the Canada route

IRCC publishes processing fees, not outcomes: no source named here publishes approval rates, a total cost of either application route, or a price for the legal help most applicants buy. Travel lost to a refusal at the border — fares, bookings, missed events — is case-specific and unpublished. This page also prices nothing on the US side of the conviction itself; the fines, programme and licence components of the underlying DUI are in the state breakdowns and in our out-of-state DUI guide, which covers how a conviction travels between US states under the interstate compacts — a different system from Canadian inadmissibility, and not a substitute for it.

The budget a DUI holder should carry into Canada planning is therefore short and exact: C$246.25 for a temporary resident permit application, or C$246.25 to C$1,231.00 for criminal rehabilitation depending on classification, plus C$85 biometrics where required — each non-refundable, each in Canadian dollars, and each buying a decision rather than a guarantee. Confirm the current fee on IRCC's fee list before paying, because Canadian processing fees are revised periodically and the older C$200 figure still circulates on official help pages.

Common questions

Can you enter Canada with a DUI?

Not as of right. Since December 18, 2018 most impaired driving is serious criminality under Canadian immigration law, making the driver inadmissible unless a temporary resident permit is issued or criminal rehabilitation is approved.

How much does a temporary resident permit cost?

C$246.25 per person on IRCC's current fee list. Some IRCC help-centre pages still show C$200; the fee-list figure is the current one.

How much does criminal rehabilitation cost after a DUI?

C$1,231.00 where the inadmissibility is for serious criminality, which covers most post-December 2018 impaired driving, and C$246.25 for the lesser criminality classification — plus C$85 biometrics where required.

Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada help-centre guidance (qnum=142, qnum=143) and IRCC fee list; Immigration and Refugee Protection Act s. 36. All amounts are Canadian dollars. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.