When Are You Eligible For A Pardon
There are a number of factors that may affect your eligibility, including how recent your last criminal offence was, how serious the offence was, what kind of sentence you received, and whether or not you were required to pay any fines or restitutions.
The Key Points of Pardon Eligibility:
- You become eligible to file a pardon when 3, 5 or 10 years have elapsed since the completion of any sentence imposed for your last conviction.
- For most summary offences, the wait period is 3 years. Summary offences are minor offences, in which a jury was not required and the case was processed "summarily".
- For most indictable offences, the wait period is 5 years. Indictable offences are serious offences, in which the trail proceeded by "indictment" and may have involved a jury of your peers
- For serious indictable offences involving personal injury for which 2 years or more of jail time was sentenced, and for certain serious sexual offences, the eligibility wait is 10 years.
- You want to apply for a pardon up to a year prior to your eligibility date. Your eligibility date is the day you become eligible to have your pardoned filed. There is much work to be done on your application before you need to be eligibile.
Was Your Last Offence Summary or Indictable?
In the Canadian criminal code, some offences are automatically summary, some are automatically indictable, but most are hyrbid. A hybrid offence means that the crown can elect to proceed summarily or by indictment depending on the circumstances of your criminal offence. It can be difficult to know whether an offence was summary or indictable based only on the nature of the crime.
Fortunately, you dont have to worry about knowing your exact date of eligibility. Express Pardons confirms your exact eligibility as part of our Pardon Process. We take all the work out of your hands, and we guarantee most pardons, so you can sit back and relax.
For now, you just need to know if you are close enough to get your pardon application started today. Remember, if you find any of this information confusing, or if you are just not sure, request a free consultation at the bottom of this page.
Take a look at the following chart. Even if your last conviction doesn't appear on the list, you can probably guess where it would fit in based on how serious it was.
Common Offences
| Summary Offences: 2 Years Then Apply | Indictable Offences: 4 Years Then Apply |
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Have You Paid Your Fines?
Part of the rule of eligibility requires that you complete all of your sentences. The National Parole Board considers fines to be part of your sentence. That means it must be at least 2 or 4 years since you paid your fine before you can apply for a Canadian pardon.
Fortunately, there is a limitation on how far back the board will check applications made through Express Pardons. Once 15 years have passed, we are not required to demonstrate that you paid the fine. If you have an outstanding fine, but the charge was close to 15 years ago, you can apply through Express Pardons right now.
If you are close to being eligible, the application process though Express Pardons takes only five minutes by toll-free telephone or through our secure online application form. Not convinced? Take another look at the reasons why you should apply through Express Pardons for your Canadian pardon.
Still unsure if you are eligible? With a free consultation, a dedicated Express Pardons agent will ask questions that will allow us to evaluate your date of eligibility.
