Teavelling out of the USA with a bench warrant

[johnipedestran]

very interesting. I have not had occasion to travel outside of the country since 9/11, but I do have one DUI a misdemeanor mj possesion charge. The DUI was from 1990, possesion charge a couple years later. Am i getting rejected at the border if I want to go to Canada?

peace
jip

 

[Buddle]

I don't know jip? They didn't run my passport.It was a drive thru customs in upstate NY..peace

 

[randude101]

very interesting. I have not had occasion to travel outside of the country since 9/11, but I do have one DUI a misdemeanor mj possesion charge. The DUI was from 1990, possesion charge a couple years later. Am i getting rejected at the border if I want to go to Canada?

peace
jip

John, Yes.

 

[osirica420]

I got a warrant for arrest , i spoke to my lawyer and he said the warrant is local only. As long as i enter the USA from a far enough location there will be NO problem entering, there will be no arrest...

 

[420oclock]

very interesting. I have not had occasion to travel outside of the country since 9/11, but I do have one DUI a misdemeanor mj possesion charge. The DUI was from 1990, possesion charge a couple years later. Am i getting rejected at the border if I want to go to Canada?

peace
jip

A friend of mine flew to Canada to attend a dinner where he was going to receive an award. Going through Canadian customs/immigration he was turned away because of a very old cannabis arrest for which he had received probation. His record was otherwise clean.

Eventually, the organization that was sponsoring the dinner showed up and offered to do whatever to clear his entry, but he was so pissed off by then that he just said F@ck You Canada and came home.

 

[jm420]

8 months + aint no misdemeanor maybe they were,but a no show is a felony.I know a guy whos still locked down for trying to cross the border .good luck

 

[BigWillyDee]

you`ll never have a problem never ever ever know matter what anyone says if they are truly state warrants issued for misdemeaners and your crossing the border by land (walking, bus, or driving (if your paperwork is in order)) to canada or mexico. border crossings are federal so if its a federal warrant and they actually run your passport (50\50 shot) you will be detained 100% no matter where the warrant was issued and thats anywhere in the world thats hooked up to fbi and interpol database. im not to sure if you can board a plane with an active state warrant youll have to look into that....i dont fly.....
im sure about the by land crossing though

 

[BigWillyDee]

but when the passport card becomes universal everything will be hooked up.... only federal warrants are attached to passports as of know

 

[Eternaldust7]

BigWilly - I've actually done this. I've got a bench warrant from several years ago that has still not been dropped, also for a misdemeanor and have traveled outside the US since then. Valid US Passport from before that period of time. My recommendation would be to not use air transportation through a major airport near where those warrants are from. I was going to go back to visit about 75mi away from where my bench warrant was and I was given a heads up from a friend in the LE community that his friends would be awaiting my arrival.

 

[BigWillyDee]

BigWilly - I've actually done this. I've got a bench warrant from several years ago that has still not been dropped, also for a misdemeanor and have traveled outside the US since then. Valid US Passport from before that period of time. My recommendation would be to not use air transportation through a major airport near where those warrants are from. I was going to go back to visit about 75mi away from where my bench warrant was and I was given a heads up from a friend in the LE community that his friends would be awaiting my arrival.

waiting for your arrival seems a bit personal, you must have been done something to get there attention...

 

[Croissant]

they wont let you into Canada... Unless you cross at a small check point not BC in the middle of the night durring a really big snowstorm maybe. Other than that you can go to Mexico and travel south, thats your best bet really. You can probably go to Europe too. Try getting a travel visa and see what happens But avoid the Canadian border and dont fly into either.

 

[Senor_Bueno]

I tryed going to Canada 4 years after coming home from prison for Dist. of small amount of weed and they wouldnt let me cross over. Bush's rules they said.

 

[h&r]

A warrant may have no SoL but in major cities sometimes they have so many warrants at once they tend to prune the database or possibly during an upgrade they lose em.

Happens all the time.

 

[artvandilay]

oh dear

oh dear

This thread is old but i felt the need to post because of such wrong information and advise being dissed out. I stumbled across this searching about bench warrants and in case any others are still coming across this here is some things to know.

Bench warrants do disappear they have expiration dates and it is up to the issuing court to renew them or not. for example in my state the limit is 3 years and then they review it and decide to forget it or not depending on the severity.

and also bench warrants are rarely entered into the NCIC database especially for misdemeanors.

I just got back from vacation to the bahamas and french island st maartin, went through customs and checks plenty of times in and out of the US with a bench warrant, nothing happened.

Hell I got the passport with the bench warrant out and have even been pulled over with a bench warrant a county over back home and the bench warrant didnt come up.

So from my experience if you have a bench warrant for something like a fine review or ticket or low low stuff it won't come up. but if its an arrest warrant or a felony bench warrant do not attempt travel.