How Long Does a Pardon Take in Canada?

A Record Suspension (Pardon) typically takes 6 months to process for summary offences and up to 12 months for indictable offences, based on Parole Board of Canada (PBC) service standards. When you factor in the time it takes to gather fingerprints, court documents, and police records before you can even submit your application, most applicants should expect the full process — start to finish — to take 12 to 18 months.

Below, we break down exactly where that time goes, what can slow things down, and how to avoid the most common delays.

Official Parole Board of Canada Processing Times

Application Type

Processing Time

Summary offence(s)

Indictable offence(s) Within 12 months of acceptance

Within 6 months of acceptance

What Happens Before the Clock Even Starts

Before submission of the application to PBC, the following documents will need to be gathered:

  • RCMP-certified fingerprints — required to pull your official criminal record

  • Court documents — original charges, disposition, and sentence for every conviction, obtained from each courthouse involved

  • Local police records checks — from every city or town you've lived in over the past 5 years

  • Proof that all sentence conditions are complete — including any fines, surcharges, or restitution paid in full

Work With Us

What Can Delay Your Application

  • Incomplete applications are returned rather than processed, adding months to your total wait

  • Outstanding fines or surcharges — the waiting period doesn't even begin until every sentence condition is fully paid

  • Errors in fingerprint submissions, which the RCMP will reject and require resubmission

  • Multiple convictions across jurisdictions, requiring more documents from more sources

FAQs

  • No — your eligibility waiting period (5 years for summary offences, 10 years for indictable offences) must be fully complete before you apply. However, you can and should start gathering your documents in advance so you're ready to submit the moment you're eligible.

  • The Parole Board's own review timeline doesn't change, they assess every application against the same 6- or 12-month standard regardless of who submits it. Where a service can genuinely save time is everywhere before that: we stay in direct correspondence with courts, police services, and the RCMP to follow up on outstanding fingerprints, court documents, and record checks — pushing for faster turnaround on the paperwork that often causes the longest delays. Combined with submitting a complete, error-free application, this helps avoid the setbacks that add months to an applicant's total wait.

  • The PBC asks applicants not to request status updates until the standard timeline for their case (6, 12, or 24 months) has already passed.

  • Incomplete applications. A missing document or an unpaid surcharge is the most common reason a straightforward case ends up taking far longer than expected.