The Criminal Records Act specifies that a Record Suspension application undertakes a ten-step legal process – although not every step is applicable to every application. Generally speaking, the timeline from start to finish takes between 6 to 12 months, depending on the nature of the criminal offense(s) and the number of dispositions (locations) in which the applicant was charged or convicted in court. After this timeline, the application is submitted to the Parole Board of Canada for their independent review and decision on the application. This timeline itself can average 4-8 months or longer, depending on the seriousness of the criminal record and other factors. Therefore, the total timeline from start to finish for a Criminal Record Suspension can vary between 10-20 months or longer for very serious records.
