r/canadaguns • u/AutoModerator • 19d ago

Recurring Canadaguns Politics and Debate Thread

Please post all your Gun Politics or Ban-related ideas, questions, initiatives, comments, suggestions, news articles, and recommendations in this thread. This thread recurs every 14 days.

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Keep this Canadian gun politics related and polite. Off-topic stuff, flame wars, negative generalizations against groups, personal attacks and gate-keeping will be removed. Please flag any comments to bring to the attention of mods otherwise exercise your upvoting and downvoting ability.

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u/StalkerRigo 19d ago

My career will take me to Canada soon. Do you guys know how bad is the waiting time to get a PAL if you're a foreigner? I'll try doing the courses and tests all as soon as I'm able to.

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u/Eglitarian 19d ago

From my understanding part of your background check will involve the RCMP contacting the government you’re a citizen of and it will depend on their stance on your ownership of firearms as well.

Chinese citizens (even if PRs in Canada) for example have a difficult time because of this.

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u/SurtseyHuginn 19d ago

I can confirm because that's what I went through 7 years ago. Gotta get some background check from your country of origins. Also you if the referal you provide are not using canadian phone numbers, it's likely that they will have to call the rcmp instead of the opposite.

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u/StalkerRigo 19d ago

thank you both, guess its a matter of waiting then

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u/Dill_Pickle_Tears 19d ago edited 19d ago

Should be the same realistically for a newcomer as a citizen. You’re mainly just limited by 28 day mandatory wait time for the PAL processing with the RCMP

ETA: I was NOT aware of differences in wait times depending on what country you’re from, so take my comment with a grain of salt

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u/StalkerRigo 19d ago

interesting, thx!

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u/98-civic-si 19d ago

Took my dad around a year

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u/StalkerRigo 18d ago

oof, better find a hobby to past the time then...

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u/98-civic-si 18d ago

To be fair im a citizen and it still took something like 9 months. Me my brother and father all went at the same time, my brother got his a month or two before me, i got mine around 9 months after submitting it, and my father something around 3 months after. Getting your pal takes some time in canada

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u/gamercast1337 18d ago

Sorry to hear youll be coming to canada. At least your career sounds like it would pay decently well so you may be able to avoid the permanent depression fhat accompanies being the underclass that is unable to afford anything and yet still expected to participate in society.

Dont have any knowledge for the wait time for a foreigner but id imagine the same if not longer than a citizen. For me and most people I knew it was like 6 months to a year. This was during covid and we only slightly harassed the firearms team to speed it up ao use that info however you want.

I do however recommend getting an SKS, a shotgun (maverick 88 if budget, something like a 590 if you got deep pockets) and a 22 once you got your license. Thats essentially the trifecta of a leaf gun owners collection now lmao. Good luck sir.

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u/StalkerRigo 18d ago

Thank you! I am privileged in how my career turned out, and I know it. Canada will be better than Brazil for an engineer, but I feel when people complain about the economy. We here lived forever in what you call a crisis, and it sucks. I see everyday the social consequences and its not pretty. I hope to see Canada overcome that. I really want to move and stay, not hop from country to country.

And you can bet, the moment I get my PAL, tons of shotguns, SKSs and 22s are incoming.

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u/gamercast1337 18d ago

Dont let any of the people on this sub convince you otherwise, we arent fixing the issues here, it will be nonstop crisis. Within 20 years (if that) youll step outside your door and wonder if you ever left Brazil the way things are going here. 

Lucky you with a good sounding job, means you can spend a lot on guns. Just spend wisely things tend to get banned here . And be sure to buy ammo too, dont be the guy with a 5k set up and like 28 rounds lol

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u/StalkerRigo 17d ago

Yeah I've been keeping an eye out for the politics and they dont look too good... Economy and gun wise. Good tip on the ammo, people tend to forget that.

I guess if Canada turns into Brazil, I will unfortunately be forced to again relocate. Sad.

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u/Think_Lengthiness686 18d ago

To elaborate on the previous comment about RCMP contacting your gov for background checks, there is still a way to speed it up. If you somehow find another PAL holder as one of your references, you can practically speed run the process.

It took me only 5 months to get my license 3 years ago because one of my references was a PAL holder. From what I’ve heard, the police contacted her in the morning and my license got approved in the afternoon. And I was a Chinese citizen holding a work permit in Alberta.

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u/StalkerRigo 18d ago

Unfortunately I will know only two other fellow countrymen in Canada, and none holds a PAL. Good thing at least they are in Canada, that should be better than nothing I guess...

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u/StrongBreak2142 18d ago

It took my wife and me about three months to get our PALs, and I came from a Southeast Asian country. It's really not that bad. If you're coming to Canada as a permanent resident, you'll already be going through extensive immigration security and background checks involving agencies such as the CBSA, RCMP, IRCC, and CSIS, along with information-sharing through the Five Eyes partnership. I can't say the same if you're coming as a temporary worker or under another temporary status.