A DUI does not take away your U.S. passport, and most countries do not bar a visitor over a single misdemeanor. A few do, or ask questions that a recent conviction changes the answer to. This page covers the passport and then the countries Montanans ask us about most, quoting each government's own statute or immigration agency as we read it on October 9, 2026. Where we could not find an official source, we say so. It is part of our Montana DUI Guide.
We are Montana lawyers. Entry to another country is decided under that country's law by its officers, and a consulate or an immigration lawyer licensed there is the right source for a decision about your trip.
Your Passport
The State Department may not issue a passport in a few listed situations, such as certified child support arrears, and may refuse one in others (22 CFR § 51.60). A DUI conviction, a suspended driver's license, and a misdemeanor record are not on either list. The entries that matter in a criminal case are:
- an outstanding federal warrant for a felony, or an outstanding state or local warrant for a felony (22 CFR § 51.60(b)(1), (b)(9)); and
- being "subject to a criminal court order, condition of probation, or condition of parole, any of which forbids departure from the United States" (22 CFR § 51.60(b)(2)).
So the passport question is really a question about your conditions. While the case is pending, look at your release conditions. After sentencing, look at the judgment and any probation conditions.
Country by Country
| Destination | What the official source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | A single DUI can make a visitor inadmissible. Time alone does not fix an offense committed on or after December 18, 2018. | Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, s. 36; see our Canada page |
| Mexico | Entry may be denied, at the authorities' discretion, when a person's record in Mexico or abroad would compromise national security or public safety. The statute names no offenses. | Ley de Migración, art. 43 |
| United Kingdom | An electronic travel authorisation must be refused if the applicant was convicted of a criminal offense within the last 12 months, or ever received a custodial or suspended sentence of 12 months or more. | Immigration Rules, Appendix Electronic Travel Authorisation, ETA 2.2 |
| Schengen area (most of the EU) | The planned ETIAS authorization is not yet operating. Its application will ask about convictions for a list of serious offenses that does not include impaired driving. | Regulation (EU) 2018/1240, art. 17(4) and Annex |
| Japan | Landing is denied to a person convicted in any country and sentenced to imprisonment for 1 year or more, and to a person convicted under a drug control law. | Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, art. 5(1)(iv), (v) |
| Australia | Visa applicants must declare all convictions and pending charges and must meet a character test. | Department of Home Affairs; Migration Act 1958, s. 501 |
| New Zealand | Applicants must declare a criminal record. A person sentenced to 12 months or more in prison within the last 10 years is excluded unless given a special direction. | Immigration New Zealand; Immigration Act 2009, ss. 15 to 17 |
Canada and Mexico
Canada treats impaired driving as serious criminality, and it is the country where a Montana DUI most often ends a trip at the border. It has its own page: traveling to Canada after a DUI.
Mexicois different. Article 43 of the Ley de Migración says the migration authorities "may deny" a visa, entry, or stay to a foreigner in listed situations. The first is when, based on the person's record in Mexico or abroad, national security or public safety would be compromised. The article does not mention impaired driving, does not distinguish misdemeanors from felonies, and sets no period of years. The decision is discretionary. We cannot tell you how an officer will exercise it, and neither can a website that quotes a fixed rule.
The United Kingdom and Europe
United Kingdom.The UK government's guidance says visitors from the United States usually need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) in place of a visa. Under the Immigration Rules, an ETA application must be refused where the applicant "has been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas for which they have received a custodial or suspended sentence of 12 months or more," or has been convicted of a criminal offense "unless more than 12 months have passed since the date of conviction" (Appendix Electronic Travel Authorisation, ETA 2.2).
For a Montana DUI that produces two practical points. A conviction within the past year means an ETA is not available, and the route is a visa application. And the 12-month sentence test includes suspended sentences, which matters because Montana DUI sentences often suspend most of the jail term. A second or third DUI carries a maximum of one year. Check the actual sentence on your judgment.
Schengen countries.The European Union's official ETIAS site states that the system "is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point." When it starts, the fee will be EUR 20 and an authorization will last three years or until the passport expires. The regulation behind it requires applicants to say whether they have been convicted, over the previous 10 years, of any offense listed in its Annex (20 years for terrorist offenses). The Annex lists crimes such as trafficking, murder, grievous bodily injury, rape, arson, and fraud. Impaired driving is not listed. An authorization does not guarantee entry. The same site says border guards will refuse entry to travelers who do not meet the entry conditions.
Japan, Australia, and New Zealand
Japan. The Ministry of Justice's English translation of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act denies landing to a person who "has been convicted of a violation of any law or regulation of Japan, or of any other country, and has been sentenced to imprisonment or imprisonment without work for 1 year or more" (article 5(1)(iv)), and separately to a person convicted under any country's law "relating to the control of narcotics, marijuana, opium, stimulants or psychotropic substances" (article 5(1)(v)). A first Montana DUI has a six-month maximum. A felony DUI sentence starts at 13 months. If your sentence was one year, even if suspended, ask a Japanese consulate how it reads the provision, because the translation does not answer that. A drug possession conviction from the same stop can fall under the second ground, which has no minimum sentence.
Australia.The Department of Home Affairs says that when you apply for a visa you must "declare all criminal conduct" you have been convicted of in any country or charged with and awaiting legal action on, and that a person may be refused if they do not pass the character test in section 501 of the Migration Act 1958. One part of that test is a "substantial criminal record," which is defined in section 501(7) of the Act. The department encourages applicants whose conduct needs assessment to apply early, and it says the Minister can choose to grant a visa even where the character requirements are not met.
New Zealand.Immigration New Zealand states that people applying for visas must declare whether they have a criminal record, and that people with criminal convictions "will generally not be granted a visa unless a character waiver is granted." Its list of excluded persons includes anyone sentenced to prison for 5 years or more at any time, or for 12 months or more within the preceding 10 years.
What to Do in the Montana Case
- Raise travel early. The offense of conviction and the length of the sentence, including the suspended part, are the two facts foreign rules turn on. Both are negotiated or decided in the criminal case.
- Keep certified copies of the judgment and proof that the sentence is complete. Consulates and border officers may ask for them.
- Do not rely on expungement. It is not presumed for a DUI in Montana. See expungement, step by step.
- Check the official source again before you go. Entry rules change, and several of the systems described here are new.
This page is general information drawn from official government sources as we read them on October 9, 2026. It is not advice on the immigration law of any country. Confirm current rules with the destination country's consulate before you travel.