DUI Conviction - Can you enter France with a DUI Conviction?

Anne, after reading up just a bit on this topic, it certainly does not appear that this would be an issue. Violent crime history, drug offenses, etc etc-those are potential issues if questioned, but not DUI. I'm not saying that they won't know there is a DUI with the information in front of them (?) but I don't think it's a problem.

Absolutely NOT a problem! You've got a passport, right? DUIs are not a big issue in Europe, and there's no way they'd have your "records." Your passport is what you need to travel, and even though I don't personally have a DUI, I know people who have had one and they've traveled the world.

I would contact the French consulate in in Washington at (202) 944-6000 and ask. It certainly would be an issue if you tried entering Canada.

No problem at all,
they will just have a quick look at your passport, and they do not have any access to your record, so they won't even know you had a DUI.

Definitely contact the French Consulate, as suggested by Michael. You need to have the correct information, from the horse's mouth (la bouche du cheval, so to speak) and not hearsay. Rules change and unless someone comes on this thread and says they had no problem entering France with a DUI just last month or last week, why take the risk? The fact that Canadian Border Agents will deny anyone with a DUI entry into Canada appears to indicate that the information is accessible to them.

What Norma said. We would likely be quite surprised to learn all the information governments have collected about us.

I couldn't find any relevant info from the US State Department or French Consulate web sites, and have not heard of anyone having problems. Back in 2011, some commenters on this forum reported contacting a few other Schengen area consulates and getting an "all clear" response: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/european-restricitions-for-dui.

I was able to get confirmation from the Spanish Consulate and Italian Consulate that a DUI conviction won't restrict you from entering their country. As long as you have a valid passport, they will allow you in. I haven't been able to confirm with the French Consulate yet.

Its Europe, not Canada.

"...I wouldn't even call the French consulate. This would be the best way to get into troubles. Would I call the US embassy before going to America to say that I have 100 parking tickets I didn't pay here in France...."

Then don't give your real name assuming they even ask. Traveling to another continent for a month is a huge investment in time/money/planning why risk all of that when a simple phone call or email to those that know with 100% certainty (the consulate)would settle all this in about 60 seconds. Trust me they have heard it all before and asking about DUI policies isn't going set off an Interpol alert.

For the past several years whenever I enter the EU or return to the US, I'm briefly questioned about a bloke in Germany who shares my same name who has some sort of domestic violence warrant in Germany. So records are shared in some capacity.

Easy to say that Alex when it's not your money.