Obtaining a US visa/Drink Driving!!

dawsonchris

Hello,

I am currently in the process of organising a work placement in the US on a trainee visa for 18 months.
I am worried that i may be refused the J1 visa I am Appling for due to a drink driving conviction (stupid mistake) I made in 2001, I was banned for 9 months a received a £60 pound fine, I did not injure anyone and was not involved in an accident.

I would greatly appreciate any information anyone could give me on this matter.

Kind Regards

Chris

solly_2

Had a look around on the web and came up with this.

The main points that stick out are:-

(ii) Exception.-Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if-



(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or


(II) the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted (or which the alien admits having committed or of which the acts that the alien admits having committed constituted the essential elements) did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed).

So under the second clause you should have no problems. I don't know if this means that you do not have to declare the information on your visa application. Some threads I've read suggest not to declare and people have never had problems, but that is for you to decide.

Best of luck.

Cardew

What information do you want?

The Embassy will make a decision after considering all the facts. It is not normal to refuse for a single offence of that kind, but they could.

Why only a 9 month ban? - I understood a 1 year ban was mandatory.

Cardew

solly wrote:

Had a look around on the web and came up with this.

The main points that stick out are:-



So under the second clause you should have no problems. I don't know if this means that you do not have to declare the information on your visa application. Some threads I've read suggest not to declare and people have never had problems, but that is for you to decide.

Best of luck.

You certainly have to declare any arrest; whether you do or not is to you, but you are taking a chance(however slight) by hiding it.

The granting of a Visa is at the discretion of the Embassy, there are no hard and fast rules. Even if you have a Visa, entry to the USA is then at the discretion of the US immigration officer at the point of entry.

It is reasonable to assume that the main criteria is for the authorities to be convinced you are unlikely to offend in the USA.

alison74

I personally would not risk lying to US customs and not declaring it. Where do you live ? If you live near London you could try and get a visa before you got with face to face interview and declare it and see what they say. Saves the risk of getting to USA and being turned away and losing out on your holiday.

You now need a machine readable passport to enter the US and these are DEFINATELY linked to the Police National Computer etc (PNC) as my mother had her passport stolen in Spain. She had it replaced through normal channels and reported it to the police etc who obviously informed the right people should the stolen one try to be used.

She then went to New York some 5/6 months later and then SHE was stopped by US customs who thought SHE was using the stolen passport as it was her name which came up when they scanned it.

The moral of my story is that UK police share a lot of info between all kinds of agencies now and wouldn't be surprised that they provide PNC records to the passport agency / customs etc (this is why people wanted on warrant are now caught more regularly at airports now) and the fact that the PNC now has a record of EVERY single vehicle with insurance now including your policy number, when it expires and who else is insured to drive your car.

I would declare it and try and get a visa before you go as if you get caught, you and have not declared it, you will not only be refused entry this time, but never get to the US of A again !

Rant and tangent over with, but you get my point.

Cardew

alison74 wrote:

I personally would not risk lying to US customs and not declaring it. Where do you live ? If you live near London you could try and get a visa before you got with face to face interview and declare it and see what they say. Saves the risk of getting to USA and being turned away and losing out on your holiday.

You now need a machine readable passport to enter the US and these are DEFINATELY linked to the Police National Computer etc (PNC) as my mother had her passport stolen in Spain. She had it replaced through normal channels and reported it to the police etc who obviously informed the right people should the stolen one try to be used.

She then went to New York some 5/6 months later and then SHE was stopped by US customs who thought SHE was using the stolen passport as it was her name which came up when they scanned it.

The moral of my story is that UK police share a lot of info between all kinds of agencies now and wouldn't be surprised that they provide PNC records to the passport agency / customs etc (this is why people wanted on warrant are now caught more regularly at airports now) and the fact that the PNC now has a record of EVERY single vehicle with insurance now including your policy number, when it expires and who else is insured to drive your car.

I would declare it and try and get a visa before you go as if you get caught, you and have not declared it, you will not only be refused entry this time, but never get to the US of A again !

Rant and tangent over with, but you get my point.

If you look at the original post Chris is applying for a J1 visa which he has to get before he goes and he is going on a work placement not on holiday. London or Belfast is where you apply to get a Visa in GB.

What has customs to to with US entry? It is the US Immigration service in the USA that decide on entry whether you are going on a Visa or a Visa Waiver(I94-W)

Not only are machine readable passports required but you are now fingerprinted and photographed on US entry. Also details of the plane passengers is sent ahead to the US authorities. However the computers that read machine readable passports are NOT linked to the Criminal Records Office database or the Police National Computer. Your mothers case is quite different, stolen/lost passports are notified. That is very different from a drink driving charge.

There is a reciprocal arrangement that allows the US authorities either in the Embassy, or in the USA, to request information on any UK individual, but it is a long process to obtain the information - besides which the UK database is far from complete and totally inefficient. Look at the case of Ian Huntley(Soham murderer) If you do have a conviction you have to take a Memorandum of Conviction(MOC) with you on your Visa interview. To get that is often a huge problem.

When you enter the USA you do not need to put your UK address on any documentation either in UK or the USA. How on earth could a computer(even if they were linked) trace a 'John Smith' and decide he had a criminal record?
Or 'Joan Smith' who committed an offence before she was married when her surname was different.

I am not in any way suggesting that you should lie when obtaining a Visa(or indeed entering on a Visa Waiver) there is always a risk you could be found out. However I suggest there is no point in making statements that are patently incorrect.

alison74

"However I suggest there is no point in making statements that are patently incorrect"


I will not get into a debate on an open forum about the above comment, but am happy to discuss it privately. The details I gave ARE correct, I was just putting it in laymans terms without too much legal waffle and what systems are connected and what can and cannot be done.

I did however, not read that he wanted a work visa rather than normal one, therefore having to have a face to face interview anyway.

And for that reason alone, I would definately declare it dawson chris as a check could easily be done and if you haven't declared it, it would look rather suspicious.

I am also perplexed as to why you got a 9 month ban, as here in Scotland it is definately mandatory 12 month and a medical before you get your licence back, but that is not the point of the post just me being curious.

I hope get the outcome you want, from whatever you decide to do.

alison74

'How on earth could a computer(even if they were linked) trace a 'John Smith' and decide he had a criminal record?
Or 'Joan Smith' who committed an offence before she was married when her surname was different'


And just so that people know the answer to the above in general. Woman are in the PNC / Scottish Criminal Records System with their birth name and their married name. Police officers take their names down as 'Joan Smith OR Brown' along with their date of birth and both names will come up on the computer check if they only give one. It can sometimes come down to identifying marks, scars or tattoos for when there are two people out there with the same name and DOB !

It's a complex system alright !

Cardew

alison74 wrote:

"However I suggest there is no point in making statements that are patently incorrect"


I will not get into a debate on an open forum about the above comment, but am happy to discuss it privately. The details I gave ARE correct, I was just putting it in laymans terms without too much legal waffle and what systems are connected and what can and cannot be done.

I did however, not read that he wanted a work visa rather than normal one, therefore having to have a face to face interview anyway.

alison74

Why not discuss it in open forum? Surely that is what a forum is about.

The disclosure policy for CRO/PNC is a matter of public record. I am stating unequivocally that the US authorities computer systems are not connected to the CRO/PNC records.

The US authorities will clearly have a list of ‘suspect’ names, which is why Cat Stevens was refused entry, and like your mother’s case no doubt a list of stolen/lost passports.

However to assert that their computer system could pick up someone’s drink driving conviction(even if it had been entered on the UK computer records) is a nonsense.

dawsonchris

Thank you so much for all your advice, I’ve found it very useful.

I am declaring my drink driving conviction to the US embassy, as I have to provide a subject access statement to the US embassy which I am obtaining from the police and that will have my past conviction history on it.

I also have requested a letter of circumstance and a copy of the conviction details from the court, to provide all of my conviction details to the embassy.

After doing some research on the net I discovered that drink driving (DUI) driving under the influence is not considered an act of (Moral turpitude) American term I think! Moral Turpitude is when a crime is an act of evil, for example GBH or Murder. (DUI) is not considered an act of Moral Turpitude therefore can not be the main point to refuse a visa. I hope that's true!!

I was only banned from driving for 9 months, because I attended TTC safer roads by educating driver’s course which reduced the normal 12 month ban down to 9.

Once again thanks for all your help I really appreciate it.

Chris

Cardew

dawsonchris wrote:

After doing some research on the net I discovered that drink driving (DUI) driving under the influence is not considered an act of (Moral turpitude) American term I think! Moral Turpitude is when a crime is an act of evil, for example GBH or Murder. (DUI) is not considered an act of Moral Turpitude therefore can not be the main point to refuse a visa. I hope that's true!!


Chris

The definition of a crime of ‘Moral Turpitude’ in a legal sense still causes great arguments amongst lawyers, but DUI does not figure in the precedents set by any State as far as I am aware.

The grant of a Visa is at the discretion of the interviewing officer. My understanding is that there are no hard and fast rules and you can be refused a Visa for a minor offence if they consider you are likely to offend again in the States; this would particularly apply to convictions for anything involving drugs.

However in my opinion it would be inconceivable that a ‘simple’ DUI conviction some years ago would be a problem; unless you managed to convince the interviewing officer that you intended to get drunk and drive whilst in the USA!