Serious- will we get US visas?

lynzpower

Hi all

We are considering going to the Us for a short holiday in a few weeks time ( end April into May)

We have suddenly come across the isuse of the visas, and wanted some advice.

My oh was found by the police in posession of a small amount of cannabis around 11 years ago. ( around 3 grams)

He went to court for it, and paid the fne which was £80.00 at the time. He has no other criminal record and nor do I.

We went to Vegas in November/Dec last year but obviously we didnt need the visas then, and we were on the green card system that you fill in on the plane.

We would like to visit, but obv I dont want to book & pay for anything for us to get turned back at the airport :eek:

Can someone advise please Is our days of visiting the states ( and spend significant amount of money there!) well and truly over _pale_

SimbaSimon

lynzpower wrote: »

Hi all

We are considering going to the Us for a short holiday in a few weeks time ( end April into May)

We have suddenly come across the isuse of the visas, and wanted some advice.

My oh was found by the police in posession of a small amount of cannabis around 11 years ago. ( around 3 grams)

He went to court for it, and paid the fne which was £80.00 at the time. He has no other criminal record and nor do I.

We went to Vegas in November/Dec last year but obviously we didnt need the visas then, and we were on the green card system that you fill in on the plane.

We would like to visit, but obv I dont want to book & pay for anything for us to get turned back at the airport :eek:

Can someone advise please Is our days of visiting the states ( and spend significant amount of money there!) well and truly over _pale_

You still need to fill in the forms on the plane unless you have a visa, but now you also have to fill in the form online at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/

If you have no criminal records you should be fine I think and shouldn't need visa's.

notakid

Hi Lynne
The US is very very strict when it comes to drug offences. There is a good change that if your o/h does declare this he will be refused entry. My husband was refused a visa for the same reason as above and it happened 20 years ago!

There was a case near me about 10 years ago; a woman who lived in America couldn't leave to visit her dying father because she was told that if she left the country they would not allow her to return! :eek:

I can't even suggest you try the embassy as they just stick to the party line and are not helpful.

I wish I could be more helpful but hopefully someone will post that I'm incorrect and they have obtained a visa even thou they have been charged with drug offences.

whatusername

Maybe if you don't mention it on the card/esta online then there may not problem as i'd assume you didn't mention it last time when you filled the card in on the plane. It is a gamble to take though.

SimbaSimon

notakid wrote: »

Hi Lynne
The US is very very strict when it comes to drug offences. There is a good change that if your o/h does declare this he will be refused entry. My husband was refused a visa for the same reason as above and it happened 20 years ago!

There was a case near me about 10 years ago; a woman who lived in America couldn't leave to visit her dying father because she was told that if she left the country they would not allow her to return! :eek:

I can't even suggest you try the embassy as they just stick to the party line and are not helpful.

I wish I could be more helpful but hopefully someone will post that I'm incorrect and they have obtained a visa even thou they have been charged with drug offences.

As I said, they don't have a record, the US don't have access to UK police records, so just apply and it should be okay. If it gets refused online then you'll need a visa, but otherwise it should be fine.

lynzpower

Im just on the phone to the Information Commissioner to find out what access the US State depts have to our data here in the UK ( eg PNC)

mystic_trev

SimbaK2K wrote: »

As I said, they don't have a record, the US don't have access to UK police records, so just apply and it should be okay. If it gets refused online then you'll need a visa, but otherwise it should be fine.

I agree with the above and really can't see you should have any problems. If it didn't show up on your trip to Vegas, it's never likely to.

lynzpower

whatusername wrote: »

Maybe if you don't mention it on the card/esta online then there may not problem as i'd assume you didn't mention it last time when you filled the card in on the plane. It is a gamble to take though.

No we didnt as we wrongly assumed as it was a spent conviction under Uk law then it wouldnt be neccesary.

Incidentally we jsut sailed through immigration when we went to vegas.

I dont want to just take the risk- its a very expensive risk to take :eek:

lynzpower

mystic_trev wrote: »

I agree with the above and really can't see you should have any problems. If it didn't show up on your trip to Vegas, it's never likely to.

Cheers trev

ICO said yes, the US state dept have got the right to access the CRB.

whatusername

lynzpower wrote: »

No we didnt as we wrongly assumed as it was a spent conviction under Uk law then it wouldnt be neccesary.

Incidentally we jsut sailed through immigration when we went to vegas.

I dont want to just take the risk- its a very expensive risk to take :eek:

I agree it is that so it depends how much you really want to go and how good a deal you get.

The US immigration are tough but it's their country after all so we have to accept it if we want to go.

Hope you get sorted and it would be interesting to know how you get on

lynzpower

Ok, the plot thickens.

I am mainly writing this, as Im sure it will be useful to moneysavers in the future.

Ok.

So I spoke to the INformatio Commissioners Office/ They said, yes, they do feel that the US state dept has a right to view the Criminal Records Bureau, so I should call the CRB to see what they say about it.

The CRB very helpful indeed. They say that yes, they can do a standard CRB check on people whom they have a concern about. Therefore if it is or isnt declared they can check anyway.

However, they have advised of something Ive never heard of before which is called "step down" policy. what this means is, if the offence was committed some time ago, it will not show on the CRB IF you have requested the police to "step down". This menas that an old ( and somewhat petty, it could be argued) conviction OF ANY KIND can "fall off" the SAR ( subject access request) should the person and the police agree. ( cant see Axe muderers or terrorists being allowed this!)

This means that it wont show up for the purposes of travel, CRB checks, and employment, and is designed for the rehabilitation of offenders. However, should OH get convicted fo a crime here in the UK, the UK police and courts can still see this conviction- and of course it would be classed as "previous" in the UK.

CRB have now given me thenumber of the relevant police force where the conviction was obtained, but also recommended I call NACRO as they can also advise on the step down process and they - for other moneysavers knowledge - are contactable on 0207 840 6464

They are busy right now, but in any case, I think step down is probably quite useful in any case.