Do I need a visa to get into the USA if I have speeding convictions

scottishperson2

cubegame wrote: »

.............

John studies his feet intently, mumbles a quiet apology and books a train ticket to London.

TO BE CONTINUED

Let me continue that story.

Turns out john had got done for mailing an obscene letter.

He spent £70 on a police certificate from ACPO as he originally though his conviction wasn't a crime that made him inadmissable. But reading cubegames posts (even though he was told they were wrong) made him doubt this.

He spent £60 on a memorandum of conviction as the ACPO certificate stated "no live trace", $140 dollars for the B2 visa, a day off work and about £60 for train and other costs.

What a fool john felt when the clerk looked at all the paper work and just dismissed it and told him his passport would be back in a week.

£300 lighter john went home cursing the fact that he had ever heard the name cubegame and was now stuck in a quandary as to whether he would have to renew the visa in (a year, 5 years or 10 years) even though he was admissable under the vwp all along.

cubegame

And the award for continually not getting the point in the face of extreme mocking goes to........

scottishperson2

cubegame wrote: »

And the award for continually not getting the point in the face of extreme mocking goes to........

Yourself. As you are wrong and should not be posting on subjects you have no idea about.

If you fail to understand the workings of esta then learn, if you continue to post "advice" that is so incorrect it is damaging, then please stop doing so.

Lets get down to the nitty gritty of this :-

you beleive that if you have EVER been arrested you cannot travel visa free to the USA.

A simple yes or no on that please.

scottishperson2

cubegame wrote: »

:rotfl:

Are you new to this internet thing?

So, that is your answer. You post infactual information that can cause serious financial implications to others, are ignorant of what you post, then result to sarcasm when you realise you are wrong.

Its a simple question, lets try again

Do you beleive that if you have EVER been arrested you cannot travel visa free to the USA.

A simple yes or no on that please.

scottishperson2

As your ignorance is to great to answer a simple question, heres the law

Classes of Aliens Ineligible to Receive Visas

.................

(2) Criminal and related grounds.-

(A) Conviction of certain crimes.-

(i) In general.-Except as provided in clause (ii), any alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of-

(I) a crime involving moral turpitude (other than a purely political offense or an attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime), or

(II) a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.

(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).

(B) Multiple criminal convictions.-Any alien convicted of 2 or more offenses (other than purely political offenses), regardless of whether the conviction was in a single trial or whether the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct and regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude, for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were 5 years or more is inadmissible.


*************************************

Thats what the US works too. You may note (although I doubt you'll read let alone understand the above) it doesn't say "if you have ever been arrested you are ineligable", its SPECIFIC.

cubegame

scottishperson2 wrote: »

So, that is your answer. You post infactual information that can cause serious financial implications to others, are ignorant of what you post, then result to sarcasm when you realise you are wrong.

Its a simple question, lets try again



A simple yes or no on that please.

I'll answer to try and illustrate the point you consistently seem to be missing.

My answer: I don't know.

Because I don't know I will consult a likely reliable source.

The United States Embassy to the UK seems to me to be a likely reliable source.

They have a webpage on the matter. It states the opposite to your opinion.

I would choose to believe the US Embassy over you. I think others would do the same.

Your argument is with the US Embassy and not me. Perhaps if you dedicated as much time to lobbying them to change their website as posting here they might change it.

dzug1

scottishperson2 wrote: »

you beleive that if you have EVER been arrested you cannot travel visa free to the USA.

A simple yes or no on that please.

The answer according to the US London Embassy is yes, you should not attempt to travel visa free if you have ever been arrested. No small print about moral turpitude, etc

They want to decide whether lets say your assault incident was moral turpitude or not and given the total lack of understanding by large swathes of the British public as to what moral turpitude is I don't blame them. And the only mechanism for them to decide is for you to apply for a visa

If it wasn't moral turpitude you get your visa. If it was you either get refused or referred for a waiver of ineligibility decision.

The problem with doing ESTA and aplying for a visa waiver on arrival is that if (and yes it's a big if) the immigration officer knows of or suspects your crime/alleged crime he isn't in a position to know whether it was moral turpitude or not. It may well be called something slightly different in his list of crimes so he can't decide. So he potentially refuses you entry.

Not a lot of use spouting US law (which, yes, does give you the right to decide on the answers to the questions yourself) when that law may not get applied.

And yes the visa waiver system is a messy hotchpotch - but it's not going to get reformed in a hurry if at all. There's a powerful lobby in the US that wants to abolish it and make everyone apply for a visa

bikeyspice

My vote is with ScottishPerson2 :T

There's a lot of confusion on the net as to whether being arrested (without charge) renders you ineligible for VWP, regardless of whether it's a crime of Moral Turpitude

I would guess, in the main, that this is because this is the very information being peddled by the US embassy in London. They seem to have disregarded their own ESTA rules and have a blanket policy of telling people they are inelgible, regardless of what the arrest was for. In most cases the record of the arrest will not even be documented or searchable

Best guess is that the embassy don't want to get it wrong by telling people they are eligible for VWP when in fact they're not. I suppose they're worried about leaving themselves open to all sorts of issues should the traveller be refused entry based on their incorrect advice.

You just need to search on the internet for cases where people have taken the embassy's stance and obtained a visa for something they didn't need to then faced the puzzled looks of the CBP who can't understand why they didn't use VWP.

They really do need to synchronize their stories and tell the embassies to stop playing it safe instead of giving out incorrect advice.

As Scottishperson2 says, it's the ESTA questions that are asked at the point of entry. If being arrested of anything at all was an issue then it would say so on the ESTA form and the number of refused entries at the border would be on the news

scottishperson2

And we all know why the US embassy in London states that, although different US embassies in different countries word it more appropriately.

It is up to the individual to prove they can use the VWP, whether they want the embassy to do that for them is entirely their decision. Even then the individual can still be refused.

However, thats NOT what US Law states they have to do. The law, and the word on ESTA, is quite exact in what it asks, CBP even give help on this

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/WebHelp/ESTA_Screen-Level_Online_Help_1.htm

Crimes involving moral turpitude - Such offenses generally involve conduct which is inherently base, vile, or depraved and contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed to persons or society in general. There are factors, such as the age of the offender or the date of the offense, that may affect whether an offense will be considered a crime involving moral turpitude for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act. For further information refer to § 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2), § 101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) and corresponding regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.


The fact still remains, getting arrested or convicted does not automatically mean you cannot use the VWP, which is what this person insists on stating.

scottishperson2

bikeyspice wrote: »

There's a lot of confusion on the net as to whether being arrested (without charge) renders you ineligible for VWP, regardless of whether it's a crime of Moral Turpitude

If its a crime involving moral turpitude then the arrest would make you inadmissable as you would fail the ESTA question. The question is quite precise in its wording.