ESTA advice please

lady123_2

Hi everyone.
My parents have booked a family trip to NYC for the whole family rather having a big 50th wedding party next May.

My hubby got a caution for criminal damage 17/18 years ago.
We went to NYC on honeymoon after getting married 11 years ago.
We went as two and came back as three lol
I'm sure when we went we filled in a green waiver form on the flight but as he was given a caution he thought it wasn't something to declare as it was spent.

We are now due to go back next May, I've looked into it and we now need a ESTA which is an electronic waiver.

Hubby thinks because damage to property is not a moral turpitude crime he hasn't got to declare it, well that's what we thought all them years ago.

The worry is if he does declare it they may not let him in because of the green waiver years ago, even though we genuinely thought a spent caution wasn't a problem.
They may say you lied.... Your not coming in....

Trip is all paid for and we were really looking forward to going back and showing our little one around NYC .

Any advice would be welcome.

dzug1

I won't give any direct advice, but will give you some points to consider:


Damage to property IS moral turpitude - or can be, depending on the circumstances.


Crimes are never spent for US Immigration purposes


If it's declared on the ESTA application it will be refused and you will be advised to apply for a visa.


It's probably long enough ago to be disregarded by the US when applying for a visa


If it's not declared on the ESTA form they will probably never know.

lady123_2

dzug1 wrote: »

I won't give any direct advice, but will give you some points to consider:


Damage to property IS moral turpitude - or can be, depending on the circumstances.

I took it that it wasn't moral turpitude after looking on the Wikipedia page regarding ESTA where it says it's not. But am no expert what so ever.

Crimes are never spent for US Immigration purposes
Yes I realise that now

If it's declared on the ESTA application it will be refused and you will be advised to apply for a visa.


It's probably long enough ago to be disregarded by the US when applying for a visa
That's not the worry, I'm worried about homeland security saying he's been in to USA once before and not declared the caution! They may ban him altogether.

If it's not declared on the ESTA form they will probably never know.

That's what hubby says!!!
Have the US got access to our PNC?

Thank you for your reply.

Bri1

lady123 wrote: »

That's what hubby says!!!
Have the US got access to our PNC?

No they haven't

lady123_2

Bri1 wrote: »

No they haven't

Can I ask how you know this Bri1 ?

I thought we shared data or am I wrong?

photome

if it was me I wouldnt worry about it, and follow Dzugs indirect advice

peachyprice

lady123 wrote: »

That's what hubby says!!!
Have the US got access to our PNC?

Thank you for your reply.

No they haven't.

The only shared information is for people on the no-fly list and known terrorists, international drugs dealers, organised crime members, serial killers and the like, not people like your OH.

If they stop someone going through immigration because they look shifty they can then request information from the UK, but this information isn't linked automatically in any way to your passport so it won't pop up in front of them when they scan your passport.

Most people who get refused entry because of a police record in the UK are either stopped because they are acting suspiciously or pure bad luck at being stopped at random.

lady123_2

Thank you for your advice guys, it's much appreciated.

It was a daft caution for something he didn't even do but was there when a window was broken with friends, when he woke up the next day he just accepted the caution because he was there and it was wrong.
Paid for the window, well his friend did seeing he done it, lol and that was that.

When we went on honeymoon he didn't even think about it because in the uk it was spent, probably would only show up on an enhanced check anyway but we were still a little worried.

Thanks to all for your comments and advice.