Needs visa to visit me in US, big question is....

21 years old- dishonesty & theft, going equipped(had gloves on & guy he was with had a screwdriver so he was guilty by association)--6 months probation & 100 hours community service.

18 years old-theft from motor vehicle, theft from store--6 months probation, 6 months care of residence, fine 200#

18 yeras old-breaking into coin operated electric meter-50#

16 years old-shoplifting--mother fined--150#, 6 months probation.

16 years old-commercial burgulary (stole ciggys)--6mo-1yr. probation.

He is now 35 years old.

I realize this may pose a problem for him to enter the US on the visa waiver program.  I know he will need to apply for visa.  How likely is he to get one?  As I said, he hasn't done anything wrong since 21 years old.  He's never been done for GBH, violent crime, drugs, no house burgulary.  He's not the same person....sigh...this is really scaring me now.  What sort of costs will he incur in applying/receiving a visa to the US?  Thank you guys so much for your help!

Best place to start that may answer most of your questions:
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/niv/b2.html
and
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/niv/add_crime.html

Good Luck!

I'm leaving this here as it's a Visa question and not a moving to the US question. 

He will definitely need a visa for the US. I was stopped while driving about 18 months ago and was found to be over the  alcohol limit and just for that I will need a visa for the US for the rest of my life!

I think the question could be whether he will be granted a visa at all though, because he does have a history rather than one single incident. The fact that he hasn't done anything since he was 21 will probably help his case, but the US embassy has to be sure that he is of good character and so the more offenses he has on his record, the less likely they will grant the visa.

I am actually considering applying for a US visit visa in the next couple of weeks as I am hoping to visit a friend in LA for a few days in August (she actually lives down the road from me but will be on a NASA course there for a month this summer and I have two weeks vacation time booked off for the same time), so I may be going through the process too.

A US visit visa will cost him $131 plus travel costs to London for his visa interview. Because he has criminal convictions, when he calls to book his interview appointment he will need to request an interview with a Visa Coordination Officer - basically they schedule interviews with people with convictions separately from the other interviews because they can take longer to process. He will also need to get a police certificate (dated within 6 months of his interview) from his local police authority detailing his conviction history (cost is £10 and takes about 28 days to get).

He should call to book his interview appointment 16 weeks before he plans to travel - this is due to the visa possibly taking longer to process and also because there is usually a long waiting list for interviews (I got a US student visa in 2007 and had to wait 2 months for an interview because I have a conviction. Without a conviction, I could have got an interview within 5 days!).

For the visa itself he will also need to show that he has enough money to support himself for the duration of his visit and also that he has ties to the UK and plans to return there afterwards.

I must first say, I have no expertise at all in legal matters, so what I'll say here is by no means to be regarded as "gospel."

But, it's my layman's understanding that if he committed no further crimes beyond 21, and he is now 35, this record may actually be considered "spent" -- I forget the official word for it, but it's when your slate is considered wiped clean because the crimes were so long ago, and also they did not involve violence, manslaughter or murder, which obviously probably do not ever get cleared from your name.

Obviously if a crime is recent there is no question that he will need to apply for a visa.

But when a certain number of years have passed on crimes of a non-violent nature, the situation MAY be different and he may now be considered "clean"  -- you will have to get pro advice, and it's worth it to find out, as you MIGHT not have to go through the visa thing after all. I must emphasize I only say MIGHT.....


I will tell you something ---- my now-ex boyfriend had the same record more or less as your man. And all before he was 21. This is a UK person.

We were worried about this too, when he was about to visit me in the US. He asked a couple of friends of his who had also traveled to the US and whom he knew also had juvenile "form". They said they had no problem entering on the waiver as they found their own records were considered null and void by the time they were near middle aged men with no further crimes.

So my boyfriend came in on the visa waiver, twice. No problems whatsoever.

PLEASE do not take this as gospel -- I would ask a professional about this. MAKE SURE the "spent" issue applies to your man's situation.

But just as a non-expert with a boyfriend who had a similar situation and was fine, I just wanted to put my mention in of the fact that some records expire after a certain amount of time especially if the crimes were considered committed while not of an adult age.

Again, get advice on this, but it's possible his record should not even be on the "books" anymore; my boyfriend's wasn't any longer, at the age of 46.

Under US law, no conviction is ever spent (the US does not have a Rehabilitation of Offenders act), so his record will definitely be considered.

Even if you have been arrested for something you didn't even do and were never even charged, you will still need a visa to visit the US! The husband of a work colleague of mine had a drink-driving conviction about 20 years ago (no other convictions apart from that) and he still had to apply for a visa to take his family to Disney World last year.

There was an article in the Metro newspaper a few months back about a UK couple winning a holiday to Florida, but too late found out that the husband required a visa to visit... because he had stolen an apple from a greengrocer when he was 15! The earliest visa interview appointment they could get was for after the holiday, so they could not travel .

I am not even going to risk using the visa waiver program again (even though I can technically answer no to all the VWP questions) because I have already applied for a US visa (student visa) and so all my record information will already be in the system. If I used the waiver program and was refused entry, I could face a ban from the US.

It seems you have a good amount of advice on another visa forum from people who have dealings specifically with entry to the US. I would pay attention to what they've said.

A third country to meet in makes a lot of sense.

Best of luck.

Under US law, no conviction is ever spent (the US does not have a Rehabilitation of Offenders act), so his record will definitely be considered.

Even if you have been arrested for something you didn't even do and were never even charged, you will still need a visa to visit the US! The husband of a work colleague of mine had a drink-driving conviction about 20 years ago (no other convictions apart from that) and he still had to apply for a visa to take his family to Disney World last year.

There was an article in the Metro newspaper a few months back about a UK couple winning a holiday to Florida, but too late found out that the husband required a visa to visit... because he had stolen an apple from a greengrocer when he was 15! The earliest visa interview appointment they could get was for after the holiday, so they could not travel .

I am not even going to risk using the visa waiver program again (even though I can technically answer no to all the VWP questions) because I have already applied for a US visa (student visa) and so all my record information will already be in the system. If I used the waiver program and was refused entry, I could face a ban from the US.

I would not want anyone, including you, to risk being banned from entry to the US. This is certainly serious stuff, hence my emphasizing that this needs to be dealt with carefully and with full checking of the facts.

If it is the case that the US does not consider even a non-violent, juvenile record as never spent, never voided, then my ex, and two of his friends, clearly must have had wrong information, have taken an unwise risk, and were very lucky not to be hauled up for it. Which is pretty frightening in retrospect.

Although, I can't explain how their records never got pulled up automatically on computer at the border; my boyfriend entered twice in full belief that he was "clear", and nothing came up on him. These two friends of his, I don't know if they believed they were "clear" too or if they knew they were dodging a bullet, but apparently they have traveled back and forth for numerous vacations and their British juvenile records never got brought up in the system.

Again, please don't think I would ever dream of condoning just going ahead and entering without being sure about this -- I'm fully willing to concede that -- yikes -- the three men I know of could have been banned for life on these occasions.

But I'd be curious to know how it was that they never encountered a problem? Sincerely, if someone with visa expertise can shed light on that conundrum, just for interest's sake.

I shudder now to think of what might have happend. My ex was so 100% sure he had ascertained that even according to US policy his UK record was a non-issue.

Midnight, has your boyfriend ever come in since the new pre-screening requirement started?

There must be loads of people who visit the US each year under the VWP without even realising that they are ineligible and often, they will have no problems visiting the US. Think about all the people who get stopped for drink-driving each year - must be hundreds, if not thousands, but how many of them will even consider that their drink-driving conviction might affect them on a weekend trip to New York or a family holiday to Orlando?

The problem is that if the immigration officers find out that they have either lied on their I-94W waiver form or they have not disclosed a previous offence/arrest, they can get into trouble. I don't think the US government has access to UK criminal records so it may not appear on the computer when they scan fingerprints/passports, but if they are questioned and something comes out, it's not good. I would say it's a bit like the single US females who get refused entry to the UK because they are staying with 'a friend' who turns out to be 'a boyfriend/fiance'.

The only reason I knew anything about it was because my incident happened about 3 weeks before I was due to apply for my US student visa and because of it, I spent a very nerve-wracking 3 months worrying and crying over the fact that my visa could be refused due to a stupid 5-minute lapse in judgement I had on a night out with my friends (I had not intended to drive and had pre-arranged to stay at a friend's house before I even had a drink. Unfortunately, circumstances led to me walking past my car at 3 a.m. and thinking I was okay to drive the 5 minutes to my friend's house... and unfortunately I was pulled over just 100 yards from where I was going to park the car. If I'd realised I was slightly over the limit, I would not have got in the car ).

Part of me wonders if maybe it would be okay for me to use the VWP, since I can answer 'no' to the question about 'have I ever committed a crime involving moral turpitude', but the US Embassy says that if I have any arrest or conviction on my record (even if it is decades old), I must apply for a visa.

Midnight, has your boyfriend ever come in since the new pre-screening requirement started?

His final visit to the US was July 16 2008. His first visit was November 2007. When did pre-screening begin? These visits were probably, yes, before then, I'm guessing.

Fortunately I doubt he will ever have reason to visit the US again in the future, from now on; I was his only reason at the time, and he has no other interests/business/vacation desires in that direction.

His final visit to the US was July 16 2008. His first visit was November 2007. When did pre-screening begin? These visits were probably, yes, before then, I'm guessing.

Fortunately I doubt he will ever have reason to visit the US again in the future, from now on; I was his only reason at the time, and he has no other interests/business/vacation desires in that direction.

I believe they started the pre-screening in August of 2008, but it became mandatory this last January.

ksand, I'm so sorry to hear how that one moment has led you to always need a visa -- it is so very human and we have all had lapses in judgement. That's a genuine bummer that it is putting a fly in the ointment for you with the US laws now.

You are right, I'm sure there must be a lot of UK people who are not aware that they may be technically speaking ineligible, particulary since -- within the UK -- even the police regard a record of 20 years ago as "spent" and not even required to be brought up -- again within the UK for any purpose. It must be easy for Brits to assume this slides onto US dealings also...

I believe they started the pre-screening in August of 2008, but it became mandatory this last January.

That explains a lot of it, in part. I wonder what would happen now. He was lucky (and so were these pals).

ksand, I'm so sorry to hear how that one moment has led you to always need a visa -- it is so very human and we have all had lapses in judgement. That's a genuine bummer that it is putting a fly in the ointment for you with the US laws now.

You are right, I'm sure there must be a lot of UK people who are not aware that they may be technically speaking ineligible, particulary since -- within the UK -- even the police regard a record of 20 years ago as "spent" and not even required to be brought up -- again within the UK for any purpose. It must be easy for Brits to assume this slides onto US dealings also...

It's very annoying because by September 2012, my conviction will be spent under UK law (rehab period is 5 years) and I will never have to mention it again to employers/other officials unless they ask for both spent and unspent convictions, but it will always be hanging over my head for US visits/visas .