Esta, US immigration, Moral turpitude, the gardai.

divvy600

Hello everyone.

Just looking for opinions on an issue. My buddy has seen a solicitor and was told not to worry about it but he is still very nervous. Even if he is prosecuted, he has a good history and defence (says solicitor).

BACKGROUND

The guy has a shop and has been buying clearance and liquidation lines to sell on. He has a history of this, proveable, and has no criminal record.

Someone sold him stolen goods and the cops seized them. There was no mention of these items being stolen in the media, no warnings, nothing, so he was none the wiser.

He showed the gardai his business methods and where he buys the stock - closing down shops etc, etc, and the guards told him as they had the culprits, their recommendation was no action but it was down to the DPP.

The mans wife has booked a once in a lifetime trip to the states in June for the kids to see mickey mouse and he is frantic. He is flying dublin-gatwick-US on a british passport. The yanks have this Moral Turpitude rule and he thinks he could be barred from entering the states.

I sat him down and we went through the immigration rules and it talks of knowingly having stolen goods etc etc.

If this goes bad for him:

As the gardai have the guys, would this be wrapped up by June?

Does US immigaration have access to irish records?

Can they be accessed in the US as thats were he will encounter them?

Has anyone come across this kind of thing before. As per charter, we are not looking for legal advice, he took legal advice and was told not to worry, just anyones views or experiences of this whole issue.



Thank you - all opinions welcome, I am trying to calm him down.

FreudianSlippers

Relevant from about post 27 on.

coylemj

divvy600 wrote: »

Someone sold him stolen goods and the cops seized them. There was no mention of these items being stolen in the media, no warnings, nothing, so he was none the wiser.

I'm looking at the ESTA website and the guidance talks about a question which asks if you were ever arrested or convicted...

Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance


So if he wasn't arrested or convicted, apply for the ESTA now and it will be valid for two years or until his passport expires, whichever occurs first. From what you've said, the chances that the DPP will tell the Gardai to charge him seem remote but even if he is charged and convicted, he'll have the ESTA approval sorted and the folk in US Immigration will be none the wiser.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

I went to the US last week on an ESTA approval that was over 12 months old, nobody asked me if I'd been convicted of an offence since I applied for the ESTA and from the thread that you've been pointed to, the US authorities do not have access to the PULSE system.

divvy600 wrote: »

I sat him down and we went through the immigration rules and it talks of knowingly having stolen goods etc etc.

Is that one of the questions on the ESTA application?

divvy600

We would really like to thank you lads.

My friend has calmed down a bit now and we will take the advice about doing the ESTA sooner rather than later. Maybe immigration would understand if they found out, but its not worth taking the chance.

That thread you pointed to was very interesting and really did the business. Thank you very much Freudian Slippers! Really appreciated.

Our man in Havana

How would they find out?

MagicSean

Our man in Havana wrote: »

How would they find out?

A disgruntled ex? You wouldn't believe how often this happens.