Entering the US on a business trip with a criminal record

0utshined

Maybe I'm being naive but how exactly are they going to check if you don't admit it?

I don't see the need to speak to your boss and possibly scupper your career. Maybe you can develop a sudden fear of flying or something?

LegacyUser

Thanks Bruachain, some good advice there, coming from experience (albeit through a friend) which is what I was looking for. I don't get how your mate got the visa waiver program though as one of the things I saw was the people with a record cannot apply for one. That's something I'll check with the embassey though.

I have a good rapport with my boss, who has admitted to smoking joints, and have been doing very well in the job so it might not be that bad. I'll check it out as much as I can first though as apart from this thing I'm amazingly happy with my job and I'd really hate to screw it up over something like this.

Victor

an Form I-94W

See http://www.airfares.co.uk/VisaHealth/US_Visa_Waiver_Scheme.asp

Drugs ("controlled substances") and serious crimes (of "moral turpitude" -
presumably murder, rape and other serious offences) are a one strike matter whereas you can have minor convictions or arrests.

robinph

Business trip wrote:

Robinph - did you apply for a visa beforehand or did you just fill these forms in at the airport? Did you have to admit to any offences on the form? Just as well I'm not a member of the Nazi party. A Nazi dealer - I think they'd bring me to the US just to throw me in jail

The visa waiver thing applies automatically if you have and Irish or UK passport, or whatever other countries passport that the US currently likes. You just then have to tick the boxes on the form at the airport which may then effect what the imigration person asks you before they let you on the plane. I did have a US visa on my old passport from years ago though as the visa waiver did not apply then if you travelled through a third country, Canada, in order to get to the US.

I think that officially you have to decalre to them if you have ever even been arrested, whatever it was for and if there were actually any charges brought or not so that they can then check you out. The finger printing and taking a picture of you is new since I last travelled though, but I doubt that it is linked in with any existing list of 'offenders'. That will just be similar to the extra security that I always had to go through between the UK and Ireland where a copper aksed you why you were going to Ireland and took a scan of your face and a sticker on the boarding card so that it could be checked again at the gate. They stopped doing that though just before xmas last year I think it was.

Jivin Turkey

What might also make a huge difference to what you do is whether this is a once off trip or likely to be a regular occurance over the next few months/years.

Coney Island

Tell your boss u fear airplanes, or that u got some kind of illness that does not allow you to go on high altitudes (is there one?)

LegacyUser

Unfortunately I've already been to Austria this year on a holiday so I can't use that excuse. I could possibly use it if I ended up telling my boss and he was ok with it. Still don't know. Gonna call the embassey next Monday.

Thanks to all for the helpful advice, after Wednesday nights panic attack I'm a little more composed and realistic about the whole situation.

dave_eire

I really wouldn't worry... unless you are of really nervous disposition and likely to go into a fit of panic and blurt out "arg, i'm a dealer!".

Just fill the form in and LIE and then your giggling...

The biggest pain in the ass about immigration is them quizing you about what you are going over for buisness wise.. NEVER use the work consulting... i know 2 people who were not allowed leave dublin after using the dreaded word. Just say you are going over for "buisness meetings".

Cheers,

D

newgrange

Getting past immigration is not the problem, obviously if you are so inclined you can lie about your past. The problem is if for any reason while you are over there someone runs your details through and discovers you lied on the form. I wouldn't like to be the one explaining to US police that I 'forgot' to tell them I had a drugs conviction.

Ring the embassy and arrange an appointment - you can still enter on a visa if you have a drugs conviction. You will have to apply for a visa, which may entail you getting a 'memorandum of conviction' from the court, so you need to get a move on, as the whole process can take weeks.

The US does not have any policy of 'spent convictions' so, even if it was fifty years ago, it still counts.