Donate SIGN UP

Entering the USA with convictions

Avatar Image
Green Howard | 18:31 Sun 10th Sep 2006 | Law
2 Answers
To Dom Tuk or any person who has entered the USA with convictions. I am travelling in April 2007 with friends, one has been convicted for withdrawing money on someone elses credit card, and the other for shoplifting, both first and only offence and was commited 25/28yrs ago. Non commital fines only. Will they be allowed entry, if not what will we need to do?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by Green Howard. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
The US Consulate says...

Currently, many British citizens traveling on a valid, individual machine readable passport, with a return or onward ticket, and who are staying for less than 90 days, qualify for the Visa Waiver Program. There are conditions, so please review the information concering visa free travel on the American Embassy London Nonimmigrant Visas Services Home Page.


Travelers with a Criminal conviction(s)

Under United States visa law people who have been arrested are not eligible to travel visa free under the Visa Waiver Program(VWP); they are required to apply for visas before traveling. If the arrest resulted in a conviction, the individual may require a special restricted visa in order to travel. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act does not apply to United States visa law. Therefore, even travelers with a spent conviction are not eligible to travel visa free; they must apply for visas.

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/rctour.html

Hope this helps :)
The US authorities don't have direct access to UK criminal records, so it's likely that your friends could lie on the Visa Waiver forms and get away with it. All the same, I recommend a 'better safe than sorry' approach. Your friends should apply for visas.

Jenna1978 has provided the correct link but the US embassy site isn't particularly well-designed and it can be hard to find exactly what you want. My posts here might help:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Travel/Question 289769.html

Chris

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Entering the USA with convictions

Answer Question >>