Can I travel to the Us with a suspended sentence

[Fru124]

will I be able to go on my honeymoon in july I am going to cancun first but we connect in New york the back to new york for 3 days after 9 in cancun will i be refused entry? I will be travelling from Northern Ireland however i will be travelling on an Irish passport? Could someone please give me some more advice on this I have contacted the embassy and i have been informed I will need a visa I know it could take weeks, I have also contacted various immigration lawyers with regards to this and they have all stated that my crime (now changed to section 47 ABH) is a crime of 'moral turpitude' though I have checked the website and it states that there must be a depraved motive and not an clear intetnt also as the case is being heard in the magistrates the most i can receive is 6 months as I have pleaded it out already, Finally i merely want advice as to should I listen to the immigration lawyers and use there service? (£600 plus VAT) has anyone on here went through the same process for an ABH charge? I know I have to get an ACPO or whatever it is though as I am being sentenced on 23 April it could be two weeks after that before I get that and providing i get an appointment for the embassy sharpish i will be cutting it fine for the cut off point of 10 may when i will have to change my honeymoon at great financial cost to me though i would prefer to change it than 'chance it' go on ahead get stopped and turned away and then banned for life!

[pink-kittens]

I think you are quite possibly running before you can walk after all you dont really know your sentence will only be a suspended one, do you?

Search this site for questions such as yours but from what I've read, applying for a visa will a) definitely be a refusal and b) you quite likely wont have enough time anyway.

As for the cost of re-routing your honeymonn - do you really expect that to be taken into consideration? Personally I would do it now as the more time you give the travel company the less it will cost anyway

[MarkRae]

I'm afraid that you'll have to come to terms with the fact that, unless the US immigration rules are ever relaxed (highly unlikely, IMO), you will never, ever be able to go to America legally...

[bednobs]

have to agree with the others really. You need to apply for a visa, that is tru, but it can take months rather than the weeks you suggest

[Fru124]

The sentence will at worst be a suspended one I have been assured that by my brief surely they know more about it than us do they not? And i have checked various other sites and it has been stated that people with previous convictions for GBH and drug offences have gained entry to the US i also know a person who was in jail for being caught with petrol bombs (northern Ireland) and he was also granted a visa all be it a temporary one for 6 months so how can an assault bar me for life? I have spoken at length with immigration lawyers and they state that they could get me a visa within the time i due to travel and not to be petty about it here people but sure Cheryl cole has a convistion for the exact same offence and sure does she not go to America regular?

[MarkRae]

Yes, but in this case applying for a visa is, to all intents and purposes, a total waste of time as it will certainly be refused...

[redcrx]

if all these people have assured you, why are you asking on here?

just go and get your visa application in and send us a postcard

[bednobs]

if your immigration lawyer is guaranteeing to get you a visa in time, personally i would pay the money

[jno]

did you tell the embassy your name when you called? If so i suspect you're stuffed whatever happens, because they'll quite possibly be on the lookout.

If you did it anonymously then you *could* just forget about a visa, fill out the visa waiver forms online and on the plane, and lie, and hope not to be found out. I would have thought there's a reasonable chance you'd get away with it, but also a chance that you won't. Up to you, really. For the purposes of a honeymoon I'd probably take the safer course and reroute my trip to somewhere less fussy. But it's your call.

(I wouldn't bother with immigration lawyers, but then I haven't had any experience of them. However, I presume they specialise in immigrants rather than tourists. I think your money would be better spent going somewhere different.)

[Canary42]

Since you have so much faith in the immigration lawyers, why do you come here with your question, only to then decry the people who are trying to help you ?

[Fru124]

Yeah they could get me a visa but they stopped just shy of stating that they can get me one guaranteed, hence my dilema you see do I change the honeymoon now take my lumps and move on or do i take the chance apply for the visa with the help of the lawyers and cross my fingers?

[ummmm]

That's up to you. Or do what jno says.

[redcrx]

change your honeymoon

[jno]

up to you but I'd change my trip. Are you really desparate to get to NY? It's a great place, but there are other great places in the world, lots of them. You should be able to get to Mexico via Madrid if you're dead set on going there - but there are other beaches in the world too. How much time do you want to spend sweating over whether you'll be turned away from your own honeymoon?

[redcrx]

think of it a an extra punishment for the crime

[bednobs]

i would change it too

[ummmm]

Great way to start married life. The Bride not getting the honeymoon she wants.

[Fru124]

I am going to change it mexico have no travel restrictions as such sure half of America's criminals end up in it on the run my fiancee knows all about so she understands new york wont go anywhere I have been informed there again by a us visa specialist wait two years and then apply which should be ok by me anyway she will be 30 around that time so that will be her present hopefully just cant believe this hassle!!!!!!!!!!

[ummmm]

At least you haven't got to go home and devastate her :-)

[redcrx]

as Ive said before. The threat of never being able to go to Disney should be mentioned by the police giving lectures in schools, and public information adverts against crime should be aired on TV with examples of people being unable to go to the USA on holiday.
crime rates would fall!

[sumo19]

According to the Law you are ineligible for a VISA.

Anyone who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude can be found ineligible for a VISA. The immigration lawyers just want your money.

There is an exception clause to this which states that the ineligibility will not apply if the maximum possible sentence for the crime does not exceed more than 1 year. The maimum possible sentence for ABH is 5 years therefore you are not exempt and you are ineligible.

Legally you cannot go to the USA. Sure people have got in with CIMT convictions, but they all run the risk of being caught. The US can run back ground checks on people.