Convictions and WVP

[trueblueange]

Can anyone who has had a criminal conviction (of any kind) let us know if they have managed to get into USA with the VWP? What were your experiences?
Thanks

[pingu748]

Not sure what a WVP is ... but had a very minor conviction in 93 and still got into US in 94 ...

[trueblueange]

VWP is Visa Waiver Program :)

[JonnoGenie]

They've definitely tightened things up in recent years.

I was arrested for DWI in the US in the early 90's and US immigration take an interest in this, they ask me about it every time I enter the country, though curiously they never did on the multiple trips I made there in the mid 90's, just starting from about '98 on...

So I've got in on the VWP with one arrest (categoried as a misdemeanour) on many occasions. Just when they notice it in their system they tend to then dig around and start asking more probing questions than you'd usually expect. Some officers are pretty disinterested it seems, some do go to town a bit though... anticipating this each time is not much fun!

The green form is clear about what you need to declare upfront as a criminal conviction. Come to think of it... this is a good point, the Embassy website requires everyone with ANY criminal conviction to get a visa nowadays, the green form suggests that there is a 'threshold' before you have to tick a box 'yes' and it might be a problem... strange...

I've been into the US seven times this year (the last time in July) on the VWP and been questioned on my DWI every time. They still let me in..

p.s. Last thought... I wouldn't consider lying to immigration. If they corner you lying I expect you'd be in pretty serious trouble...

[trueblueange]

Thanks, I'm thinking of a minor crime going back 34 years or so, and the person who did this crime would have considered it spent. To be honest, he's blocked it from his memory (was a shameful thing for him) and would not recognise he still has a criminal record as far as the US are concerned. As he goes to US in 8 weeks, it's too late to get a visa and admittedly, am afraid to bring it up with him, as is his wife. He would pointblank refuse to go rather than bring the past up again.

[trueblueange]

Anyone else???

[JonnoGenie]

I was in the US embassy this week applying for a visa. I declared my US DWI charge on the application, and had to go through various hoops becaue of this.

Apparently the question on the back of the visa waiver form asking if you have committed 'moral turpitude' etc., or crimes leading to sentences of 5 or more years in aggregate ... pretty much = 'have you committed any crime ever?'. This was explained to me by an embassy official. I wonder how many people know what 'turpitude' means!? It is a word that probably hasn't been commonly known in England for a century, two, or more.

When I asked why it was US immigration queried my old record, always let me in, and never told me I should not use the VWP but should get a visa, she suggested, in as many words, 'they probably have bigger fish to fry'.

Given 1 in 3 UK citizens are meant to have a UK criminal record, this means none of them are eligible for the VWP. But if this was enfoced and all these people had to get a visa (truly painful process), I expect the UK tourist industry to the US would collapse overnight.