Travelling to america with a criminal record

[michaelc526]

I am now 22 but when i was 13 i was arrested for criminal damage. Do i need a visa to travel to America?

[BBWCHATT]

http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.htm l

[ojread2]

Wouldn't your conviction have expired once you turned 18?
http://www.arrestrecordssearch.org/index4.htm
Don't know how much it is though

If you search through the travel section and it's sub forums of destinations and getting there you'll find plenty of info

[dzug]

(ii) Exception.-Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if-

(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or

So I'd say no.

[jno]

their requirements are contradictory; but if you go without a visa (as most people do) you fill out a visa waiver form on the plane. It asks if you have ever been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. Just tick the box for 'No', because you haven't. You should have no trouble at all.

[BBWCHATT]

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ moral+turpitude

moral turpitude n. gross violation of standards of moral conduct,vileness, such that an act involving moral turpitude was intentionally evil, making the act a crime. The existence of moral turpitude can bring a more severe criminal charge or penalty for a criminal defendant.

[BBWCHATT]

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode0 8/usc_sec_08_00001182----000-.html

Exception Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if�
(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or
(II) the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted (or which the alien admits having committed or of which the acts that the alien admits having committed constituted the essential elements) did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed).
(B) Multiple criminal convictions
Any alien convicted of 2 or more offenses (other than purely political offenses), regardless of whether the conviction was in a single trial or whether the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct and regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude, for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were 5 years or more is inadmissible.
(C) Controlled substance traffickers
Any alien who the consular officer or the Attorney General knows or has reason to believe�
(i) is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance or in any listed chemical (as defined in section 802 of title 21), or is or has been a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with others in the illicit trafficking in any such controlled or listed substance or ch

[BBWCHATT]

continued.....

(ii) is the spouse, son, or daughter of an alien inadmissible under clause (i), has, within the previous 5 years, obtained any financial or other benefit from the illicit activity of that alien, and knew or reasonably should have known that the financial or other benefit was the product of such illicit activity,
is inadmissible.
(D) Prostitution and commercialized vice
Any alien who�
(i) is coming to the United States solely, principally, or incidentally to engage in prostitution, or has engaged in prostitution within 10 years of the date of application for a visa, admission, or adjustment of status,
(ii) directly or indirectly procures or attempts to procure, or (within 10 years of the date of application for a visa, admission, or adjustment of status) procured or attempted to procure or to import, prostitutes or persons for the purpose of prostitution, or receives or (within such 10-year period) received, in whole or in part, the proceeds of prostitution, or
(iii) is coming to the United States to engage in any other unlawful commercialized vice, whether or not related to prostitution,
is inadmissible.
(E) Certain aliens involved in serious criminal activity who have asserted immunity from prosecution
Any alien�
(i) who has committed in the United States at any time a serious criminal offense (as defined in section 1101 (h) of this title),
(ii) for whom immunity from criminal jurisdiction was exercised with respect to that offense,
(iii) who as a consequence of the offense and exercise of immunity has departed from the United States, and
(iv) who has not subsequently submitted fully to the jurisdiction of the court in the United States having jurisdiction with respect to that offense,
is inadmissible.

[jno]

so that's a No, BBWCHATT?

[BBWCHATT]

Jno - if I am interpreting Michael's question and the Cornell Law School's interpretation of our laws correctly - he would be exempt because he was arrested before the age of 18 and also because it was more than 5 years ago.

See:
Exception Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if�
(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or

[jno]

that's what I thought... it's odd that the visa waiver form that virtually everyone fills in doesn't explain any of this, it just asks the question about cirmes of moral turpitude. Meanwhile, I believe embassies are also instructed to require visas from people who have ever been arrested - even if no prosecution, much less conviction, has resulted. When this question comes up (as it often does) I just tell people to go with the waiver form: if they've not been convicted of moral turpitude they'll be ok.