visa refusal

[ladypaula]

My friend is terrified of applying for a visa in case she is refused one. She finds immigration staff very condescending when she has gone to florida in the past. Now she needs a visa and she is all nervous about having to apply for one and wonders about "taking a chance" and not getting one and going in with the VWP which she has done legitimately in the past. She has been arrested but not charged because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and this puts her off going back to florida.

p.s. to apply for a visa do you have to ring the embassy. have tried to find a link on website for appt for her but not very good with computers!

[ShirleyD]

In recent years immigration staff have improved a lot. Arrive with a smile and I'm sure there will be no problem. As far as the visa is concerned, it is not worth risking it if the rules say she needs one. I'm sure someone will know how to go about it

[Michelle]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ladypaula
My friend is terrified of applying for a visa in case she is refused one. She finds immigration staff very condescending when she has gone to florida in the past. Now she needs a visa and she is all nervous about having to apply for one and wonders about "taking a chance" and not getting one and going in with the VWP which she has done legitimately in the past. She has been arrested but not charged because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and this puts her off going back to florida.

p.s. to apply for a visa do you have to ring the embassy. have tried to find a link on website for appt for her but not very good with computers!
[/quote]

US Embassy We site is
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/operator_assistance.html

The telephone number re visa information and for appointments is
Operator Assisted Visa Information
Callers from within the United Kingdom should dial 09042-450100. Calls to this line are charged at £1.20/min from BT landlines

[ccarcher]

Whilst the process may well appear daunting and will cause a significant amount of worry and concern, in reality its really not that bad, but just a little time consuming, in total from applying to receiving a visa your looking at around 12 weeks

I too was in a similar position earlier this year, when despite having vistied on many occassions using vwp, I suddenly became aware i should in fact apply for a visa, as a result of a minor offence going back many many years

I too thought about taking the risk, but not sure I would of survived the flight, or looked innocent on arrival for the worry, and the thought of ruining the wife and kids first trip to Florida made me apply for the visa

The type of offence that is likely to stop you getting a visa has to be a very serious one, official term is "moral terpitude" which basically is the likes of murder, manslaughter, rape, money laundering, drug trafficing

first step is to obtain her police subject access report which you will need before you can even get an appointment at the embassy, this has to be returned to you within 40 days of applying, typically takes around 30 days and will show if there are indeed any convictions that you need to inform the embassy of

see my earlier thread for more details or feel free to dm me if you want any additional info

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_37310.asp

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:The type of offence that is likely to stop you getting a visa has to be a very serious one, official term is "moral terpitude" which basically is the likes of murder, manslaughter, rape, money laundering, drug trafficing

[/quote]

The above statement is absolutely correct about the definition of 'Moral Turpitude'

However the I94-W for instance refers to crimes of moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled drug.

The implication being that offences involving drugs, even though they fall a long way short of being crimes of moral turpitude will create a problem when applying for a Visa.

There have been documented cases of those with minor drug offences being refused a Visa.

I wouldn't back Pete Docherty chances if he applied now.

[ccarcher]

Have to agree with Robert

for whatever reason (and perhaps rightly so) the Americans put more emphasis on crimes related to drugs and a big NO NO

even in comparission to assaults with physical violence

[derek83]

No such thing as "wrong place at the wrong time".I wouldn't however apply for a visa unless i had to .There is another topic where a male who hada conviction for a public order act offense (using threatening abusive words etc) was denied a visa after his interview but then he did choose to tell the official to "go to hell" when he heard the news !