advice please

[Sniff]

I can sympathise with your friend's plight, but I'm always amazed people come to sites like this for such advice. Nothwithstanding the undoubted experience and knowledge of many of the people who post here, they are not the ones who can grant you entry to the US.

Tell your friend to go to the US Embassy and explain the situation to them. They will tell her if she needs a visa or not. If they say not, but she's still worried, ask them to put it in writing on headed paper. It still won't guarantee entry (IO's are a law unto themselves it seems) but it'll go a long way towards making her feel better.

[mizzy]

Sadly Sniff they won't just tell them

the process involves telephoning a very expensive premium rate number to ask for advice and it doesn't matter who you get to speak to, if there's any doubt whatsoever they will advise you to apply

also you cannot just turn up at the embassy you need an appt, which they are very rigid about when it comes to inforcing the actual timing of said appt, you also need to bring all documents with you to the appt, and finally the us embassy is based in London or Belfast so turning up is just not an option even if you lived around the corner

Mizzy

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote: I can sympathise with your friend's plight, but I'm always amazed people come to sites like this for such advice. Nothwithstanding the undoubted experience and knowledge of many of the people who post here, they are not the ones who can grant you entry to the US.

Tell your friend to go to the US Embassy and explain the situation to them. They will tell her if she needs a visa or not. If they say not, but she's still worried, ask them to put it in writing on headed paper. It still won't guarantee entry (IO's are a law unto themselves it seems) but it'll go a long way towards making her feel better.[/quote]

Sniff,
I don't in anyway dispute that your advice is correct, however the problem is that to do as you suggest takes a great deal of time, trouble and expense.

It really is a disgrace that the US authorities have allowed this lack of clarity in the regulations to go on for so long.

The irony is that it is well meaning sites like this and other publicity have added to the confusion. Law abiding citizens with 30 year old trivial offences, that by no stretch of the imagination are 'crimes of moral turpidude' are compelled to attend the US Embassy and apply for a Visa. It is absolutely clear that it is not the intent of these regulations to stop such people using the Visa Waiver scheme; but it does.

It is even more regrettable that there is no definition in US law of ‘crimes of moral turpitude’ despite attempts by US Law society(equivalent) to get a clear definition.

Until recently many many people were blissfully unaware of the US Embassy website. They looked at the question on the I 94W Visa Waiver with its reference to 'Conviction' 'Moral turpitude' 'Confinement for terms of 5 years' and with a clear conscience answered 'No' Some of these people are now worried that they had 'lied'.

[ladypaula]

to find out whether or not prosecution/conviction (subject access) info is held on computer file you can apply from here, there is a fee to pay and forms to fill in so i would telephone them first for details

National Identification Service
Subject Access Office
Room 350
New Scotland Yard
Broadway
London
SW1H 0BG

tel 020 7230 2958

my brother had to go through this process to obtain a memorandom of conviction which is what they ask you for if you apply for a visa and have been arrested/covicted


================================================== ========================

thanks, this is what we were after. obviously after being to the USA for over 10 years with never being arrested and reading this site we are of the opinion it is better to be safe than sorry! obviously she has not been convicted but it is just complicated in the fact that she was charged with "laundering money" having received £1000 for a xmas present, resultedly as a result of her boyfriend working whilst claiming benefits. does a memorandum of conviction exist if you werent convicted??????

how long does it take for this information to be put on file with the national identification service?? if there is no information there would you be safe not to apply for a visa and hope for the best.

I do find that IO's are very unfriendly and have read that the number of tourists to florida is down for various reasons including the hostile IO's!!!

[mizzy]

i'm afraid i don't know what happens or what you have to do if there's nothing on your subject access file

my brother needed his to get the info regarding his arrest and because the embassy wanted to see that information, he then went for an interview and was granted a visa

you could apply for the info and then speak to the embassy

Mizzy

[Sniff]

Mizzy and Robert...yes of course, I wasn't implying that getting information out of the US Embassy was easy, just that information gained here is pretty worthless...you'll eventually have to go to the US Embassy anyway, to be sure.

The Americans unfortunately take the view that if you want to visit the US, you have to jump through the hoops they put in front of you, whatever it takes.

[mizzy]

well excuse me but i would totally disagree with you there Sniff

this forum delivers a mine of useful information and i wouldn't class any of the above postings as "pretty worthless"

agreed there are no experts who work for the embassy on here to advise but that's not to say there isn't plenty of people who have had first or even second hand experience when it comes to applying for a visa

Mizzy

[traceya89]

my friend knows that she has to apply for the visa but wanted to know where she would get the information from they would need. i am sure she will be granted a visa eventually.

i wonder if the british immigration make the americans do the same if they want to come to england. i bet they dont!

[steph_goodrum]

Tracey
I'm not sure on the criteria for deciding if you do need a Visa to come to US but I do know it's unfair that we can only visit the US for 90 on Visa waiver but US citizens can come here for 6 months before they need a Visa.

[Sniff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
well excuse me but i would totally disagree with you there Sniff

this forum delivers a mine of useful information and i wouldn't class any of the above postings as "pretty worthless"

agreed there are no experts who work for the embassy on here to advise but that's not to say there isn't plenty of people who have had first or even second hand experience when it comes to applying for a visa

Mizzy


[/quote]
Mizzy, my apologies - by 'worthless' I didn't mean that the information offered here isn't useful, it clearly is and the people here have a wealth of experience. But it isn't legally binding in any sense at all. Even if the information given here is 100% correct, turning up at US Immigration and saying you don't need a visa because someone on this forum told you so, isn't going to carry much weight with the IO.

Regardless of what anyone learns here, and regardless of whether it's right or wrong, people will still have to talk to the US Embassy at some time to get the official status. As much as I respect the advice and expertise of people like Blott and Robert, I am not going to plan a trip to the USA based on what they say, and nor should anyone else.

It that sense, the information given here in respect of whether ladypaula's friend needs a visa or not is worthless. It's their own personal opinion, their own interpretation of what the rules say. Only the US authorities can give the definitive answer. All I said was, she should just get the real info from the horse's mouth right away and then they can stop wondering and worrying, and just look forward to their holiday.