Travel Advice - Not Sure If This Is Right Place To Post

[skonk]

I'm booking a holiday to LA for next October, 2009. I'm just browsing a few fares and I have noticed something called the Visa Waiver Programme. This is what it says...

 

Under the Visa Waiver Program, all international travellers who wish to travel to the United States from 1st January 2009 are now subject to enhanced security requirements. If you are travelling to the United states from the 1st January 2009, entry requirements have changed and a Visa Waiver Form must be completed and approved at least 72hours prior to departure.I have been to the USA before, in 2001, but I am worried now, as I have had 2 cautions when I was 13. I will be 36 by the time the holiday is coming up, and I'm wondering if these will show up on this enhanced security check, and if so, will it stop me from travelling? The cautions were not for drugs or anything to do with them, petty shoplifting of crisps and sweets from a shop! Oh, we we're all stupid when we were kids!!

 

I apologise if this is in the wrong forum. Thanks in advance...

[flyingdoc]

If these were police cautions then I would be very surprised if they are even documented anywhere anymore.

I had a similarly stupid childhood and obtained a police caution at a similar age (would you believe for assault on a police officer - case of mistaken identity)

I have since undergone several police checks as I worked for many years as a nurse and had to undergo several security checks as I worked with children. This caution was never unearthed.

[skonk]

Thanks for the reply! It's just, I read somewhere that even though convictions i.e. cautions were spent when you turned 17, I read that these still come up on an enhanced CRB check. I know this security check isn't the same, but was worried in case it still dredged it up.

 

Also, I did read somewhere on here that cautions that were given that long ago we're more than likely destroyed by police, but then someone else said they weren't. I would've turned 17 in August 1990, so that's 18 years ago.

 

I know there is a difference between a CRB check and an enhanced one, and it's kind of getting me a bit worried now, as I had totally forgotten about these silly cautions, but reading some posts about CRB's, and I've never been in a job where one was required, I'm starting to think I am now limited in the jobs I choose to take, for fear of these cautions being revealed in enhanced crb's, if I needed one.

[sillygirl1]

I think you may now find with the new president in place these 'visa requirements' will be thrown out the window, no way can they cope with the flood of requests within 72 hours, they normally take 3 weeks or even longer and thats dealing with enhanced CRB checks.

 

This silly restriction won't last that long - I would think that 18 years ago predates a lot of computerised records but it's best be safe than sorry.

[sillygirl1]

Heres the link from the US Government website, it doesn't say anything about UK citizens that I can find, there is a list of countries it applies to, you might want to print it out and send it to the airline if they ask you to fill in a form.

 

Visa Waiver Program (VWP)

[ukaviator]

If you’re travelling to America next year and are eligible to travel under the US Visa Waiver Programme. From 12th January, you will have to apply online for permission to enter the United States.

 

The Visa Waiver Program consists of 34 countries including the UK, and enables qualifying citizens with a machine readable passport to visit the US for up to 90 days without applying for a visa, but the US is doing away with those fiddly green forms you fill in while hunched over on the plane, replacing them with ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), a compulsory online travel permit.

 

From mid-January, all visa waiver travellers must pre-register online at least 72 hours prior to travel to obtain an authorisation. Once obtained, visa waivers are valid for two years, or until your passport expires. Fail to do this, and you will not be allowed into the country.

 

The official ESTA website is https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov, and all visa waiver applicants should submit their information through this site alone.

[Sidewinder]

I'm booking a holiday to LA for next October, 2009. I'm just browsing a few fares and I have noticed something called the Visa Waiver Programme. This is what it says...

 

Under the Visa Waiver Program, all international travellers who wish to travel to the United States from 1st January 2009 are now subject to enhanced security requirements. If you are travelling to the United states from the 1st January 2009, entry requirements have changed and a Visa Waiver Form must be completed and approved at least 72hours prior to departure.I have been to the USA before, in 2001, but I am worried now, as I have had 2 cautions when I was 13. I will be 36 by the time the holiday is coming up, and I'm wondering if these will show up on this enhanced security check, and if so, will it stop me from travelling? The cautions were not for drugs or anything to do with them, petty shoplifting of crisps and sweets from a shop! Oh, we we're all stupid when we were kids!!

 

I apologise if this is in the wrong forum. Thanks in advance...

 

Just a word of caution.....

 

As you have been arrested (the date of which is irrelevant - the question which you have to answer to be eligible for the VWP is 'Have you ever been arrested...') you will not be eligible to travel without applying for a Visa and attending an interview at the US Embassy.

 

Have a look HERE and complete the wizard to see what you need to travel to the USA. The questions are pretty clear and state that any arrest, whether leading to conviction or not (and especially as a caution is effectively a conviction as it involves an admission of guilt) for anything more than a minor traffic matter, disqualifies the traveller from the Visa Waiver Programme.

 

Yes it could be argued that the cautions may not show up so you might as well try to bluff it, but the fact is that our Government have given the US Government access to a frightening amount of information and I personally would not want to try and 'wing' it if I was spending that much on a holiday - there are simply too many anecdotal cases where people have been refused entry (and permanently barred) into the US for not declaring. We are talking about US law here, so the fact that convictions may become 'spent' in the UK is completely irrelevant - in terms of entry to the US, the fact that a person has a caution, arrest or conviction 10, 20 or even 50 years ago MAY be relevant if you lie about it to enter the US.

[skonk]

Thanks sidewinder, that was what I was afraid of. I can understand their security concerns, but a 13 yr old stealing some sweets isn't a threat to national security, is it?! But, I suppose we have to abide by their laws, no matter how daft they seem. I suppose I'll have to go through procedure and see what happens. Obviously, I could take the risk and try bluff it, but like you said, if there's a chance I could get refused entry and all that, it's not really worth it.

[skonk]

Just a little update. A friend of mine and her husband have just booked a holiday to New York in october. She's a microbioligist, and he's high up in the railway service, so they are both honest, respectable people. Now, I n the conversation last week, I asked if they knew about this visa waiver scheme. They hadn't and both laughed at it and thought I was winding them up when I said even if you were a kid and got a caution, you have to go to the US embassy in London for an interview, and even then, you're not guaranteed a visa.

 

She then told me that she got a police caution for possession of a joint when she was 19 (she's 33 now), so a drug offence, and her hubby got nicked shoplifting when he was 12! he wasn't cautioned though. My friend said that she can understand her having to attend an interview, as it is a drugs offence, but her husbands little misdemeaner when he was 12 sounded a bit ridiculous, so she called the embassy in London.

 

She said the guy she spoke to was really abrupt and not very nice. She explained that she knew she had to come for the interview, but did her husband need to, as he wasn't even cautioned, and the man said yes, He said the he has to go to the police station and get a copy of the arrest and bring it with him.

 

Now, he's the same age as me, 35, and funnily enough, I got a caution for shoplifting when I was 13, as explained in the first post, whereas he wasn't charged with anything. The chances are, there won't be a record of arrest, so in theory, nothing will come up on the computer, USA side. When my friend told this man at the embassy that the chance of there still being a record of arrest that happened 23-24 years ago, is probably next to none, the man said it wasn't his problem and if her husband wanted to visit the USA, he should try his damn best to get a record of it!

 

I shall post back up when I know what is happening with them, and see what the embassy has to say about a 12 yr old nicking sweets being a threat to national security!

Edited March 18, 2009 by skonk
spelling doh!!