US Visas

[I Want A Works]

I did a silly thing over the New Year period, and got engaged to my American girlfriend. No obviously my mum and dad want to go over to meet her family, and as we are planning the wedding in New York state, they will be wanting to come over for that. But there is a wee problem..........
.........since the USA are now paranoid about letting naughty people into thier country, everyone that has a court conviction has to apply for a full visa before entering.

As bad luck would have it, my dad had to go to court twice for speeding tickets in the 1960's, so therefore he is a criminal in the eyes of the USA! We have looked at all the info available on the net and can see that he needs to get his criminal record form for Scotland Yard, and needs to visit the US embassy in London, but a 3 day trip to London from Thurso costs more than the ticket to New York! And we have been told that Scotland Yard don't keep record from that far back.

So what I'm wanting to know is, does anyone here know of some one that has been in a similar situation, and what they did or what they were told?

My dad, and intended thank you in advance.

[sleepyrascal]

if scotland yard dont keep records that far back... how do the USA know about it?

[Craig]

my advice would be don't say anything. I know of someone recently who had this very dilemma and the US did not pick up on it. I would be very surprised if they care about a couple of speeding tickets....

They would be much more interested in him if he was a burglar, car thief or murderer (I'm not saying your dad is a murderer by the way...;)).

From my knowledge of retention of documents, speeding tickets databases are only on a 5-10 year retention, so forget about them....:D:D

[Wul]

Graham - I had to help a work colleague with a similar situation (historic court appearance) and not trying to scare you but he never got over there - the reason wasn't that he never got his visa - he just didn't bank on it taking so long to get. You can go to the US embassy in belfast to apply for the visa rather than the london one - a bit cheaper to get to from Thurso.

Basically the US embassy approve your documents then they send them all (including your passport) over to the US - this bit can take about 8 weeks. They manage to approve your visa quick enough but then it takes them forever to post your passport back - that was the reason my mate couldn't even go to spain and wasted his 2 weeks holiday.

After all was said and done he found out that his conviction was so old (like your dads)that it wasn't on their computer and that he should have just filled in the form everyone else fills when going to the US as he would have been clean on their records.

Morale of the story - honesty is not always the bast policy. 8)

[Wul]

Oh and congrataulations mate! :approve:

[Crombers]

Yup congrats :approve:

[Crombers]

quote:Originally posted by Wul

Oh and congrataulations mate! :approve:


Spelling Wul mate , spelling !! :p;)

[monkimagic]

Well done mate.

I do quite alot of work with disclosure scotland, these speeding fines or court appearance will not be an issue.

Road traffic offences prior to 1993 are not recorded on the Police National Computer even later (2001)for the Criminal History System. Anyhting in the 1960's is of no interest to the USA unless it was a serious offence

Do not mention it in the visa and it will not be mentioned to you.

Monki

[sleepyrascal]

quote:Originally posted by Wul

Graham - I had to help a work colleague with a similar situation (historic court appearance) and not trying to scare you but he never got over there - the reason wasn't that he never got his visa - he just didn't bank on it taking so long to get. You can go to the US embassy in belfast to apply for the visa rather than the london one - a bit cheaper to get to from Thurso.

Basically the US embassy approve your documents then they send them all (including your passport) over to the US - this bit can take about 8 weeks. They manage to approve your visa quick enough but then it takes them forever to post your passport back - that was the reason my mate couldn't even go to spain and wasted his 2 weeks holiday.

After all was said and done he found out that his conviction was so old (like your dads)that it wasn't on their computer and that he should have just filled in the form everyone else fills when going to the US as he would have been clean on their records.

Morale of the story - honesty is not always the bast policy. 8)

Isnt there now a US embassy in Glasgow. I'm sure there is a Visa issuing post in Glasgow....

[I Want A Works]

First of all thanks for all the congrats

After a bit of further investigation, "minor traffic violations" are allowed, so that is ok.

But apparently from 1 Jan 2006 you can no longer go to Belfast for the visa, this is now for Northern Ireland, and ROI Residents only. Whether that is true or not I don't know, but don't bother us now :D

Now all I have to worry about is the embarressing stories that families tell each other.............