Help wanted

[Jean-F]

Subsequent to the Gove admission of drug use, I’ve been following a discussion on another forum, and contemplating registering, just to chip in, but I’m unsure of some of my facts, and Google hasn’t helped.
Quite a few posters have made a great deal out of Gove possibly lying when applying for an ESTA, and wether or not he could now be denied further entry to the U.S.
I’ve had a multiple entry U.S. visa for ages now, certainly since prior to 9/11, so I’ve never had to complete an ESTA, surely one of the questions can’t be, “have you ever used drugs?” can it?
I can understand the question, “have you ever been convicted for drug use?”
I know that on my visa application, it asked, “have you ever been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude?”, but I don’t recall being asked if I’d ever smoked a doobie.
One poster insists that the U.K. authorities do NOT pass criminal convictions of our citizens to the U.S. authorities, so if you lie on your ESTA, you’ll get a green light to enter the U.S., and won’t be turned around on arrival, saying that he knows a guy who served a 2 years prison sentence in U.K., but goes to the U.S. frequently with no hassle.
This was countered by another poster, who said that a U.S. embassy official told him that if any arrests or convictions were concealed by a hopeful traveller, they would come to light when U.S. immigration typed their name into a computer.
Who’s right, and who’s being negligent with the verité, anyone know?

 

[Jean-F]

I renewed my ESTA last week and it didn't ask me if I'd ever consumed any drugs. It asks lots of other questions like do you plan on terrorism or genocide or if you have a criminal record.

While I sincerely appreciate your reply, the thing that I was seeking to establish the truth of, is do the U.K. authorities supply the U.S. with details of convictions, or arrests, i.e. if a person has been convicted of say, punching someone on the nose, or forging cheques, and neglects to mention it on his ESTA application, will it come up on the immigration agent’s computer, when the visitor hands over his passport on arrival in the U.S.?
I reiterate, this isn’t for me, I’ve got nothing to hide, I have a multiple entry U.S. visa.

 

[Jean-F]

I don't think it does. But if your friend lied saying he hadnt been arrested, cautioned or convicted of a crime and then later on he tried to get a visa to move to the US then I think they ask for a full police record check, so it would come up there. I only know about visas for moving to the US. Not sure if a police record check is required for other visas though.

I'm not sure about the Gove issue. It might be by the letter of the law he didn't lie as if its never been brought to the polices attention then there is no record of it. But it's possible by his own admission recently that they might flag him up about it to ask him some questions.

Thanks Bowdon, my hand to God, there is no “friend” trying to flannel U.S. immigration, nor am I.
The nub of all this is, when Joe Bloggs, U.K. citizen, arrives at U.S. immigration, can the agent type Mr. Bloggs name into his computer, and find Mr. Bloggs criminal record in the U.K.?
I think that he possibly can, others say that there is no such “sharing” between the two countries.
This is all IF Mr. Bloggs had purposely omitted any arrests or convictions on his application.

 

[Jean-F]

US immigration don't have routine access to the UK criminal record databases, or the PNC - so no, when you turn up at US passport control they have no information at all on the criminal past of any individual, unless it's really serious and shows up on any of the shared databases (people trafficking, terrorism, etc) which if it did would probably mean you wouldn't have gotten on the plane in the first place.
The only law enforcement database CBP have access too is their own US one (and the Canadian one)

If they suspect something, they can eventually get your PNC record through 'back door channels' but there are hardly any cases of this ever happening, and they'd have to be really suspicious.

The only way US immigration would ever see criminal record information, is if you actually request it from the police via an ACRO certificate and take it to the embassy when you apply for a visa. (which you need to do for immigrant visas)

I know this from speaking to the police, an immigration lawyer, and also reading various freedom of information requests that have been made, as the good old 'crime involving mortal turpitude' question used to cause a lot of problems for people applying for ESTAs (they've changed the question now to something more sensible)

Thanks for that, very concise and informative, it’s appreciated.

 

[Jean-F]

Before ESTA you had these landing cards which contained similar questions. One that stood out for me was, "Are you, or have you ever, been part of the Nazi German regime", or words to that effect. Surely being a Nazi is a requirement for settling in the USA now, what with good people on both sides..?

As a very frequent visitor to the U.S., I remember the landing cards, and the customs forms, I don’t recall anything about Nazi regime, but I THINK that there was one question that said, “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”
I could be dreaming this, but I feel that I’ve seen somewhere, “Do you intend to engage in terrorist acts while in the U.S.?”
I remember saying to my wife, “Wonder if anyone’s ever ticked yes?”