Hi All,

I'm the secondary applicant on my good lady's skilled independent 175 visa. 22 years ago I had a caution for possession of cannabis, 16 years ago I was convicted of drink driving and 12 years ago I was wrongfully arrested for shop lifting, took it to court and was found not guilty.

During the application process I have declared the drink driving as this is the only incident I was convicted of and that was the question, however, now we're into police checks the other two incidents will come up and so I'm worried I'll be rejected and have just wasted a couple of grand on a visa application that's going nowhere??



Any advice?

We have just gone through this process, my advice is to declare everything that you have been CONVICTED of in court including motoring offences. Arrests are not required as they are not proof of any wrongdoing so don't worry about those.
A caution is debatable but as I understand it this does not go to court? What I do know is that anything over 10 years is classed as NO LIVE TRACE, this means that during the past 10 years you have remained conviction free BUT there may beother minor offences in the past. The key word here is MINOR.
Reading your post I would declare the drink driving only.

Agree - just declare the actual conviction.

I didn't declare my caution and my police check came back 'No Live Trace' and I was fine.

I got arrested and cautioned for drunk and disorderly in Essex once, I didn't declare it and it didn't come up.

lol..same here!! Whereas my wife said NO TRACE....us guys and our shady pasts huh!

Those offences won't cause you to be rejected, and may not even appear on the police check. If they do, just attach a note to say you didn't declare them as you thought you need not declare cautions

Read the advice given on the application, it states CONVICTIONS only, however, the ACPO certificate can show cautions. Here is a FAQ response on their website:
"What will show up on my Police Certificate?

All Convictions, Warnings, Reprimands and Cautions recorded on UK Police Systems. We apply the principles of the 'ACPO Retention Guidelines for Nominal Records on the Police National Computer', which incorporates the Step Down Model, when preparing the Police Certificate. Please note that Scottish and Military Convictions are NOT subject to the Step Down Model. "

Hey guys,
I am about to populate my ACRO police application and wanted to confirm something.

One of the questions asks: Have you ever been arrested, cautioned, warned or reprimanded or convicted of a criminal offence blah blah blah. So are you saying that arrests and cautions should not be declared unless convicted.

My situation is an arrest for drunk and disorderly when I was in my early 20's, but no charge or conviction. I was going to say yes, but reading the above should I leave it out or just be honest?

I take it was a caution you received? It's always best to be honest. If it was a while ago & you can show that it was just a blip or a daft mistake & you've been law abiding etc since, it's usually not too much of a problem. If you don't declare it & they find out though, you're likely to have more problems, and could fail the character requirements.

If the question asks " Have you ever been arrested, cautioned, warned or reprimanded or convicted of a criminal offence" then answer it honestly. It won't make a difference to the way they search. The aim is to get people to be honest
If you have a long string of convictions and you admitted to them it also makes the job of the checker easier because they can see straight away that they have the right record for that person. If the checker has a form in front of them saying "I've never had any dealing with the police and never been arrested" and then they turn up a record with 85 conviftions on it, they have to spend longer verifying the person's identity before they can release the record.
(I checked a guy once who answered that question with "NEVER" in 3 cm high letters. he had just been released from serving time for murder and had previous for assault )

Just be honest, they won't penalise you for it at all

Thanks for the advice. Honesty is the best policy and as this was over 15 years ago and I was only reprimanded. Youth and alcohol hey