pawoodster

Do I need to submit a Court Record for a UK drink driving offence and do drink driving offences appear on your police certificate?

I honestly hadn't taken it into consideration until my K-3 packet turned up.

Thanks.

NJ_Dave

Apply for your police certificate ASAP, as you will need it for your K3 application. Only then will you know what convictions are on you police certificate. If you were convicted for the offence you will need to submit court records.

pawoodster

Do I get the court records direct from the court and how long do they take to process?

I'm asking this as I sent away for my police serts a few days ago and my K-3 packet has since turned up. Would it be unwise to push forward with an interview date before I am in full knowledge of what my police certificate might say, or could I get the court record relatively quickly?

It's just that I wouldn't mind trying to coincide my visa interview with the wife popping over for Christmas.

Thanks for your help.

Just Jenney

Yes, it would be unwise to set up your visa interview before you have all the required documents in hand first, unless the interview date clearly gives you enough time to obtain them in advance.

Regardless of what the police certificate says, if you were convicted then you'll need the court records anyway. If you weren't convicted then you don't need the court records. Surely you know whether you were convicted or not (and thus whether you need to obtain the court records)??

If you in fact need to obtain the court records, then contact the court and ask them what the procedure is. Maybe you could get them in person, which might speed up the process.

~ Jenney

pawoodster

Of course I was convicted. What makes you think that I don't think I was?

The point is that drink driving has been established elsewhere on this forum as a non moral turpitude crime. I also know that drink driving convictions from the UK are minor offences and are not generally taken into consideration when you're asked about your criminal history when filling out any type of form.

Basically, I have never had to take my drink driving conviction into consideration before. It has never been an issue other than with insurance firms etc. Now if my police certificate does not show the conviction, I can't see the point of upsetting the apple cart, as it were.

I suppose the question is whether only moral turpitude convictions count, or does any conviction for any offence that you have attended court for require a court record to be submitted.

If anybody has direct experience of this I'd be more than interested to hear what happened.

Thanks.

NJ_Dave

Even if it does not appear on your police cert (which I doubt, as you were convicted for it) you still must declare it, and there will be a question on your non-immigrant visa form where you can declare it. Lying in your visa interview, or lying to a USCIS officer at your point of entry is a lot more serious than 'upsetting the apple cart'. Get all of your documents, and be totally honest at your interview

pawoodster

I think I'll pop down to the court tomorrow and have a little word. It's obviously a damn sight better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for your help.

Just Jenney

Dbickle's response to your first post advised that you'll need the court records if you were convicted. Then you went on to ask if you should set up an interview date before you were in "full knowledge" of what the police certificate will say. The fact that you questioned whether you still needed to obtain the court records implied that you weren't sure if you were actually convicted.

First, a conviction is a conviction -- it doesn't matter what it was for. Some people here have had to dredge up court records for convictions that happened when they were 18-years-old for shoplifting, being drunk in public or (my personal favorite) urinating in public. If there's a conviction, the court records are needed.

Secondly, drunk driving (as we call it here) is taken a bit more seriously here than in the UK, at least socially. Just be aware of that.

As previously mentioned, a conviction is a conviction. If it does not show up on your police certificate for some reason, that does not give you permission to lie by omission to US immigration. Lying by omission is still lying.

See above.

~ Jenney

pawoodster

It implies nothing of the sort. Good grief. I wanted to see if it was a case of excessive Mary Ellening. Some people do like to make a storm out of a teacup.

Are you being sarcastic? Drink driving in America is a joke - or at least a joke where I've ever been. I was astonished as to how prevalent it was on a social level and how relaxed the law was compared to the UK. When compared to the UK you'd have thought that drink driving was some form of mandatory pastime for most Americans.

Just Jenney

I see that you haven't been around the NG for very long. Nothing wrong with that, but that means you haven't seen all the posts from the past couple of years from people who have been confused about whether they were actually convicted of certain offenses or not. Strange, but true. So in that context, my remarks to you were not totally off-base.

You said, "I also know that drink driving convictions from the UK are minor offences and are not generally taken into consideration when you're asked about your criminal history when filling out any type of form."

I have never filled out a UK job application, but every US job application I've ever seen has asked if the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime, and if so, what crime. Maybe the UK job applications don't require that information -- or if they do, they don't care. Here they do ask you for that information, and they do care. That's all I was saying.

I was sincerely trying to help you out and all you've done is be rude. I really don't understand why you have such a chip on your shoulder.

~ Jenney

ian-mstm

Some people just have way too much time on their hands and have nothing better to do than be rude and argumentative! Oh geez - I can't believe I just said this about someone else!

Ian

sphyrapicus

I'm not sure what circles you are hanging out in pal. Drunk driving is not looked very highly upon in North America. Have you not ever heard of the "designated driver" campaign? In the old days, in fact, legacy INS considered it a crime of moral turpitude. It's certainly not a crime to be taken lightly in this country.

Please enlighten us to the laws of the UK as it pertains to DWI/DUI. I'd be interested to see how it compares to the US, where you say our laws are a joke.

MightBe

My local Sheriff has a tendency to put convicted drunk driver in the chain gangs to clean the interstate medians for a month. Apparently its very sobering work in 95f temps. Northern states may be easier though.

rogerpenycate

Just to let you know, I had a drink driving offence (and ban) and it wasn't even mentioned at my interview. No need to worry