evil-homer

Hi , looking for some help

I have just been through the process of obtaining a b2 visa via the us embassy in london last week as i have some minor convictions

I am Lurker of this forum as well as others so i managed to find all the relevant information i needed to complete the process , all went well, all paper work was in order, got to the interview , got through the interview and was told they could offer me a visa , go to the DX counter and pay the return fee and you will have it back in around 3 working days

Great news, I was over the moon

today i get an email from them to say i am "required to obtain a memorandum of conviction form the court you where you were tried"

this is in relation to my ACPO sheet having a court case listed for which i was found not guilty for 16 years ago , the charge was for robbery (sounds much worst then it was , it invlovled £10 and i was innocent), it states that this was "discharged"

i was suprized to see this on the sheet and was asked about it while at the interview , it clearly says discharged as the sentence so they seemed to be happy with as i was told i could have a visa

I was at the court case as the defendant (obviously) and i remember it well ,Half way through the trial the judge ridiculed the prosecution for bringing such a minor case to court (its standard for this type of charge to go to crown court) , he asked the foreman of the jury to stand and ORDERED him to find me not gulity , he preized my character and told me i was free to leave

I'v never realy given this any thought since, when it showed up on my ACPO sheet , it clearly says "discharged" so i wasnt that concerned ,

The email from the Embassy says:

we are unable to determine whether ‘Discharged’ refers to an absolute discharge (not guilty) or a conditional discharge (guilty).


Iv been googling "‘Discharged’ and its all a bit hit and miss , i cant find any simular cases , the only info i can find of relevance says :

An absolute discharge is a lesser sentence imposed by a court, in which no penalty is imposed at all. Exceptionally, however, a court occasionally grants an absolute discharge for a very serious offence. (The signalman in the Thirsk rail crash, who was found guilty of manslaughter, is an example of this.) This usually signifies that while a crime may technically have been committed, the imposition of any punishment would, in the opinion of the judge or magistrates, be inappropriate

but as mine states "discharged" im at a loss , there is also little information regarding obtaining "memorandum of conviction" , im thinking that somone somwhere as made a clerical error , iv never heard of a case of not guilty then being listed as discharged , likewise iv never known a case be found guilty and sentenced to "discharged" ,

I am now doubting my sanity and asking myself if i was found guilty , even though i know i wasnt

the email goes onto say:

If you are unable to obtain any records from the court due to the length of time since the trial, please ask the court to provide a letter stating the record no longer exist.

and then says it may have to go off to Homeland Security in Washington which can take 24 weeks

i have booked a holiday for july and this is now becoming very stressfull as i stand to lose a lot of money

i will of course be on the phone to the court in question as soon as they open in the morning but if anyone as any relevent advice they can offer me it would be most welcome , i have read on here it costs around £60 , more importantly i could do with knowing how long it takes , they still have my passport

materialcontroller

I'm surprised your ACPO had any information on it from 16 years ago. After that length of time I would've expected any records to have been stepped down. Moreover, I would not have expected an acquittal to be recorded either.

evil-homer

same , after doing some more googling its still all a bit hit and miss

http://lawfacts.ca/taxonomy/term/22

http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/D/Discharge.aspx

i definitely wasnt given a conditional discharge , from what i have been reading it seems to look more like a Absolute Discharge (even though i was found not guilty)

i dont know why it doesnt read as Absolute Discharge , just discharged doesnt seem to exsit ,

I cant now find it but i read an Absolute Discharge stays on your criminal record for 1 year if you stay out of trouble but if your in trouble within that year (i was) it then stays on your record for 20 years , it cant be a conditional discharge as you would then be re-charged or re-sentenced for the crime you were discharged for

JumboCat

Hi

My MoC took about 10 days - but that was in 2004 and only cost £10.

The more details you can give the quicker it is to process.

JC

JumboCat

Hi

You might be able to get an answer about the meaning of ‘Discharged’ here: http://www.unlock.org.uk

JumboCat

Hi

Correction - my MoC is actually a Subject Access Request. It details my arrest - charge - conviction - fine etc. It is quite detailed. I applied for the SAR ages ago through local Police Authority, it cost £10.

Hopefully the ConOff won't request an MoC from me. The court where I appeared closed years ago. I enquired about an MoC last week, the person at the court said they will need to check the archives. When I said the incident happened in 1995 - it was like whoa!

There is no benefit to anyone or the embassy if a UK court has no MoC's on record and has to write a letter explaining no MoC exists. It doesn't prove what the Discharge was?

Wonder if it's worth contacting the Embassy to see if an SAR is acceptable?

For SAR details see here.
http://www.unlock.org.uk/xoffenders....icecertificate

Hope this helps.

materialcontroller

No, but it shows due diligence on the part of the applicant - ie. that you gave it your best shot at tracking down the information.

Don't bother contacting the embassy. Take it from me, that an SAR is perfectly acceptable in place of an MOC in most cases.