Augustus

Hi allI wondered if anyone could advise me what the chances are of me visiting, working, living in the US are with the following convictions.

1. In 2002, I was convicted of trading with intent to defraud creditor and sentenced to 12 months however this was overturned on appeal and a community rehabilitation order was imposed, disqualified for being a company director for 5 years.

2. In 2006 I was convicted of burglary and damaging property and sentenced to 4 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months and unpaid work of 100 hours and to pay costs. 3. In 2007, there was a technical breach of the suspended sentence, and ordered to serve another 4 weeks of the unpaid work.

4. In 2009 I was convicted of obtaining services by deception and obtaining property by deception and was sentenced to 32 weeks imprisonment. The deception was related to signing a contract under the name of another company, due to a breach of a previous suspended sentence, I was sentenced to a consecutive 20 weeks imprisonment, totalling 52 weeks imprisonment.

5. In 2010, I was convicted of theft from a shop and was sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months and to pay £200.

6. In 2017, I was convicted of theft from a shop and was sentenced to community service of 80 hours community service and £1100 in costs. Now there are enormous mitigation behind all of these offences, but I wanted to call a spade a spade and not hide the details, I have mitigation for these offence, but an offence is an offence and although I have moved on with my life, educated myself, and have a responsible job, it is a sustained pattern of offending which reflects badly.It is also of no help that I have visited the USA on two occasions in the midst of this period, and I have not declared my convictions.I would be grateful for anyone kindly offering advice, what in the light of these offences and failure to declare would I be able to:a) Visit the USA?b) Work in the USA?c) Live in the USA?
Many thanks

chawkins99

Chances of:
a) visit the USA (Legally) - Zero
b) Work in the USA - Zero
c) Live in the USA - Zero

Nope, nada, no

materialcontroller

To be blunt - with that pattern of offending, you have no chance of being able to legally enter the USA for any purpose in the foreseeable future.

Muna_93

Agree with chawkins99. This shows a repeated pattern of offending (the last offence being *very* recent), coupled with multiple previous deceptions to DHS - your chances are next to zero.

Rete

Another in agreement with the other posters. Your track record of criminal offenses and continued disregard for the law and the sentences handed down, make you ineligible to use the VWP and more obtaining a formal tourist B visa even with a waiver is nil.

One, possibly two, offenses might be forgivable by Homeland Security and allow you to obtain a waiver as long as there have been many years between the last offense and the time of the application for a waiver. You, however, are a habitual criminal as shown by your continued criminal activities.

Also the deliberate misuse of the VWP is a mark against you. I don't believe not having committed a crime in the last year shows that you have rehabilitated yourself. As for mitigating circumstances, since the courts didn't find them justifiable, there is no way that Homeland Security will.

Guindalf

In case it's not clear, you have more chance of being the first man on Pluto as you have of entering the US legally for ANY reason!

You're not related to Norman Stanley Fletcher, are you?

materialcontroller

This is a very important point. There is no way that anyone is going to believe someone has "moved on with their life" when the most recent offence is 12 months ago.

The OP might have stood a small chance of showing rehabilitation if that last crime hadn't taken place, but even then it would have been difficult to persuade a conoff when all of the offences are similar CIMT's.

As things stand, the OP is very definitely SOL as far as visiting the USA is concerned.

Rete

People can come down on me all they wish, but I, for one, am glad that someone of this caliber doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of entering the US to live and work, let alone visit. We have enough of our homegrown criminals without need to import them.

materialcontroller

Well you say that, but many of these people still manage to enter the US by lying on ESTA applications etc.

In fact the OP has admitted to having done just that more than once in the past.

Muna_93

What's more annoying is that this risks potentially sabotaging the ease of travel/movement for everyone else if DHS decide the system has too many holes.

Ridiculous all round.

Rete

Understood but unless he or they wished to remain in the US illegally, they would never get a proper visa to the US. Count those who are here illegally with criminal records as part of our criminal population.

scrubbedexpat099

I am sure there are many holidaying in Disney who have not been completely truthful on their ESTA.

tom169

Honestly, try applying for a visa in 20-30 years, assuming no more criminality between now and then.

PupilBarrister

From an immigration stand point, you have to remember that the people that work in immigration are US citizens, who are aware more than anyone that their country imprisons more people for more crime than anywhere else in the world, their jails are full of the worst type of offenders, not that you are, but it gives the mindset and the mentality of just saying "NO" to anyone with other than what would appear on an ACPO file "NO TRACE", even people who apply for citzenship or visas, when it comes back "NO LIVE TRACE" (meaning there was something in the past but not for disclosure" get hauled into intense immigration interviews.

The one thing I would comment, is that you probably would be able to visit the US, according to the latest ESTA questions and comparing them with your declared convictions and actions.

1. Do you have a physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict; or do you currently have any of the following diseases (communicable diseases are specified pursuant to section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act): Cholera, Diphtheria, Tuberculosis infectious, Plague, Smallpox, Yellow Fever, Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, including Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, Crimean-Congo, Severe acute respiratory illnesses capable of transmission to other persons and likely to cause mortality.
2. Have you ever been arrested or convicted for a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority?
3. Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using, or distributing illegal drugs?
4. Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?
5. Have you ever committed fraud or misrepresented yourself or others to obtain, or assist others to obtain, a visa or entry into the United States?
6. Are you currently seeking employment in the United States or were you previously employed in the United States without prior permission from the U.S. government?
7. Have you ever been denied a U.S. visa you applied for with your current or previous passport, or have you ever been refused admission to the United States or withdrawn your application for admission at a U.S. port of entry?
8. Have you ever stayed in the United States longer than the admission period granted to you by the U.S. government?
9. Have you traveled to, or been present in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011?

If the criminal damage you spoke of were minor, then question 2 you could answer no to, and by implication if you were unaware or as the vast majority of clients in immigration cases state, they did not understand what CIMT stood for, and therefore you have not misrepresented yourself. You could technically clear all the hurdles of this question.

In relation to the other question you ask of living/working in the US, I have to follow the line of thought being aerated on this subject and say the chances are very slim, HOWEVER, it is refreshing to see you giving more details of the criminal convictions than covering it with mitigation.

It all depends on what you do, I have seen clients who have major offences, but not drug or violent related and as they are doctors, teachers or lawyers they get enough people to cite them references, twist the facts of the offence in their favour and promise to do everything and anything in the community they are planning to live in. One man I know, had planned to build a new school in the area!!!!! that got him in.

In essence, if there is a benefit to the USA and you know who to call to pull the strings so it goes across the right persons desk, if you are prepared to put the effort in, address your offending and speak of a new life, new world, new path, it tends to be good news.

However sadly, if your an average worker, plodding off to that god forsaken cube of a building in vauxhall and really have nothing to say other than sorry and you want a better life, then I am afraid its almost a certain no, which will be recorded and attempting to enter under the radar even with an ESTA will be impossible.

In short, there is always hope, but unless you want to spend months, even years working on trying to get in, you need to prepare yourself for the nearest you will get to Mickey Mouse and friends will be Disneyland Paris.

MidAtlantic

Have you ever been arrested OR... the answer is clearly YES