resu

I plan to visit friends in the U.S. for two weeks over thanksgiving, but unfortunately have a criminal record for a public intoxication and disorderly conduct which I got when I was a exchange student there (J1 visa) last spring semester. The visa waiver program doesn't cover me anymore (becouse of the record), so I need a tourist visa for every visit.

My appointment for the tourist visa is on Tuesday, and I'm abit worried. I guess I will get all my questions answered then but I can't wait.

How big are my chances? I do have police records in original with me and it was really not a serious crime.

How long will it take to get the visa? I read something about FBI lookups and stuff and that it make take MONTHS. If that's true, how big are the chances that I have my tourist visa before November 18th?

Also, any experiences of flight availability around thanksgiving..? How far in advance will have to book my ticket? My departure airport will be Copenhagen, Denmark, and I want to arrive somewhere within a 5 hour car drive from Northwest Arkansas.

Thanks alot,
The Swede

crg

Public intoxication and disorderly conduct are not crimes involving moral turpitude and did not prevent you from using the visa waiver program. I don't even know why you are seeking a visitors visa.

resu

On the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm's website it says:

"NOTE: Certain persons may not use this program such as those who previously have been refused entry to the United States or people who have been arrested, even if the arrest didn’t result in a criminal conviction, those with criminal records, certain contagious diseases, a history of mental illness, and other problems, and persons who have been deported from the US, or overstayed a previous visit, even by one day, on the Visa Waiver Program. Such travelers must apply for a visa."

(http://www.usemb.se/Consulate/vwpp.html)

So, at least for Swedish citizens, a criminal record of any kind is enough to be excluded from the visa waiver program.

I went to the embassy yesterday and was issued a tourist visa. No problems at all as long as the fingerprints doesn't show anything else, and you got police records / court records in original with you.

The lady at the embassy also informed me that a criminal record of this kind won't be a problem if applying for any other kind of visa (I didn't wanna ask about the K1 but asked about the J1 instead).

Ola

crg

They urge travellers with any little arrest to seek a visa before travelling because parts of the law are complicated. Some crimes can keep someone out, and others don't. Sometimes it depends on the penalty, age of the subject, jurisdiction and other factors. They want to check to see what the record is so you don't get arrested at the border and sent back. However, the officers at the border are capable of figuring it out as well.

If you were barred from using the visa waiver program for criminal reasons then you would have also needed a criminal waiver to get a visa.

The fact that they didn't annotate your visa with a 212(d)(3)(B) waiver of inadmissibility means that your criminal record wasn't serious enough to keep you out and you could have used the visa waiver program.

Roy The Brit

KLM through Amerstdam and Memphis is probably you best route

Jeremy Devers

Well, XNA in northwest Arkansas has flights from about 18 cities,
including all of the major hubs on the east coast. I'm sure you could
easily get a flight through JFK, O'Hare, Atlanta, DFW, Charlotte,
Newark, Cincinnati, Houston, Detroit, St. Louis or some of the others
I'm forgetting...

I listed them pretty much in order of what I would think would be most
likely... XNA is about 30 minutes from Fayetteville/Springdale and 15
from Bentonville/Rogers. Nice business traveller airport, serves
about half a million people a year but doesn't seem busy at all
because of the significantly reduced vacation travel compared to most
airports.