drjulius

About me:
1. came to the UK in 2001 under a student visa.
2. Currently on a Tier 1 (PSW) visa. Issued on 2008.

PS: PSW = Post study Work.

3. In full time employment, working for a local charity as a System Admin.

4. Was a "CJ Arrestee" on 5 th Nov 2009. Alleged Offence: acquiring property with deception.

5. Since then, I've been acquited. no further action.

About the Case.

a) Worked for a local charity, from 2005- 2006. (not the current 1 that I'm working for).
b) I volunteered to be the main contact of the charity with the doners/funders.
c) Also volunteered to be one of the account signatories on their bank account.
d) Resigned on June 2006 to concentrate on My MSc (full time).
e) After this, the only contact I had with this charity was when they wanted to access their funds/grants in their account. For charities, you have to have a minimum of 2 signatories to withraw any monies and I was one of them. I also helped them to open another account with a different bank. I however gave them everything, from the visa debit cards to the cheque books. I had no need for them and I did not want to inconvinience them or spend my time going to the banks to get some funds out.

f) No more contact was made by the charity. That was in 2007. Found work in the charity I'm working for presently.

g) Got a call from the Met police in October 2009. They wanted to have a meeting with me with regards to the former charity I worked for. They are investigating some possibility of fraud, and since my name was on the application forms as a main contact, they wanted to speak to me.

h) The voluntary meeting turned out to be an arrest since they cannot question me in any other conditions. (i wonder if all informants get arrested..just a thought!) So I went through the processing. Had my solicitor at the interview. Was given a bail notice. told to report at the station on January 2010. My solicitor told me not to worry since they were just seeking more information. They just wanted to know if I knew anything with regards to what they were after. After this, it was a waiting game.

i) Got a phone call from the police that all the alleged offences/charges have been dropped and I don't have to report in January 2010.

Reasons for Visit in America.

My auntie (US Citizen) wants to invite me for thanksgiving 2010.

After reading threads here with regards to cautions, convictions, and no charges, this is what I've gathered.

1. In my case, It does not matter weather I was charged or case dropped. The crime in question is what is going to have the most impact, right?

2. I will get everything the Met have on me, from the arrest to any papers on the interview and what they have on me on the PNC.

3. Other people who had their cases on this forum so far, have been issued with visas but since my arrest was so recent, what are the chances here, even though I wasn't charged?

4. If I had to get legal representation, please could anyone advice me of a suitable one, preferrably with experience of similar cases?

5. My ambition was to re-locate to US later in life maybe when I'm 35 yrs or so, since I'd love to work there, so that's why I want to get this right the first time.

Please please don't argue. I just need straight, sober on the best way forward. I need to apply now since after reading some threads, these issues may take 6+ months to get sorted out.

thank you. I'll update the thread as new information, if any comes up. If anyone needs any clarification on the above, please let me know and thanks again for this forum and your help/assistance will be highly appreciated!

ian-mstm

From where? What passport do you hold?


Kudos for your sharp thinking. Having your solicitor with you was a great idea.


See if you can get this in writing.


The nature of the crime is important... but since nothing ever came of it, my gut feeling is that you'll be fine.


Good.


Quite good.


Again, kudos for thinking well ahead of things.


Get hold of the police reports, and apply. Are you from a country that allows travel on the visa waiver program (VWP)? If so, you've not written anything here that would stop you from using the VWP... which would be quite a bit less complicated for your travel plans.

I'm sure others will be along to add their thoughts... after they've finished with Christmas dinner! We had a 3-hour power outage first thing this morning, so dinner here isn't quite ready!

Ian

scrubbedexpat099

I also believe you would be OK with the VWP.

BritishGuy36

Oh it's ok, we only give you a hard time if you show up here admitting to be a scroat and show no remorse - or are just plain stupid.

You evidently aren't in either of those categories.

As Ian said you should be fine. I agree that it appears you wouldn't have an issue using the VWP if your country of citizenship is a VWP country.

Ray

Yup I really believe that

http://www.usvisalawgroup.com/

When its free you get it all ....

drjulius

From a commonwealth nation (Kenya).

May I also add that I have a British Girlfriend and I don't want it to be stressful on her when travel times come.

drjulius

Thanks Ray. Your sense of humour made my day. I have nothing to hide. My auntie wants me to join the big family reunion on thanksgiving 2010. She's giving the family plenty of time to prepare (visas), so there would be no excuses. Thanks for the link to the legal representation. Anyone who have used the lawyers? and if so, are they any good? (That is if worst comes to worst..)

drjulius

Any advice on that? Does it matter how recent it was or how far back it was? Any thoughts?

And thank you everyone for your lively contributions. Since almost all of you have had their experiences with the US immigration, Thank you once again for your valuable contributions! Much appreciated!

ian-mstm

Usually, the farther back the arrest was... the better. However, in your case, I don't see a problem. Your arrest resulted in nothing happening... and as long as you have the court papers to demonstrate that, you should be fine.

Once you have the papers, go ahead and apply for the visa. Good luck to you.

Ian

drjulius

Thanks Ian for the answer but I did not go to court. However, I'll get all the papers connected to my case. Much appreciated for your answer!

meauxna

How strange, a new one on me. The UK police can not question a person without arresting them?
That must make case investigation very burdensome!

Ray

And me ....

meauxna

I thought so.

scrubbedexpat099

They did no do that in Z Cars.

Ray

It that you ....Z victor 2