lholly

My partner was last week convicted of a drink driving offence and possession of one cannabis cigarette. He was fined for both offences.

We have booked a family holdiay to the US for mid February. We have received conflicting advice about whther to apply for tourist visas or whether to travel without visa and fill in the I-94W on the plane.

If he applies for the tourist visa, the application may not not be processed in time for the holiday. He has been told that as the conviction for possession was less than 30 grams he would be eligible to the enter the US, but he does want to arrive at the US airport and then be refused entry.

Will he be allowed to enter without a tourist visa? Does the INS check the information on the I-94W form?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have to sort out this quickly. I have two children who would be greatly disappointed if I have to cancel their holiday.

Thanks,

lholly

Ingo Pakleppa

On Sat, 07 Dec 2002 01:02:08 +0000, lholly wrote:

    >
    > My partner was last week convicted of a drink driving offence and
    > possession of one cannabis cigarette. He was fined for both offences.
    >
    > We have booked a family holdiay to the US for mid February. We have
    > received conflicting advice about whther to apply for tourist visas or
    > whether to travel without visa and fill in the I-94W on the plane.

Don't try applying for a tourist visa because that would certainly be
denied - either because you are excludable, or because you don't need one.
Is cannabis the same as marijuana? I think it is, but am not quite
positive. In any case, there is a provision buried somewhere in
immigration law that a single conviction for posession of a small amount
of marijuana is not automatically "deadly" for immigration purposes, while
generally any drug-related conviction would be.

The drunk driving conviction by itself would probably be harmless,
although two separate convictions can be a problem (unless both
convictions stem from the same act).

    > If he applies for the tourist visa, the application may not not be
    > processed in time for the holiday. He has been told that as the
    > conviction for possession was less than 30 grams he would be eligible to
    > the enter the US, but he does want to arrive at the US airport and then
    > be refused entry.

That is the provision I was thinking of. I'm not sure about the exact
effect of it, though, whether it means that he is still admissible, or
simply that he qualifies for a waiver of inadmissibility.

    > Will he be allowed to enter without a tourist visa? Does the INS check
    > the information on the I-94W form?

INS has no way of checking it right then and there. He would have a
problem if he at some point later tried to, for instance, immigrate. In
that case, he would end up being banned for life because lying on the
I-94W would have constituted immigration fraud.

    > Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have to sort out this
    > quickly. I have two children who would be greatly disappointed if I have
    > to cancel their holiday.
    >
    > Thanks,
    >
    > lholly
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

lholly

Yes cannabis is the same as marijuana. The two offences were under the same conviction.

My own thoughts were that he should just fly without the tourist visa and fill in the I-94W as we are not planning on ever living permanently or working in the US. My partner was worried that the I-94W would be checked and he would be deported half way through the holiday!

Could this really happen?

Thanks for the advice

lholly

Ingo Pakleppa

On Sat, 07 Dec 2002 10:15:40 +0000, lholly wrote:

    >
    > Yes cannabis is the same as marijuana. The two offences were under the
    > same conviction.
    >
    > My own thoughts were that he should just fly without the tourist visa
    > and fill in the I-94W as we are not planning on ever living permanently
    > or working in the US. My partner was worried that the I-94W would be
    > checked and he would be deported half way through the holiday!
    >
    > Could this really happen?

Not likely. In any case, if it did happen, keep in mind that deportation
would take months to complete, so once he is admitted, they wouldn't even
bother with it.

philforfish

I will give you my recent experiences with US Immigration so you can draw your own conclusions......

In Jan 2000 I suffered a relationship breakdown with an ex partner that led to my arrest. The reason for this, I was told, was to avert a breach of the peace. The upshot was that I was summonsed in March & subsequently bound over to keep the peace or forefit £50 to the court.

August 2000 entered Florida, USA without incident.

April 2002 Entered Detroit, USA.

First Question: have you been arrested? Then I was asked what the
charge, conviction or fine was.

I explained there was no fine or conviction which seemed to confuse them. Then they quoted a psudonom that this ex partner had used to
denigrate my name. I quoted other psudonoms back to him - who were actually names of my Jamaican friends - I am white, British.

Fortunateley I had the arresting officers details to hand, gave the immigration officer my account of events. He said he woud have to run some more checks, but was unable to contact any of the people I gave him.

He then decided it was ok to admit me to the US but said I would need a letter from the Magistrate of the court involved when travelling in future.

You will note from the US Embassy website that a visa is required if you have been arrested regardless of whether convicted or not.

Take a look at:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/faqs/niv/faq_visafreetravel.htm

There are some interesting answers there.

I now wish to travel to Florida next month. If my visa has not arrived, I will be travelling with supporting paperwork & will take my chances.