leemo

does anyone know if having a criminal record in the UK will cause me problems getting a job in the US. Im talking about employer background checks, not getting a visa (i dont need 1). do they just look for convictions in the US or will they look for records in the UK aswell.

Michelmas

It depends if you need government security clearance or not. Probably won't go back to the UK, and if they did, Scotland Yard has no responsibility to respond to them.

DougDougDoug

I have never had background check pull UK info for US jobs or vice versa and I had security clearance (BAA) in UK that never looked at US background or other countries i has lived in.

Unless you have something major on your record and you tell them about it (which i dont recommend) you are ok. I think 99% of Government jobs wont look overseas unless you are getting a very high security clearance and as Michelmas said they may not even get a response on it.

When i was working in the Cayman Islands I had to have a background check done on myself in New York and submit it to the police in the Caymans to show i was not a criminal before i could work there.
Bermuda didnt require it, they just deported me because i had the wrong work permit...that was fun.

I used to live in Nigeria when i was a kid (my parents were Expat) and it causes probems in UK, US and other countries if you document that you have lived in Nigeria so I dont bother.

Not quite related to background check for employment but may be related to background HEALTH check for employment which some require.

Chrissywissy100

It depends upon the type of work / employers you are looking at. As in the UK different employers have different legal requirements for checking a volunteers / employees criminal background before allowing them to work.

For example I was required to have a criminal background check done on me for a Volunteer position in a hospital, and they DID write to the UK authorities, and they DID receive a response.

The best thing you can do if the job application asks about any previous convictions is to be honest.

scrubbedexpat091

Depends like others have said.

When I worked for an airline we did a background check and criminal record history that went back 10 years or to the age of 18 and we checked everything in that time period, if something could not be verified such as living oversea's and we could not obtain the info, we would decline employment to that person.

cathy22w

I have been hired by a company in the UK working with people with developmental disabilities. They are checking my background from both sides of the pond, since I spent the last 6 years in the USA.

Moonshadow_Girl

Keep in mind, that just by lying (or omitting the truth) on your application, that can be grounds for firing regardless of how insignificant the prior offense may have been. Be honest, and remember, there is a difference in the questions, "Have you ever been arrested?" and "Have you ever been convicted?".

JAJ

As far as employment law is concerned, it may be legal to ask about convictions but not necessarily legal to ask about arrests.

scrubbedexpat091

In California atleast an employer generally cannot ask about an arrest unless charges are still pending (waiting for a trial etc) with some exceptions such as police officer applicants and other types of employment.

Bob

Depends....they can ask about certain arrests as well as any convictions for some jobs, schools etc.

JAJ

Once again. It depends on circumstances and jurisdiction. Usually it would be illegal to ask, and if an applicant lied (about an arrest that did not lead to conviction), it would be illegal to take any action later on if found out.

And even if the law in a US jurisdiction allows arrests to be counted, one should always consider whether such law is constitutional.

Bob

which is all usually mooted because they can usually just fire you without cause anyway, but these questions are usually used for such jobs where they can't just do that like union jobs.

lapin_windstar

It depends on how important you are and how sensitive the job is. Checking in multiple jurisdictions costs money so how much work is done is usually scaled to what risk is presented.
...is not exactly the case. Accessing the records in the UK (at least on the basis as a UK company in the UK) won't be a problem if they decide they want to: background checks are mostly done by outsourcers who have partners/affiliates/sister companies in the UK. "Scotland Yard" doesn't do criminal records since 2002, when the Criminal Records Bureau was set up. You may have to give additional consent to the general consent form the employer will probably give you (although consent isn't necessary to do a background check generally, just specifically for people like the CRB etc), I don't remember.

JAJ/Jsmth321: I have seen hundreds of these forms and in practice, employers can ask whatever they like on arrests, convictions etc - there is a lot of ambiguity about whether it's legal or not under federal and various state laws, and no-one ever complains because they think (probably rightly) that it will raise a flag about their employability. The question is really whether you declare something that the company asks about but which law states/suggests (it's sometimes vague) says you shouldn't have been asked about or you're not obliged to disclose. And then there's another layer of ambiguity abot

OP: You need to do your own research on whether you are obliged to disclose a conviction of type X and age Y under the law of the place that you and the employer are in. You also need to consider whether your conviction would actually be held and discloseable by the Criminal Records Bureau in the UK - it may be spent/not discloseable etc. www.crb.gov.uk

Also - it depends on the offence but in some circumstances, the important bit in finding a conviction that was not disclosed was not usually the conviction itself but the lying about it, and if it had been declared, it wouldn't have been a problem. People always lie about DUIs and they're the easiest to find...

Dan725

I had a background check for my current job. The background check company did call my last two employers that were overseas - however, they are looking to verify your employment history, and (as far as I am aware), didn't carry out any overseas criminal check - which I'd only expect if you were a US citizen applying for a job that requires a security clearance.

meauxna

Why do you ask?