Getting into the USA with a criminal record?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Re: Getting into the USA with a criminal record?

Originally posted by reds4ever
One of the party was found guilty of handling stolen property 18 months ago,

Meant to get back to this earlier. A lot depends on what you mean by "handling." The question from the US's point of view, per the questions Marg quoted, is not so much felony vs. misdemeanor but whether or not he committed a "crime involving moral turpitide" (CIMT). Under US regs (available here ; see pp. 3-4 for the relavent discussion), receiving and transporting stolen goods are CIMTs; possession of stolen goods is not. So if it's just possession, he could honestly say on the questionnaire that he's never been convicted of such a crime.

[MarkG]

he could honestly say on the questionnaire that he's never been convicted of such a crime.

in any case it's under 5 years, he still can answer "no"

now if he is asked at customs for more details (doubtfull) he'll have to answer, but the form is clear imho....

[Solver]

Fascinating PDF. Theft is only a problem when you have the intention to permanently keep the stolen items.

[Pekka]

markg, not necessarily, I think it means what the penalty carries as maximum. So if it's possible to get 5 or more years from that crime, well then the answe is "yes" even if you got only fines from it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by MarkG

he could honestly say on the questionnaire that he's never been convicted of such a crime.

in any case it's under 5 years, he still can answer "no"

Not so. What question (b) is asking is if he's ever been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude OR if he's been sentencecd to an aggregate total of five years for various crimes (including non-CIMTs). He's good to go on the 5 years, but he can only anser "no" if his crime was not a CIMT; otherwise, the truthful answer to (b) is "yes."

edit: It occurs to me that the whole Lily Allen controversy is illustrative here. A mere arrest for assault -- no conviction, let alone time served -- has resulted in the revocation of her visa (and the cancellation of her US tour). Why? Because assault is a CIMT. So it really does matter what kind of stolen property crime it was.

[Pekka]

did you do this trip already and what happened?