i've heard that if u wanna travel 2 America and u have a criminal record u need 2 apply 4 a visa to get through customs in America, otherwise they will just turn u round and put u on the next flight home.


reason i'm askin is that ive got a record 4 drink drivin and my girlfriend has it in her head that i should take her ther 4 her birthday

afaik, you only need a visa if you have a criminal record for violent crimes

so if i booked a holiday 2 Florida and got pulled over in customs over ther they cant send me back????

hmmm, after reading this, I'm not so sure.

I know other people who have criminal records who have been abroad without requiring a visa, but I'm unsure if they have been to the US.

ive been abroad a few times since being convicted for drink drivin only in europe though and never been pulled over in customs, but reading that its a bit complicated 4 my brain at this time of night.

I think it basically says you may be able to get a waiver if you contact the embassy

my grandad was done years ago an hes been to florida twice as far as i no he never did anything different.... dont quote me tho ..... try a travel agents they should kno???? maybe??? x

You will be ok IMO

First Read the top of this page Click me

Visa Waiver Program Click Me

So to me because you would be a Traveler (Nonimmigrant Visas)and your not staying over 90 days.

Hey look there is a Visa Waiver wizard lol to see if you qualify.

Click me

ok thanks 4 that, i just wont show the missus this thread 4 a while. i may well write to them and see what they say.

that lil test thing says its ok 4 me 2 travel aswel so i mite aswel start savin now!!!

You will be fine.

If you choose to go under the Visa Waiver Program, you take a risk, because you do have a criminal record. It's very unlikely that this will be picked up at immigration, but there's always a chance. My son is in exactly this position & chooses not to risk it. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand the stress during the flight, wondering whether I was going to get in, or was going to be put on the next flight back.
It was exactly because of this thought that when, many years ago, I was ticketed for exceeding the speed limit in Kansas, that I chose to pay the fine.

Cheers, Chris.

So what do you do write to them first?
And get permission?

Curious

Only just looked at this thread - I give you fair warning that they're tightening up security on even American citizens these days. With a record, I just wouldn't risk it myself. You could always call the US Embassy in London (though be warned, the thieving sods have their enquiry line on a premium rate phone line). Remember Thatcher's son being bounced a couple of years ago? Yes, he'd been done for something a bit more serious, but he did have an American wife and kids in the States. The immigration people over here are a law unto themselves these days. I think I read somewhere that British visitors to the USA are down by nearly 20% over either a year or two years ago.

Brian

(expat in Pennsylvania, USA, but I've got dual nationality thanks to my American missus and jumping through a LOT of hoops).

Cheers Brian ( Our U.S. Chief Correspondent )

I think all the god dam visa embassy's are rip off (End before i rant on an on lol )

If you have a record in another country eg being drunk in Spain will you still be allowed in? Very minor offence with just a €268 fine. However if you jumped bail and Spanish police found you 9 months later staying in a hostel in another region hundreds of miles away and you evaided them again and was a fugitive in the pyrenees but after realising you couldnt even get into France so returned to the city of the crime and handed yourself in at court accompanyed with your friend whos a barristor and 30mins later your a free peron again after a small fine would you still get in?
Just curious..

I think they would let you in, for being being so brave lol..

I'm sure you can ring and ask the embassy just use a friends name.
But i guess Being Drunk in spain should be ok
as half of the UK has done it.

There was the Geezer on the Radio who does the ch4 Big brother after show, the skinny nutter.

He had a drug conviction many moons ago,
and he didnt declare it on his visa app,
they found out, and still allow him in.

I think if your working with proxcide they may look closer?

But in reality i dont have a clue lol

i've got a record and they let in Australia with no trouble

Yeah, but they're all descended from convicts anyway

Your mistake is that you're assuming the immigration people are logical... I'd bet it depends on which border agent you get, or even which side of bed he got out of on that particular day.

Basically it seems to go on who they suspect - if something, anything, about you triggers an alarm bell in their minds, then you'll most likely get the full grilling.

If you want to come to the USA, then you have a choice. Either work on paying them a small ransom to check over the phone, or if you're in London, wander round to the Embassy and ask them. I don't know what applying for a visa costs, because the only time I got one it was the "one-way" one, which gave me residence rights provided the missus and I got hitched within 90 days of my arrival. You might get it done on the cheap by writing to the US Embassy, and that way you have some evidence to show the border guard, *IF* you get a reply.

If you want to risk paying the air fares for nothing, then take a chance on the visa waiver scheme, but if they do bounce you, you stay bounced for a while (ten years, I think).

And I know everyone will know this, but if you're coming to the States, *BUY HEALTH INSURANCE*. At least a million bucks worth. Unless you've seen it in operation, you can have no idea how American hospital bills can mount up. My missus broke her leg a couple of years ago. They had her in hospital from early Sunday morning until late Monday evening, put a couple of plates and screws into her leg, and sent her home in a cast. The bills for that came to around $20,000 (fortunately we've got insurance as one of her retirement benefits).


Brian.

Bloody hell How much for a Broken Leg.
Sound advice

Health charges over here are beyond belief - and they have the nice little gotcha that if you're uninsured, you'll pay MUCH more. The big health insurers screw the hospitals hard on pricing, because the hospitals need to "participate" with the big insurers in order to get the patients, and so the health insurance companies dictate the prices to their clients, not the hospitals. They also have a rule that if the hospital "participates", then the hospital can't charge the patient the difference between what the hospital wanted to charge and what the health insurer would pay (and thankfully so, from my point of view).

However, the hospitals then charge high prices to make sure that they can get every penny that the health insurers will pay, and of course, they don't reduce the bill for the uninsured. (OK, I'm being a little unfair here. There are *some* schemes at *some* hospitals that, if you're willing to jump through all the hoops *and* you pass the means test, will pay some or all of your bill).

An example from personal experience. I'm a chronic pain case, and back in 1998, I ended up in a hospital emergency room (American for A&E) because the pain was getting too much for me to handle. Due to a foul-up with the bureaucracy, they thought I was uninsured, and sent me a bill for just under $1500. I called them and my insurance company and sorted the mess out, and the hospital then was paid in full according to my insurance company's list of charges. They accepted (had to accept!) $139 in full payment. No, that is *not* a typo. They accepted **less than a tenth** of what they were going to bill me if I didn't have insurance.

If this sounds like I have a major downer on the States, then that's not true. I know that I'm over here for the rest of my natural, due to the difference in house prices if for no other reason, and there are a lot of things I like about the USA, but the health care system here is a disgrace to any supposedly 'civilised' country. The health insurers and the health care providers spend all of their time trying to swindle one another. I've seen figures which suggest that more than half of the cost of health care services goes on administration, and I wouldn't doubt it for a moment.

A lot of people in the USA will buy drugs, and often expensive treatments, from either Canada or Mexico. I did it myself before my wife's benefits kicked in, and gave us both insurance coverage.


Brian.

Wow
I know ive seen and i'm sure a lot of people have seen
the cases on soap tv where the person cant be treated
because of no paper work ie medical insurance.

Do you have prove insurance before treatment?
And if not what's stopping you legging it after giving false details?

Just shows how lucky we are in a lot of respects.

Thanks to Bill Clinton during his terms in office, there is now *Federal* legislation in place which says that any hospital *has* to at least "stabilise" someone who is taken there, irrespective of whether or not they can pay.

As regards proving insurance before treatment, well yes, if you're in any fit state to be asked, they will want to photocopy the card that your health insurance company gives you before treatment starts. If you're in sufficient trouble that they can't do that, then it's unlikely you're going to be legging it anywhere. Most people in the USA carry their health insurance card with them anytime they go out of the house.

I suspect that if you were taken into hospital and you weren't already on their records, they'd try to get a copy of your drivers licence, which is used as the standard photo ID in the USA, if you said you were uninsured.

If you wanted to do a runner, then you don't have to pay on the spot, and sure, you could try keeping one step ahead of the collection agencies, and then the police. Wouldn't recommend it, though.

The American health care system *is* a disgrace, at least in the way in which it's billed. I do have to say that it's *far* more responsive to non-urgent cases than the NHS. It's very rare to wait more than two weeks for an appointment, in my experience.

Mention socialised health care over here and you will very quickly get howled down, the funny (almost!) thing is that America DOES generally have socialised health care, it's in place for the vast majority of pensioners, and there are a lot of state schemes for children who would be otherwise uninsured.

They could go a long way to fixing the current system if they just switched to a single-payer (i.e. government run) national scheme, though you'd have a hell of a lot of unemployed administrators to take care of afterwards, and of course nationalising anything over here would probably provoke an even worse reaction than socialised health care.

Like I said before, as far as I'm concerned, it's a close thing for where I prefer to live. If you could take the best from both countries, then the result would be a REALLY nice place to live...


Brian.