US Immigration, UK Criminal Record?
OK, this basic question has been asked in infinitely different ways where people are trying to twist the question to get the answer they want, but I am trying to snoop out some solid facts, not personal experience.
I have a UK criminal record for Section 3 Unlawful Violence in Public (drunken punch-up) which means that I do not qualify for a Visa Waiver. I was charged just over a year ago, finger prints and DNA samples were taken, I attended a Magistrates Court, plead guilty and was fined.
I plan to visit New York in 3 weeks and I need to weigh up my options.
I'm currently living in China under a Temporary Residence Visa and hold a work permit, both of which I attained by declaring "no" to a criminal record. Part of my job requires me to do a lot of international travelling and in the last year I have visited China, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, Finland and Egypt with no problems...but I know the U.S. is a different animal.
I have already visited the US once in 2009, but this was before I received a criminal record.
I have 4 options:
1) Apply for a Visa before travel declaring my criminal record.
2) Apply for a Visa before travel not declaring my criminal record.
3) Declare my criminal record on my Visa Waiver Application.
4) Do not declare my criminal record on my Visa Waiver Application.
For option 1) I need to understand time-frames. From what I understand, I must:
i) Apply for my criminal record via ACRO: This sounds time consuming, and I can't supply them the proof of ID they require (proof of address through letterheads) remotely from China.
ii) Fill out a Non-Immigrant visa application form declaring my crimes.
iii) Attend an interview at US Embassy (Probably will have to be in native country, UK) The criminal record declaration also delays this process.
iv) Hopefully receive a Non-Immigrant Visa.
What is the general timeframe for this process?
In regard to option 2), I successfully did this for my Chinese Visa application. Do not under estimate this, as Chinese immigration is extremely strict; however I think the difference is information sharing between the two countries.
Do the US Embassy perform a criminal record search with every application?
Option 3) I don't declare my criminal record on my Visa Waiver and try to slip through customs.
I've heard so many success stories about this (I'm guessing those people who are refused entry are not so keen to talk about it) but I'm really struggling to understand this process.
I have heard of incidents though where people HAVE been refused admission into the USA because of petty crimes that are lingering on criminal records, so therefore they must have the facility to check certain databases.
The way I see it, the US Immigration can either have access to your information or not, I can't believe that this can be a pot luck scenario where they maybe search for you on criminal databases or they don't, i.e. 1 in 50 get searched for example.
So to me, this sounds like it is not a 'blanket' database, but more a selective one; i.e. nature of crime (drugs, violence - to be covered my 'Moral Turpitude') severity of crime, severity of punishment, how recent the crime was, bio-data taken from criminal (DNA, fingerprints).
US Immigration take fingerprints and retina scans upon entry - is this cross referenced against UK crime data?
This seems to be such a hazy and seldom understood process...I'm hoping someone can provide some facts on this and not hearsay.
Option 4) I declare my record on the Visa Waiver Application and obviously am refused the waiver and then likewise entry.
Any facts would be greatly appreciated.
Paul