I've seen a few people on here that have received Police Certificates for an records a person may have. What if a person received one that has no record but they know they have been arrested, AND it is really close to the 11 year mark where everything gets wiped?

The plan is to answer yes to being arrested but show the certificate says nothing.
What happens when you enter the US for the first time? Is it going to have to be answered again or is the K-1 Visa going to suffice at the border since the US and Consulate already okayed everything.

A police certificate only shows convictions for most people. It is only quite recently I have noticed when doing checks on people on the Police National Computer that an entry might show a not guilty verdict in court or a matter where a person was charged but the case was dropped before it got to court.

By the way if the 11 year mark you mention refers to the PNC, nothing gets wiped from it, until they are notified by a police officer a person with a record has died or the person would be so old it is not possible they are still alive. The USA does not recognise our Rehabilitation of Offenders Act so there are no such thing spent convictions for visa applicants.

If have been arrested and not charged with a recordable offence and you should not have a PNC record.

Ok so if the Police Report comes back clear then there are no recorded arrests and therefore he has no record? (by the way, it was for a drunk & disorderly...something that seems to be common in a lot of younger people by the look of the cop shows here in England. lol)

Trust me when I say that offences can still be on show 30 years later, even minor ones, i.e. driving with no insurance et.

They are 2 seperate issues:

1. Provide the police record

2. Provide details of convictions.

One does not have to match the other.

i'd like to add my question to the mix here; my fiance has a conviction of canabis possession about 12 years ago---is this going to be a deal-breaker in terms of getting him into the US???

anna

Drunk and Disorderly is not a recordable offence so there wouldn't be a record on the PNC.

However if he was arrested for it and went to Court, there would be an entry in the Court records as well as the police possibly having a custody record. I say possibly because if it was so long ago they were using paper custody records they don't have to be kept for more than 6 years so may have been destroyed. If the 6 years are up it is not certain they have been. If the custody record was on a computer that should still be available.

The arrest should be declared to the Embassy with an explanation of what it was. If you do that it will not be a problem, lie about it and if found out major problems.

Drunk and Disorderly is not a recordable offence so there wouldn't be a record on the PNC.

However if he was arrested for it and went to Court, there would be an entry in the Court records as well as the police possibly having a custody record. I say possibly because if it was so long ago they were using paper custody records they don't have to be kept for more than 6 years so may have been destroyed. If the 6 years are up it is not certain they have been. If the custody record was on a computer that should still be available.

The arrest should be declared to the Embassy with an explanation of what it was. If you do that it will not be a problem, lie about it and if found out major problems.
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Any thoughts on a canabis possession? he was arrested and went to court but was never in custody...this was about 12 years ago...

If he was convicted he will have a criminal record and it will be on his police certificate.

he was convicted and fined, but was not held in custody...is this going to be a deal-breaker as far as the embassy is concerned? he was 19 at the time...

Hi,

I too would like to know the answer to this as I was convicted of posession of cannabis when I was 17 and again when I was 18 (daft lad). I'm now 31. I pleaded guilty by letter to each offence and was fined both times (£125 and £150 respectively), but that was the limit of the sentence.

Thanks in advance
Carl

Drug convictions are highly frowned upon by the USA. You may need to apply for waivers at some point.

However, there are people here who are far more knowledgeable about these subjects than I, hopefully they will answer you. If not, I suggest doing a search for "cannabis convictions" first. There have been alot of threads regarding this in the past. If nothing comes up, post your own thread in the K-1 or K-3 (whichever applies to you) forum.