Hi

I may be worrying unneccesarily about this but..... over 12 years ago I did something stupid and got a minor conviction. About a year ago I did some searching including contacting the court AND the stenographers (who take all minutes of the proceedings). I was told they could find NOTHING on record regarding my case and after 10 years (without further offences) criminal records for minor offences are SHREDDED and then burnt. However there MIGHT still be my fingerprints on file.

My question is - as I have been told several places, just wing it and HOPE they dont find anything or declare with a long and complicated explanation that no records exist of the offence.

2 years ago I had a Police search carried out on me as I work at Heathrow in a security area, this came back NOTHING KNOWN.

Whats best here? I will get the defintive answer in 40 days as I have just filed my Scotland Yard search form - if THEY dont have me on the green telly no one will!

I am an honest person and I feel I should declare the old offence - but it could complicate an already hectic process for no reason. When I get to the interview the man/woman will proabably sit there looking over their glasses at me saying nothing thinking - who is this guy?

You may want to get your record from Scotland Yard, that is the police report that the Embassy is concerned about. Also you do need to declare any criminal activity, if something turns up in the name checks performed by immigrations, and the Embassy, and you did not disclose it, they can deny the case on the grounds of misrepresentation.

Never lie on these forms, even knowingly leaving something off the form. Lies can and do come up and bite when you least expect.

Several things come to mind here, as I used to work at Heathrow myself.

You don't say how old you were when the conviction was received.

Firstly when you were convicted the result of the case was never forwarded to the Criminal Records Office but your CRO file who still show an outstanding conviction.

Who ever was meant to do the checks on you for your employment at Heathrow lied about doing them and they were not done properly. That wouldn't surprise me as I have found many instances of that happening.

The conviction wasn't for a recordable offence, where you photographed and fingerprinted when you were charged with the offence.

The Court records may be destroyed the Police National Computer recorded is only destroyed if a police officer reports your death of the file is so old you can no longer be alive.

The visa application requires you to declare all arrests and being caught out withholding information is a sure way to get major grief and possibly not get a visa. If the conviction was indeed something minor 12 years ago declaring it shouldn't be a problem.

The overwhelming advice when dealing with immigration officers anywhere is never lie.

I guess the report you want is the NIS report, or the National Identification Service. I cannot help you with telling you whether this thing you did will come up or not after twelve years. What I can tell you is though, that if you did try to 'wing it' and they did see something in front of them then you would be lying as well as having a criminal record.

I am talking from experience here, and not just trying to worry you...And it shouldn't. I had two blemishes on my record one driving conviction of the worst type(drinking) and a caution for theft, which I didn't do. I know they're all innocent!

Anyway, it was on my record on the NIS report. I was wondering about delaying the embassy interview and getting another date so that the drink driving would not come up - I was told that it wouldn't show up after ten years. But when it came down to it I decided to go with it and fess up to what had happened in my past.

They should ask you about it at interview. By the way you describe it, it seems like a silly thing done in youth. Whatever the situation explain it to them and let them decide. Remember, if you hide it from them they will think the worst.

Hope this helps - twelve years is a long time, I bet you didn't think you were going to relive that again. I know I didn't.

Never lie, just makes things worst. You don't want that to come out somehow and be the cause for a ban...

OK heres some interesting reading

http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/rehabact.htm



clearly states "should be DELETED after 10 years"

sorry FORGET all that - I have now read that the good old UK government has changed it so records are NOT deleted until you are 100! Yet another policy of 'big brother' to watch us all!

Like I said in an earlier post, and the government hasn't changed the policy that has been the policy since the first Criminal Records Office came into being and the records were on paper, then on micro-fiche and then since the advent of the PNC.

What did change was the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which introduced the concept of spent convictions, unfortunately for the purposes of us all being on this board the Americans don't subscribe to that idea.