Help - 'No Live Trace' Embassy Interview what to expect

[Klouise 0]

Hey,

 

Have read numerous posts on here but haven't quite found the answer im looking for.

Received my Police Cert back with a 'No Live Trace'.. when i was 13 years old (12 years ago) i left a stupid (and obviously not serious) comment on a social media site saying 'lets kill' a teacher resulting in a juvenile reprimand. For this i was not arrested nor did i receive a conviction or go  to court or anything like that. The school simply told me to go to the police station on a saturday with my parents to sign a piece of paper saying i accept the reprimand (formal warning). I had completely forgot about the whole thing until i received the ACRO certificate and my parents reminded me!

 

I have travelled on ESTA for the past 2 years and i believe this has to be fine to do so as i have never bee arrested or convicted (which apparently means by a court of law only)..

I have also entered on the DS160 form that i have never been arrested or convicted because again I havent..

 

Embassy interview is on the 21st Aug in LDN. Ordered my subject access request from ACRO on the 20th July, not expecting to receive it in time for the interview with the postage times.

 

My questions are these 

1. If i do not receive the SAR in time and take only the police certificate stating No Live Trace and a explanation of the details etc - is this going to delay my approval? (e.g not approved on the day)? ACRO have said that the embassy can contact them and they will confirm via telephone the details but surely this is not done during the interview?

2. Is the purpose of the SAR for the embassy not to have to contact ACRO via telephone? 

3. Does what ive entered on the DS160 sound correct?

 

Any advice would be great!

 

Thanks 

Klouise

[geowrian 22,335]

Is this a caution?

1. Correct. They won't take criminal record issues at face value. They will need to confirm, and they won't call mid-interview.
2. The SAR would be evidence of the criminal history, explaining why the "Live" in "No Live Trace" exists.
3. See my top question.

[Klouise 0]

Its from 2007 so it wasnt called that then but i believe online it is now referred to as a 'Youth Caution' yep!

 

If i have the SAR at the interview, do they tend to accept these there and then without needing to put on hold to contact ACRO?

 

[geowrian 22,335]

Yup, looks like it's a youth caution: https://www.ddc.uk.net/question/what-is-a-caution-reprimand-or-final-warning/

 

Cautions are convictions as far as the US is concerned when it comes to criminal offenses. They will need to verify that there's no inadmissibility as a result.

I'm going to ping a UK guru as they may or may not know the specifics.

@Wuozopo

[Klouise 0]

Oops! Well hopefully it will just be okay to explain at the interview that this is not classed as a conviction in the UK and a misunderstanding it would be too the US

 

Thats great, thank you!

[Wuozopo 4,285]

2 hours ago, Klouise said:

 

I have travelled on ESTA for the past 2 years and i believe this has to be fine to do so as i have never bee arrested or convicted (which apparently means by a court of law only)..

 

 

My questions are these 

1. If i do not receive the SAR in time and take only the police certificate stating No Live Trace and a explanation of the details etc - is this going to delay my approval? (e.g not approved on the day)? ACRO have said that the embassy can contact them and they will confirm via telephone the details but surely this is not done during the interview?

2. Is the purpose of the SAR for the embassy not to have to contact ACRO via telephone? 

3. Does what ive entered on the DS160 sound correct?

 

 

The ESTA issue whether right or wrong is rarely brought up at a K1(?) interview. They are more about the visa and are not dealing with Homeland Security jurisdiction about your previous entries. 

 

1. Immigration is all about documentation. If you are lacking something on paper saying what happened, age, etc then they don't have enough to approve you on the day. (Approval on the day isn't really a final approval anyway. There can be various security checks in London during the period between interview and visa issuance. Getting told approved is merely a good sign, because it could go pear-shaped and has for some told approved.)

2. Yes. If they get written documentation, they do not need to get it by calling. They do not call while you are standing there at the interview window. That part (interview) lasts 10 minutes or less. They probably don't even call that day, but rather when they can get back to the "not prepared for interview" cases. 

3. DS-160? I don't know. In general a caution means you plead guilty and it was all settled without going to court, so yes a conviction for whatever you plead guilty to doing. If the officer sees you answered incorrectly, he can change it. Do I think any of this will prevent you from getting a visa? No I don't.

 

A tip:

Hang on to all that documentation. A bloke on here from Cambridge I knew had an incident from age 12-13  where he let the air out of a neighbor's tires. He got tripped up at his citizenship interview for having no documentation. He had to get it from the UK so got delayed a bit. It had not even come up during his adjustment of status.  

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by Wuozopo

[Klouise 0]

Thank you for your reply, this helps a lot!

 

Ive decided to move the interview back a week as i should have the disclosure from the subject access request at this point with the details of the incident and id rather not get a request for more documents/information when the process is long enough as it is.

 

Hopefully theyll understand my explanation on the day of interview about answering No for convictions with the youth caution as question doesnt refer to this on the form.

 

Thanks for the tip! Will be sure to keep all the documents/copys