No-Spam

I've searched and can't find information on this subject.

A friend
asked me to help them answer a question concerning getting their parents
a B-2 tourist visa to visit the USA. Their question: The DS-156 has a
Yes No question stating:

"Have you ever been arrested or convicted
for any offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty or
other
similar legal action? Have you ever unlawfully distributed or
sold a controlled substance (drug), or been a prostitute or
procurer for
prostitutes?
YES NO"


They are worried because one of their parents was
arrested 12 years ago (company they worked for accused them of theft)
and spent a short time in jail. This relative is now retired and 60
years old.

Can you give me any tips on how they should handle this
situation? Any hope this person will not be denied a tourist visa?

J. J. Farrell

"no-spam" <member15472@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:...
    > I've searched and can't find information on this subject.
    > A friend
    > asked me to help them answer a question concerning getting their parents
    > a B-2 tourist visa to visit the USA. Their question: The DS-156 has a
    > Yes No question stating:
    > "Have you ever been arrested or convicted
    > for any offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty or
    > other
    > similar legal action? Have you ever unlawfully distributed or
    > sold a controlled substance (drug), or been a prostitute or
    > procurer for
    > prostitutes?
    > YES NO"
    > They are worried because one of their parents was
    > arrested 12 years ago (company they worked for accused them of theft)
    > and spent a short time in jail. This relative is now retired and 60
    > years old.
    > Can you give me any tips on how they should handle this
    > situation? Any hope this person will not be denied a tourist visa?

I'm not sure what sort of tip you're looking for. It's a
straightforward question, and the answer that needs to be
given is obvious in this case.

It does not automatically mean that a visa will be denied,
especially if they were eventually cleared.

Crg14624

Originally posted by no-spam
    > I've searched and can't
find information on this subject.
    >
    > A friend asked me to help them
answer a question concerning getting their parents a B-2 tourist visa to
visit the USA. Their question: The DS-156 has a Yes No question
stating:
    >
    > "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any
offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty or other
similar legal action? Have you ever unlawfully distributed or sold a
controlled substance (drug), or been a prostitute or
    > procurer for
prostitutes?
    > YES NO"
    >
    >
    > They are worried because one of their
parents was arrested 12 years ago (company they worked for accused them
of theft) and spent a short time in jail. This relative is now retired
and 60 years old.
    >
    > Can you give me any tips on how they should
handle this situation? Any hope this person will not be denied a
tourist visa?

The answer is "Yes". If the crime doesn't turn
out to be serious enough to require a waiver then the visa won't be
denied because of the arrest. If the crime is serious enough to require
a waiver then you have to apply for a waiver.

You don't lie on a visa
application.

CalgaryAMC

Originally posted by no-spam
    > I've searched and can't
find information on this subject.
    >
    > A friend asked me to help them
answer a question concerning getting their parents a B-2 tourist visa to
visit the USA. Their question: The DS-156 has a Yes No question
stating:
    >
    > "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any
offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty or other
similar legal action? Have you ever unlawfully distributed or sold a
controlled substance (drug), or been a prostitute or
    > procurer for
prostitutes?
    > YES NO"
    >
    >
    > They are worried because one of their
parents was arrested 12 years ago (company they worked for accused them
of theft) and spent a short time in jail. This relative is now retired
and 60 years old.
    >
    > Can you give me any tips on how they should
handle this situation? Any hope this person will not be denied a
tourist visa?

It will be helpful to gather up the court
records for the conviction.

No-Spam

thank you for your replies.
I didn't know about a waiver, do you have
any information about how long it takes to get a waiver? Do you think
the fact it happened 12 years ago, makes it a requirement to get a
waiver before applying for a B2 visa?

Originally posted by
CalgaryAMC
It will be helpful to gather up the court records for
the conviction.

Crg14624

Originally posted by no-spam
    > thank you for your
replies.
    > I didn't know about a waiver, do you have any information
about how long it takes to get a waiver? Do you think the fact it
happened 12 years ago, makes it a requirement to get a waiver before
applying for a B2 visa?

It doesn't matter how long ago the
conviction was. It can be 100 years ago as long as it happened after
the person's 18th birthday and the crime would make them inadmissible to
the United States.

The reason they apply for the waiver is so the US
government can look at the situation and determine if it was minor
enough and/or long enough ago for the waiver to be granted. If the
person has been out of trouble for 12 years, and the crime was minor,
then the waiver will normally be approved.

It can take up to 150 days
or more. Some are approved much quicker, and some take longer than
that. The visa they receive will be endorsed with the waiver so the
officer at the port of entry knows they have one.

No-Spam

Wow, thank you for the excellent reply.
Sheesh, 150 days

I talked with
my friend and they talked with their parents and obtained more
information. It turns out the parent won the case in court. They were
not convicted of the charge and have a document or two from the court.


If this is the case, would getting enough information translated into
English be enough to get their relative through this without getting a
waiver? My friend wants to have them over this year and they have an
interview date already scheduled for the tourist visa.

Really, thank
you for all your help!




Originally posted by crg14624

    > It doesn't matter how long ago the conviction was. It can be 100
years ago as long as it happened after the person's 18th birthday and
the crime would make them inadmissible to the United States.
    >
    > The
reason they apply for the waiver is so the US government can look at the
situation and determine if it was minor enough and/or long enough ago
for the waiver to be granted. If the person has been out of trouble for
12 years, and the crime was minor, then the waiver will normally be
approved.
    >
It can take up to 150 days or more. Some are approved much
quicker, and some take longer than that. The visa they receive will be
endorsed with the waiver so the officer at the port of entry knows they
have one.

Crg14624

Originally posted by no-spam
    > Wow, thank you for the
excellent reply.
    > Sheesh, 150 days
    >
    > I talked with my friend and
they talked with their parents and obtained more information. It turns
out the parent won the case in court. They were not convicted of the
charge and have a document or two from the court.
    >
    > If this is the
case, would getting enough information translated into English be enough
to get their relative through this without getting a waiver? My friend
wants to have them over this year and they have an interview date
already scheduled for the tourist visa.
    >
    > Really, thank you for all
your help!

I'm confused as to how someone could spend a short
time in jail and not be convicted. Was the jail time before or after
the court proceedings?

Sometimes court decisions can count as
convictions for US immigration purposes, but not as convictions in the
foreign country. If he wasn't given an absolute discharge or found 100%
not guilty, then he may still need a waiver. For example a conditional
discharge counts as a conviction. Even if it is expunged after a plea
agreement, it may still count as a conviction.

If he had one single
petty offence, convicted or not, he may not reqiure a waiver. The law
has an exception for a single petty offence as long as it wasn't drug
related.

I'd say answer "yes" and bring the court records. They'll
tell him if he needs a waiver or not.