Question for the police officers.

[tonyk]

This isn’t for me as I’m a very good boy and am a model citizen.
A friend at work is getting married; she and her husband are planning to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon (jealous).
However a few years ago, he reckons 2 or 3, he received a police caution for carrying cannabis. Now according to the standard visa it goes against the moral turpitude thingy. He said he was stopped and given a choice, either accept a caution then and there or go to the local police station. He was given a slip of paper which has fallen in the bin sometime.
He can’t really remember much of what was said but is sure that they took his details. He’s gone to Surrey police and is filling in a form that will tell him all the information that they hold. Now as he isn’t a crazy killer we’re sure he’ll get in, well we hope, as there are several types of visas. She wants to book the flights now and wait on the visas pending the information given. Can anyone suggest on whether it’s worth waiting or book them now; she’s getting stressed as the flights have gone up by £100 since last week.
Any help is much appreciated.
Kind regards, Tonyk

I'm no expert and this is only anecdotal but my brother stays in the us and has gone through the whole visa thing and green card malarkey.
One of his friends was refused a tourist visa for a cannabis conviction here and was told he could appeal it by going to the US embassy in London but it was on a case by case basis.
Another of his friends got a speeding ticket whilst visiting him in the states which he foolishly didn't pay and when he applied for a new visa a couple of years later he was refused on grounds of outstanding warrant in the US.
Perhaps worth waiting until he finds if he has an actual record and possibly a call to the embassy for advice...
Hope this Helps.
FIJI is very similar to Hawaii and no such issues.

[Biker Biggles]

If he got a Police caution that will be a matter of record and will show up on a CRB check,so I assume the Uncle Sam computer will show it too.It shows just about everything else you can think of.I would contact the US embassy and ask them if this will be a problem.If they say it will then go somewhere else on holiday.

yeah i lived there for a year and know they are very strict, wait then call the embassy cus they dont want to get there only to be sent straight home,

[mattSV]

Has she thought about taking someone else?

[Bluepete]

Sounds more like a street caution. I'm not 100% certain, but they are only stored on local police records, not national.

The street caution for cannabis drops off after two years anyway.

I'd wait though to be certain, get the info from the local 5-0 and carry on from there.

Pete

[tonyk]

Originally Posted by Bluepete

Sounds more like a street caution. I'm not 100% certain, but they are only stored on local police records, not national.

The street caution for cannabis drops off after two years anyway.

I'd wait though to be certain, get the info from the local 5-0 and carry on from there.

Pete

She's just found out that it will take up to 40 days to come back, which she can't wait for. She's getting him to complete an acbo form as he might need that for the visa anyway. She's just looked at the tickets today and it's gone up again, she hasn't even check the hotel prices yet.


MattSV - she's told him that she is going to book her tickets and if he can't go then tough.

Originally Posted by tonyk

She's just found out that it will take up to 40 days to come back, which she can't wait for. She's getting him to complete an acbo form as he might need that for the visa anyway. She's just looked at the tickets today and it's gone up again, she hasn't even check the hotel prices yet.


MattSV - she's told him that she is going to book her tickets and if he can't go then tough.

'If he can't go tough' seems a little strange as a start to a honeymoon, is he sure he has thought the whole marriage thing through, it seems to me she just wants an excuse for a fancy holiday.

You do not need to take the honeymoon straight after the wedding, we waited five months for ours and it was all the better for it because we had the chance to re-celebrate when we went away, just the two of us together without all the hulabaloo

Off topic a bit but I got a parking ticket in New Jersey from a very nice cop with a very large gun. My crime was leaving my (hired) vehicle in a Municipal car park after 22:30... I have no idea why and neither did the cop. But it was 30 bucks or else.

So I said I going back to the UK in a day or so, what happens if I don't pay?*

You won't make it past Immigration the next time you come to the US was the kindly response.
*
So I paid the $30 and the next night got the girl in the resturant to up my dinner bill by $40 and claimed it back on expenses (she got 10 bucks as a bribe). Thank you AT&T who were my employer at the time.

But the moral of all this is that I would have struggled to get back into the US with an outstanding parking fine... If you've been done for drugs in the UK don't expect a welcome mat from US Immigration when you try to get into Hawaii*

[Shellywoozle]

As bluepete says, street caution was issued by the sound of things.