Inadmissibility
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Notwithstanding the invitation of the Statue of Liberty, not everyone is welcome to the United States.
Entertainment personalities like Russell Brand, Lilly Allen, Amy Winehouse, and Boy George have had highly publicised difficulties with US immigration law, but countless others have had problems of their own, even if it didn’t make tabloid headlines. Anyone with a criminal record may be subject to heightened scrutiny for a US visa—or outright denied, even if a conviction is spent. And, it doesn’t go away; every time someone with a criminal record seeks a visa they must overcome the inadmissibility. In effect, with all due respect to Russell, a criminal record can leave one branded as inadmissible to the United States.
Get Your Facts Straight
Police Certificates for the United Kingdom:
A visa applicant who has resided in the United Kingdom for 6 months or more since the age of 16, is required to obtain a police certificate from the ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO). This police certificate will serve to advise the U.S. Embassy, London whether or not any criminal conviction is held against him/her. The police certificate will be sent to the applicant's address provided at the time of application. Please note that the Immigrant Visa Unit considers the police certificate valid for 12 months from the date of issuance, not six months as stated on the certificate.
Court and Prison Records:
Persons who have been convicted of a crime must obtain a certified copy of each court record and any prison record, regardless of the fact that he or she may have subsequently benefited from an amnesty, pardon or other act of clemency or the United Kingdom Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
Court records should include:Complete information regarding the circumstance surrounding the crime of which the applicant was convicted and the disposition of the case, including sentence or other penalty or fine imposed
Court and Prison Records for the United Kingdom:
Court Records, usually called a "Memorandum of Conviction" (MOC) in Great Britain and "Certificates of Conviction" in Northern Ireland, must be obtained from the clerk of the court(s) in which you were tried.
Inadmissibility
Section 212 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) describes various grounds for denying entry to the United States, from health-related protections to criminal and security-related provisions, as well as more administrative concerns relating to punishing those with a history of abusing US immigration laws or misrepresenting themselves to US officials.
Inadmissibilities can be temporary (e.g. health-related inadmissibilities or the 3- and 10-year bars on admission to the United States after an overstay of 6 or 12+ months, respectively), or permanent (e.g. criminal inadmissibility). Some inadmissibilities can be waived, some can't; some are waivable for nonimmigrants, but not for immigrants.
The following subpages discuss inadmissibilities and possible avenues for relief: