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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that this sounds very fishy and untrue.

201 replies

ColinRobinsonsfamiliar · 13/08/2022 13:10

My fil is an arse. No two ways about it.

We took him & mil to Florida for a holiday. Their first holiday abroad ever.

We gave them some brochures to read up on where we were going prior to going.

FIL read the small print on the back of the brochure and declared that he couldn’t go because he had a conviction that he had never disclosed to the family.
He was referring to the ESTA.

He revealed that he was arrested in 1968 for a minor theft from his job. (Think an off cut from the simple product). Also stole a tax disc and got caught.
He ended up travelling to London to the Embassy to be interviewed face to face to be assessed for suitability to holiday in America.This was a stipulation of the revelation of the arrest.
was granted this.
On arrival at the airport, going through passport control, fil was taken off into an interview room while we were ushered through the airport with all of the other traveler’s.
He was interviewed for nearly 2 hours before being released to continue his holiday.

I can’t help thinking that there is no way that this was because of a “minor theft”.
Anyone in the know could maybe shed Some light on this ?
It has bugged me for ages.

OP posts:
LoveItaly · 13/08/2022 13:49

I know of someone who can’t travel to the US as they have a conviction for shoplifting. They stole a book as a student over thirty years ago, so I could well believe your FIL in this case.

Preeeettyprettygood · 13/08/2022 13:51

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

GoBackToPartyCity · 13/08/2022 13:51

My husband was dragged off for an hour interview for having the same name & Dob as someone that was wanted by the police…they had a picture of this ‘wanted male’ and it clearly wasn’t my DH, so I believe it could happen!

Muddypigeon · 13/08/2022 13:52

ColinRobinsonsfamiliar · 13/08/2022 13:29

It makes me laugh so much to think of him as a man on a watch list, international mystery criminal who nicked an old thing that was destined for the bin and a tax disc over 50 years ago!
The treatment and jumping through hoops just doesn’t fit the crime at all!

Well, that’s Florida for you. It would be funny except that it is too nuts to be funny. Especially when every other person there carries a gun in their handbag going to shop for milk at Walmart..because it’s their right. Makes sense, doesn’t it!

godmum56 · 13/08/2022 13:52

That wouldn't surprise me about US immigration AT ALL. My late DH was sent there for 2 years (he worked for big global company) I entered the US 3 times without him. My paperwork was immaculate and I had been warned to be really really careful with my behaviour....calm polite, meek (ha!) and no jokes. Each time I was asked what my husband did for the huge global (my visa was for the non employable spouse of a green card holder), what made him special and why a US citizen couldn't do his job, why was I entering the US and did I understand the penalty for working on my visa. You cannot imagine how paranoid they were even then, well before 9/11. Oh and nicking a tax disc (government document) is considered to be very serious indeed

Quartz2208 · 13/08/2022 13:53

It is both entirely possible he is telling the truth - if it was worse and ended up in a conviction then there is every chance he would not be let in AT ALL.

US immigration is tough - DD best friend Dad has a very common name and no surname so has twice been taken off for 2 hours.

Anything other than a minor theft and he may well not have been allowed in

Franca123 · 13/08/2022 13:56

I believe that they don't have a concept of 'spent'. From what I understand they're really nutty about any sort of criminal record.

MermaidMummy06 · 13/08/2022 13:56

My uncle was detained for 3 hours for having a common name & temporarily damaged skin on his fingers, so fingerprints incomplete, from doing some brickwork before they left. He was only transiting through a US airport to Canada.

Detained cousin for not having enough clothes in his suitcase. Thought he intended to stay. He intended to shop!

So, yes. They do.

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 13/08/2022 13:57

My ds was kept at lax for three hours. He has asd and was starting to get anxious and ticcing. Off he went. He has letters from his doctor about his anxiety.Then when he said his friends who he was staying with were waiting they wanted to speak to them. Which set off immigration as they are Latino, though born in the us. Then suddenly they went “you’re clear sir, have a good stay!”

bellac11 · 13/08/2022 13:58

US immigration has no known logic

Ive read a number of similar stories over the years

Frightening

User8273738273737 · 13/08/2022 13:58

Does not sound atypical, from what I know plus what I have now read on here!
Also a reason (for me!) never to go to America. Why pay to be humiliated and harassed?

xJoyfulCalmWisdomx · 13/08/2022 13:58

I think America's own perception of itself is very out of date. The two who were interviewing me probably thought that it would be a 'dream' for me to live and work illegally in America, even though I was living and working legally in London and would have been entitled to free health care in the UK and if I returned to Ireland if I lost my job I would have had social welfare and at that income bracket, free health care. They just don't get it.

Thepeopleversuswork · 13/08/2022 13:59

US immigration is insanely paranoid and overzealous.

My father (who has since died) was detained overnight and sent home after trying to fly to NYC about ten years ago because there was a single stamp on his passport for a Middle Eastern country (Lebanon). At the time he was in his mid 70s, white British citizen with no known links to any terrorist organisations or even connection with the Arab world, with multiple visits to the US under his belt and who had previously lived there. In no plausible universe was he an obvious red flag to them and he was elderly and visibly disabled.

Not that that excuses the way they treat non-white people btw, just pointing out that even by the standards of a paranoid US redneck thug he wouldn't have been considered risky.

So I wouldn't rule out that this is just part of the behaviour of borderline fascist border guards. They are nasty, aggressive people.

dottiedodah · 13/08/2022 13:59

Stopped and searched in North America on grounds of having a parcel shaped like a weapon! (Wrapped birthday present!) Of a glass polar Bear!

PollyRockets · 13/08/2022 14:00

Why would it be untrue

Having anything declared like that on an ESTA application would cause them to pull someone aside

I was questioned for 4 hours when entering Florida a few years ago because I had been on holiday to Egypt a year prior. And stupidly didn't say yes when asked at passport control if I had traveled to the Middle East lately

I didn't think Egypt counted Blush

Redlocks28 · 13/08/2022 14:02

If you have a spent conviction (eg police caution) does that mean you can’t go to the US, or just that you must declare it on the forms and may be interviewed when you arrive?

TheGraceFace · 13/08/2022 14:03

That bought back memories of Miami where they give you a jolly good patting down. What a power trip they were on as the paranoid lunatics screamed & shouted at us. The only reason I didn’t scream back was the fear of an anal.

ladydoris · 13/08/2022 14:04

You will never know will you ?

BritWifeInUSA · 13/08/2022 14:05

Some details are missing. I assume he was ineligible for the VWP. Did he complete the ESTA application, receive a denial and apply for a B-2? It’s important to know if he applied for an ESTA first as going straight to the embassy for a B-2 without an ESTA denial can be an issue. When he applied for the B-2 was he approved there and then or did he have to go through the waiver process?

When he landed here he was taken to what is called “secondary immigration”. That can be completely random. I have been taken to secondary in the past (before I lived here). Was he questioned for the full two hours in there? Usually in secondary you are questioned for 20 minutes or so and the rest of the time is waiting for an officer to be available. It’s possible he was just selected at random.

It is possible to be approved for the VWP even with a conviction. It just depends on the circumstances. That’s why it’s important to apply for it first before jumping to a visa application.

Tusue · 13/08/2022 14:05

A friend of mine had some issues with a “finger print that didn’t look quite right “ as they said when she was going through passport control in Las Vegas recently.They pulled her aside and kept her well over 2 hours,eventually they let her continue with no real idea why there was an issue with her finger print at all,she’s still none the wiser ! But visited the States again on her next holiday and went straight through the control desks .

BritWifeInUSA · 13/08/2022 14:07

Redlocks28 · 13/08/2022 14:02

If you have a spent conviction (eg police caution) does that mean you can’t go to the US, or just that you must declare it on the forms and may be interviewed when you arrive?

It depends. For US immigration purposes there is no such thing as a “spent conviction”. A conviction is a conviction, regardless of when it was so it must always be declared. In some cases the person would still be eligible to travel under the VWP. In other cases they would need a visa, and possibly a waiver.

Aprilx · 13/08/2022 14:09

MrsClatterbuck · 13/08/2022 13:22

So this happened 48 years ago. Surely the conviction would be spent by now especially a seemingly minor misdemeanour.

Convictions are not usually spent for immigration purposes, it is more for finance or employment reasons that they become non disclosable.

OP, no I don’t find it weird. He was travelling in a nonstandard way (most of us don’t require visas) so he was stopped.

Hopeandlove · 13/08/2022 14:10

I always remember my father patting the nice little beagle sitting on his suitcase 😂thinking it was very sweet when he arrive at SF

I was keeping my distance. 4 hours my father was kept for some whiteboard markers, a pair of scissors an a werthers original sweet in the zipped pocket. He was going to a conference and trying to explain the scissors were to cut down any posters to the correct side. They eventually let him
leave without the scissors and without the sweet in the suitcase - he was allowed to keep the markers

SquirrelSoShiny · 13/08/2022 14:10

I can believe it. Honestly, America is obsessed by the idea that the whole world wants to live there. You literally could not pay me to live there. It's awful for every American we know except the extremely wealthy. And even the wealthy ones are terrified of losing everything the second they get seriously ill.

PoleFairy · 13/08/2022 14:12

My mum is white, has a British passport but happened to be born in a middle Eastern country and she gets pulled aside and interviewed. They really are that OTT in the US.