To think that this sounds very fishy and untrue.

[ColinRobinsonsfamiliar]

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.

I also think it's plausible a friend was refused a visa due to admitting a DUI in the 70s

I visited my grandmother in canada when I was 21, we went on a trip across the border and I was stopped and interrogated. I had just finished university but the officer was adamant that I must work in a manual job as my finger prints were so worn away and I must be crossing the border to find a new job

My brother in law set fire to playground when he was a kid (in the states, used to live there) and now they grill him every time he goes to America.

American border control is VERY strict. Technically, you’re supposed to tell them if you’ve ever considered yourself to have acted in ‘moral turpitude’, whether caught or not. There’s no real definition for this, just some waffly bit about ‘conduct that is shocking to the public conscience; vile or depraved or contrary to the rules, morality, and duties of society.’

I mean, do orgies count? Or being polyamorous? Who sets the bar for what ‘shocks the public conscience’?

I didn’t realise that you had to put the zip code for the place you were staying on the entry form and they held me for over an hour, grilling me. They wanted to go through my phone, the whole nine yards. I was utterly flummoxed - I hadn’t booked the trip, so didn’t have a clue what the zip code was and wasn’t allowed my phone to Google it from the rest of the address.

Honestly, your FIL should have just ‘forgotten’ that incident - it will be well off his police record by now and so would never have come up. They will have picked apart every strand of his story endlessly over those two hours because he did a stupid thing nearly half a century ago 🙄. Bet he was shitting himself in that interview room 😅

I have spent years traveling to and from America while undergoing the immigration process. I have no words to describe how badly they treat people and how time consuming the process can be. Your fil could have done nothing and be treated like this.

This must have been quite stressful for your fil and mil, having to go through all that just to go on holiday. To he honest, there are so many places other than the US to holiday, why put yourselves through it all.

Would you care to explain your casual put down of nannies?

Christ, when you think of their recent ex president!

I’d love to know the number of master holders from MIT who went in to nannying.

it wasn’t a criticism or about down it was a statement based on a very reasonable assumption.

it is YOU that is putting a negative value against a nanny position by indicating you think a masters holder from MIT is superior to a nanny, whereas the PP was reasonably presuming the not many if any go on to be nannies. As you would presume someone with a medical degree wouldn’t have a role in hospitality.

Classic attempt at “right on political correctness” that actually reveals the spouter of the nonsense to be the one holding the judgemental ignorant views 😂

trust me when I say that this is completely normal for the USA.

Whilst in the UK we have spent conviction, after 10 years, in the US they don't. If you have a conviction you can apply via US Embassy in London for a visa. There are hoops and a payment to make and an interview but it's better than them finding out and you haven't applied.

My partner is British but went to school in the states… anyway when he was about 14 him and his American friend decided to go duck hunting (his friends dad was big on hunting) and before they could even do anything they got a warning/caution/citation from a police officer because it was the off season

any way, fast forward nearly 20years and when we fly to the same state where it happened (he’d been back but always landed by chance/cheaper flights in other states) and he was sent for a 2hr interview - most of it was waiting in a horrible detention room while he was asked about it & if he was sure he didn’t have a criminal record elsewhere (that was literally the only interaction he’d ever had with any cops)

so it sounds a bit drastic but it’s probably true… he probs had to sit in this big room with lots of other people awaiting interview with lots of police roaming about for hours only to have a 10-30min interview to go over the details to make sure it matches with the records

hope that helps!

I agree American border force needs to calm the fuck down on the "everyone wants to live here" shite - no we don't! it's a great country to visit briefly but there's no way on earth I would live there with guns, the precarious health care, guns, right wing nut jobs, guns, the abortion issue and well, guns.

You've nailed it! @SleepingAgent

I went to Florida to go to Disney. I was about eleven weeks pregnant. I got interviewed (not even taken to a room). I was hot and tired and wanting to see my husband who was meeting me. Got asked if I knew anyone in Florida. Well, I have relatives there but I didn't really know their address. I was quizzed on all my plans until I produced a full itinerary for Disney and the Space Center and still they kept going. Until I remembered my relatives lived in Naples... Apparently I'd looked suspicious but they were all smiles and apologies then!

My sister went on holiday alone to Florida which apparently was very unusual plus is of mixed race appearance so was questioned for ages at the airport... that and other things have put her off the US.

Who carries payslips on holiday? Or were they on your phone?

Whether it’s spent is irrelevant to this situation though. The FIL has declared it, so the conviction being spent wouldn’t stop the US authorities from spending time looking into it.

Judging from the experience of others on this thread, it seems perfectly possible they would interview like this over a bit of nonsense, OP.

This happens in America all the time. The most unpleasant customs officers, mostly mean, always unfriendly with the belief that everyone wants to live in America. Your father in law shouldnt have mentioned it, the conviction is no longer relevant and they would be none the wiser.

How would they find out?

We went once, 26 years ago with my young teen kids…customs guys were arseholes, rude, surly, you have to be a miserable bully to want to be like that at work day in day out. At the time I thought my husband is a doctor, I was a senior nurse we were taking our kids to Disney and spent thousands in their country…. Didn’t appreciate their attitude at all…chose never to give them my tourist dollars ever again….my DH is Canadian, what a difference visiting Canada.

Whilst given the context of the thread it's probably not unreasonable to have a pile on regarding US CBP I've met a few actually quite reasonable officers over the years. That said the US ESTA system can be a nightmare if you don't "fit" and secondary can catch anybody out.

The CBP can certainly have their moments but there are certainly plenty of other countries around the world have border officials who can also on a systematic basis be distinctly cold, unfriendly or seemingly unreasonably officious.

It’s been rather better the last couple of times, but the sheer boorish rudeness of US immigration at Boston used to make me vow that if it wasn’t for having a sister there, I’d never go at all. And TBH I still feel much the same.

....US Customs can keep you hanging around for hours for absolutely no reason at all. They're not providing a service. They don't have to be efficient, or even reasonable.

On top of which, if you keep people hanging about, they get frustrated and irritable. Which makes them much more likely to give something away, if there's anything to be given away.

My wife's American, I'm Brit, and our kids are dual nationality. We went to the US during Covid, when US Citizens were allowed in, but not foreign nationals, unless related. Although my Brit passport has the same name on it as the others' US passports, we didn't take our wedding certificate, so they pulled us all aside and kept us hanging around. I realised that they were observing us, just to see if we acted like a family.

Eventually we were called up to a desk. Passports were examined, questions were asked.

The Border lady said, "How do I know you two are married?"

I said, "Listen to her talk to me for five minutes."

The lady said, "Yeah. Okay. You're free to go."

My last arrival at Miami was actually really nice I was asked why I was visiting and when I gave my reason the person who was checking me could not have been lovelier.
They do generally give me the willies though and I would be quite happy to never have to go to the USA ever again.
Suspect that won't be the case though as I have very important people to me living there.