I got back from the USA last week, for a 2 week business trip - I have a caution for a section 4 offence from 2005, I ticked no to the question asking if I'd ever been arrested or convicted of a serious offence, so it sort of feels like I'm telling the truth,,, but yeah - we all know it's a bit ambiguous, needless to say I got in and out without any issues at all. I got in and out without any problems at all.
I'd also researched some of the changes around the information sharing and PCSC (preventing and combatting serious crime) by looking through some of the FOI requests.
A few observations;
The US border authorities still don't have routine access to the PNC, ACRO or any of the criminal records databases
PCSC is designed to capture and distribute information relating to serious criminals in and around the EU who travel to the US, rather than UK citizens on the PNC
The new immigration fingerprinting system performs print checks against a separate home office immigration print database, not prints that are held on the PNC - this is so the US can detect criminals who've flown from somewhere within the EU, before getting to the UK and boarding a plane to the US - it's designed to fill gaps basically.
Unless you're a SERIOUS criminal, someone involved with terrorism, organised crime and have profile with the authorities (I'm sure you'd know if you were) rather than someone who got arrested for punching a bus shelter 20 years ago whilst drunk, I'm pretty sure you're good to just tick "no" on the ESTA
If anyone is unsure or worried, I highly recommend ringing the unlock helpline, as there are a bunch of people on there who are very knowledgeable and will give you a good and accurate answer, they have a lot of experience of dealing with this -
Contact theHelpline - theInfoHub by Unlock | for people with convictions and criminal recordstheInfoHub by Unlock | for people with convictions and criminal records
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