Hi everyone,
This is my first post.
I have looked everywhere to find the answer to my question however i can't find anywhere a simple yes or no answer.
My question is:
I am flying in November to LAX from Brisbane, australia now i have a New Zealand Passport but i live in Australia.
I was just wondering if i would need to get a visa to travel to the USA, i have no criminal convictions or anything like that.
I am really stressing out as i have tried ringing so many places to get the answer like the New Zealand Consule and the Australian Consule even the USA Consule however no one can give me an answer for some reason.
Also another question is i am going for a day trip to Mexico from the USA do i need a VISA or anything special.
Thanks for whoever replies.
Welcome aboard! There'll be someone around with a tray of drinks soon, but in the meantime, stow your carryon, take off your jacket, switch everything to flight mode and fasten your seatbelt.
This Visa Waiver Program thing is fairly complex, which is why nobody official is going to give you a simple answer, but it boils down to whether you have a conviction for something reasonably dodgy.
If you've never been arrested, then you're fine. Just answer the questions honestly. Otherwise, read on.
There's a Catch-22 in the form, which asks if you've been arrested. If you answer Yes, the Yanks will want to know the details, which if it was a long time ago is going to be difficult to obtain. It's not a trivial process, apparently, but somewhere along the way they want to know if you've been convicted, and if you haven't, then you're clear. What the form should ask is whether you've been convicted of anything, and if so, what? The form also asks if you are a terrorist (or words to that effect) which is going to generate a blanket NO response, so you may draw your own conclusions as to the brainpower behind the questions.
My advice is that if you have been arrested, but it was a long time ago and you were never convicted, then you are probably pretty safe answering NO to the question. If you have a conviction, but it is spent or expunged, then you could probably say NO as well. Your record will be clean so far as any routine checks could tell. However, I wouldn't rule out the story emerging under more detailed scrutiny, and then you could be in hot water for not telling the whole truth.
You're the best person to know your circumstances, but put yourself in the shoes of the American immigration service. Do they care if you were arrested as a teenager for shoplifting a packet of Tim Tams and you are now a respectable middle-aged gentleman? Probably not. On the other hand, if you have just finished serving time for dealing drugs or credit card forgery, the Americans aren't going to be real keen on letting you waltz in.
There are other threads with all sorts of anecdotes and speculation and links to extracts of legislation, but the guts of it is that nobody, even the Americans themselves, are entirely sure of what a crime of moral turpitude is. If you want a definitive answer, there isn't one.