Travelling to us with withdrawn Marijuana charged

Hi folks!

going to see a band next week in the us. I live in ontario, canada. Last year I was arrested by the opp for a small amount of marijuana, i was let go at the scene therefore no fingerprints or mugshots were taken. i hired a lawyer and appeared in court a month or so later and had the charges withdrawn and had to pay a $150 dollar fine

my question is will I be alright traveling to the us? or will I possibly be denied entry

Thanks!

You would be surprised what information can make its way into the DHS computer. Any kind of violations or crime often do show up and when these issues are mentioned at the border, being 100% honest with them is the best way to proceed.

I say that because if CBP does determine that you did lie to them, they can issue a lifetime bar to you without an immigration judge presiding over it. Thus it is vital not to rub these guys the wrong way at the border especially when there are potentially bad things on your record.

Another thing you can do is take a short 'reconnaissance' mission across the border to see if there are any problems entering the U.S. and reentering Canada. That is important too because sometimes entering back into Canada, issues can also arise on the Canadian side.

Hey

thanks alot for your reply!. I will try to go into the states and see if I am refused entry. I know they dont check everyone so hopefully I can just tell them where we are going and be on out way.

If i am denied entry what happens, do they simply turn me around and send me home?

Also I am travelling to the uk in June(won a radio contest) would any problems arise if i was turned away at the us border?

You could be denied entry if you were criminally charged but lacking any formal charges, my guess is that you may be fine. If they mention the marijuana incident, just be honest with them. Some states are beginning to change their attitude toward the drug, but for an alien crossing into the U.S., you are still better safer than sorry.

If refused entry, they would merely turn you around back to Canada.

I am uncertain as to the extent of information sharing that goes on between the U.S. and UK. However, information sharing between Canadian authorities and CBP is quite a common occurrence with CBP likely having on the spot access to RCMP, OPP, and other police databases.

Thanks so much, you have been more then helpful!

[listwell I do this work for a living and I can say that the last post was not 100% accurate. First of all. Honesty is not always in your best interest with DHS. Simple example is that if you admit to smoking manijuana then you will need a waiver for life. Just because the charge was withdrawn does not necessarily mean that it cannot be used against you. My concern ia that they take you in the back and have you do a sworn statement. They usually use what you say against you.y question is that if the charge was withdrawn, why did you pay a fine? Paying a fine may be consisted an admission of guilt in terms of DhS. I suggest you see our website. http://Www.deniedentrytousa.com[/list]

-- Sun May 09, 2010 10:05 am --

[listwell I do this work for a living and I can say that the last post was not 100% accurate. First of all. Honesty is not always in your best interest with DHS. Simple example is that if you admit to smoking manijuana then you will need a waiver for life. Just because the charge was withdrawn does not necessarily mean that it cannot be used against you. My concern is that they take you in the back and have you do a sworn statement. They usually use what you say against you.y question is that if the charge was withdrawn, why did you pay a fine? Paying a fine may be considered an admission of guilt in terms of DhS. Plus at the land border they have the power to issue expedited removals, 5 yr ban, Place you in removal proceedings(NTA issued) or actually place you in the immigration detention center. The key here is if you admit to them something that is not in your best interest. I suggest you see our website. Www.deniedentrytousa.com[/list]

Well it wasnt exactly a fine it was a charitable donation. What my lawyer explained to me was there was no admission of guilt and what I went through was a drug diversion program which resulted in withdrawn charges. When travelling abroad he said I can legally say no to being convicted of a crime.

And honestly if you do this for a living why would you say being honest isnt always the best. with law enforcement it is always in your best interest to be truthfull, If i lie and they find out Id be in way more trouble.

Immigration Guy is a way off. A CBP Inspector has the inherent powers of an immigration judge and can bar an individual summarily for a lifetime for being untruthful and/or dishonest. They have the power to do that without an immigration judge at their sole discretion.

Immigration Guy, all I can say that if you are doing this for a living, good luck because the odds are you are going to get someone else in deep trouble.

You are exactly right MC.

I went across and got over fine. Got a call when I was in the US from express pardon service who confirmed I do not have a criminal record because of going through the diversion program! just an arrest record in the city it happened in. very happy about that.

Hey silverson007, did you have to obtain some sort of U.S. Entry Waiver before you entered? Or did you have your record purged, or anything? I got caught in almost the exact same situation in June of 2011, and my charge was withdrawn through diversion. Do you think I can simply cross the border without doing anything?