Howcan people with previous convictions travel to U.S?

There is a possibility of you being convicted for a certain crime in the past. Your trip to the States can be affected by your past police records. Since the traveller needs to make a visit for any specific purpose it is necessary to discloseany such conviction records. This would curtail their chance to travel without visa under the ESTA procedure. It should be noted that citizens who get ESTA need not apply for the formal U.S visa application. ESTA America is an mechanised hassle free way to get entry to U.S provided you are a native of U.S visa waiver country.

What is the system to undertake a trip to U.S?

There are some legal formalities that one needs to fulfil before they are granted travel permission. Since 2009 the U.S government has imposed a travel authorisation on all the international travellers.This is a special benefit given to citizen of those countries who fall under Visa Waiver Program. It is called ESTA under which all the travels made either bysea or by plane have to be passed by the ESTA authorisation. The authorisation is compulsory for all the VWP nationals. It allows residence of up to 90 days to an authorised traveller. Irrespective of the purpose of visit or the country of the native the verification is for one and all. This type of authorisation can be obtained by filling out an online application for ESTA visa. There is a processing fee attached to it which has to be submitted along with the form.

The procedure for convicts

It is impossible to travel visa less under the U.S waiver program if anyone has as a crime record. It should be known that Rehabilitation of Offenders Act does not apply in case of U.S visa. Thus they have to apply here for U.S visa application instead of ESTA visa. There are some exceptions though. The first one is that the person was under 18 years of age at the time of crime. Secondly there was only one such crime committed or convicted for. Thirdly the offender was convicted and released at least 5 years before the destined travel. Lastly the duration of the sentence should not have exceeded one year of imprisonment. In this situation a past convict is still eligible for ESTA and can travel without U.S visa.