Visa waiver - not applicable

[craigjm]

I know the visa waiver scheme gives UK citizens 90 days entry into the US BUT it says on the website that even if you have been arrested previously and subsequently not even charged that it precludes you from the visa waiver and you must apply for a visa. Are there any circumstances around arrest that they would then later refuse to actually give you a visa? If you apply for a visa is there any way your right to visa waiver can be reinstated? seems odd to me as innocent til proven guilty seems to be at odds here.

[Stevenj214]

The visa waiver declaration question is actually:

"B Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an
offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a
violation related to a controlled substance; or been
arrested or convicted for two or more offences for
which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five
years or more; or been a controlled substance
traffiker; or are you seeking entry to engage in
criminal or immoral activities ? [YES] [NO]"

Which means you are only disallowed to use it if you have been arrested for a crime of 'moral turpitude' which are generally more serious crimes. See here

HTH

[craigjm]

I can see that telling lies on the waiver form is not a good idea and I don't think anyone should do that. My question though is that there is a huge difference between having a criminal record and being arrested on "suspicion" of an offence and then you are not charged let alone taken to court.

[Matt Harper]

StevenJ214 has nailed this one. Reading the question fully reveals that USCIS is only interested in arrests and/or conviction for crimes involving moral turpitude. There is a degree of interpretation required to determine what constitutes moral turpitude, but there is a pretty comprehensive evaluation available, via Google.
The Visa Waiver program requires you to be truthful. If you choose to be less than that, you put yourself at risk of being denied entry.
Lots of people who decide to be economical with the truth about their nefarious past, breeze in and out with alacrity. Others, of course, are busted, hand-cuffed, locked-up and then sent back from whence they came on the earliest available flight (at their own cost).
This happened to an ex-employee of mine who came over here to attend a convention. He had a fairly innocuous weed (personal amount) conviction that was at least 10 years old at the time. They put him back on the flight he'd just arrived on and he was ineligible to apply to return for 3 years - and only then with a B2 visa, rather than VWP.

[Carfiend]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

and made the family work out etc....

Those fiends! Making people go down the Gym against their will!