Criminal record on the beneficiary

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Well, the thing is that it's still under investigation and as I said in my first post, here in Sweden your record is automatically deleted unless you commit and are charged for a new crime after 3,5 or 10 years. That means if I file for any visa (maybe even a tourist waiver visa) and they request a criminal record it will be clean. Not even the police will be able to see it if they search for my name. Of course the only papers of this will be any interrigation papers but this can not be pull out by anyone unless I'm charged for something else maybe. So I do wonder if I might try after my record is clean. And I do not know what I'll be charged for, I confessed to a lot of things that I only did because they were yelling at me and I knew they wouldn't believe me so I just admitted to a lot so they would just leave me alone. I can still change my confession and maybe it'll fall under possession because I only had 5 gram of marijuana and they didn't even find it but they can still prove I had it at some point but they didnt know the intentions of what I'd do with it.

Understood. And, as I said, wait until the outcome of your court case before you decide what to do about your immigration case. As JohnnyQuest mentioned, the consulate (Department of State) will determine whether they believe the crime constitutes trafficking, or merely possession of a controlled substance, as far as US immigration law is concerned. Therefore, much will depend on what the court records state. If the records don't say anything about sale, attempted sale, or intent to sell drugs, then you may be eligible for a waiver, presuming the court records state you were only in possession of 5 grams of marijuana.

As pushbrk mentioned, you must be truthful on the immigration documents you submit. The documents ask if you were ever convicted. They don't ask if the conviction is still on your criminal record. It's distinctly possible that you could answer "no" after you believe your record has been cleared, and the consulate may never find out about it. The problem is that erasing a criminal record is rather like erasing history. Unless you can track down and erase every possible record, then there will potentially be a record somewhere that could come back to haunt you. If court records are "public" in Sweden, then you can bet that some company somewhere is recording that information for the purpose of selling it, perhaps to people wanting to conduct background checks or whatever. The courts and police may erase their records, as promised, but anyone else collecting that data might still have a record of it. Even a brief mention in the court docket section of a local newspaper could potentially exist forever. You might not discover this until years later when an ICE agent knocks on your door to tell you that you have been placed in removal proceedings for immigration fraud.

In summary, wait to see what happens in court, and then be truthful if you decide to go ahead with the visa application.