How can I check whether I am 'wanted' in the USA?
June 19, 2018 8:48 AM Subscribe
I lived and worked in the USA on a visa for about 5 years until 2006. Everything was legit as far as I know. For example, I had the right visa (J-1), I filed taxes as required, and left with no debts that I'm aware of. Nevertheless, I am anxious that, if I return to the US, I will be refused entry or arrested due to some unknown bureaucratic error that I made a decade ago. What federal or state (California) agencies could have me arrested? How can I check whether I have fallen foul of those agencies?
Best answer: The only lists I'm aware of are for serious criminals (the FBI's Most Wanted list, for example), so I think if you were on one of them you'd already know. I think it is highly unlikely that you could have unwittingly committed a crime so serious as to require your arrest. For one thing it would have had to have been something you did on the way out of the country, or you would not have been allowed to leave. So could there have been some bureaucratic error that was not caught until after you left the country? Possibly, but we don't usually arrest people for bureaucratic errors, especially those that occurred 12 years ago. If you're worried about taxes, for example, you can rest easy, as the statutes of limitations (4 years CA, 10 years Federal) have already expired.
Did you leave a forwarding address at your last known American point of contact? If so, it seems really unlikely that whoever had a complaint wouldn't have gotten in touch with you.
If you are applying for another visa, the state department will let you know if there's a problem. Again, they're not going to try to trap you by issuing the visa and then hauling you in at the airport unless you did something really serious. If you're still worried, and coming in without a visa, then the only thing I can recommend is a private investigator, who can check specific agencies to see if there is a problem.
Are you really worrying about the possibility of your having innocently and inadvertently done something wrong, or is there something you did that you know would cause problems if it had ever come to light, and you'd like to find out whether it did? If the former, I really think that after 12 years you don't have to worry. If the latter, I would definitely contact a private investigator, or even better (though more expensive), an attorney. You might be able to give them more specific details than you gave here, which will help.
posted by ubiquity at 11:36 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Did you leave a forwarding address at your last known American point of contact? If so, it seems really unlikely that whoever had a complaint wouldn't have gotten in touch with you.
If you are applying for another visa, the state department will let you know if there's a problem. Again, they're not going to try to trap you by issuing the visa and then hauling you in at the airport unless you did something really serious. If you're still worried, and coming in without a visa, then the only thing I can recommend is a private investigator, who can check specific agencies to see if there is a problem.
Are you really worrying about the possibility of your having innocently and inadvertently done something wrong, or is there something you did that you know would cause problems if it had ever come to light, and you'd like to find out whether it did? If the former, I really think that after 12 years you don't have to worry. If the latter, I would definitely contact a private investigator, or even better (though more expensive), an attorney. You might be able to give them more specific details than you gave here, which will help.
posted by ubiquity at 11:36 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
To know if DHS (the national immigration body) has it out for you, do a FOIA request of your complete alien file. Takes about about 5 months.
For the FBI, you can request a background check. This would require some hardcore fingerprinting if you don't have access to a qualifying digital fingerprinting entity.
For state agencies, you could hire a company to do a check on an integrated 50 state database.
posted by thesockpuppet at 4:05 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
For the FBI, you can request a background check. This would require some hardcore fingerprinting if you don't have access to a qualifying digital fingerprinting entity.
For state agencies, you could hire a company to do a check on an integrated 50 state database.
posted by thesockpuppet at 4:05 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
statue of limitations will have run on all sorts of minor crimes. Nobody is going to bother you over a 12-year-old parking ticket
Given current events this may not be accurate.
Can you, OP, reach out to an immigration lawyer?
posted by tilde at 4:48 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
statue of limitations will have run on all sorts of minor crimes
This is not accurate in cases where the state of limitations is tolled due to the (alleged) criminal being out of jurisdiction, which likely would apply in your case if you had actually committed some kind of crime (seems unlikely to me, a random internet moron). Talk to a lawyer.
posted by axiom at 9:19 PM on June 19, 2018
This is not accurate in cases where the state of limitations is tolled due to the (alleged) criminal being out of jurisdiction, which likely would apply in your case if you had actually committed some kind of crime (seems unlikely to me, a random internet moron). Talk to a lawyer.
posted by axiom at 9:19 PM on June 19, 2018
Response by poster: I don't have any dark secret. Everything is genuinely OK as far as I know. I am just nervous given the increasingly harsh and arbitrary nature of immigration policy both in the USA and at home. But ubiquity's point is a good one: I have to apply for travel authorisation through ESTA in advance. Assuming this is granted, I think I can be confident that all will be well at the airport.
posted by beniamino at 1:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by beniamino at 1:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
In your favor, the statue of limitations will have run on all sorts of minor crimes. Nobody is going to bother you over a 12-year-old parking ticket or lost library book.
I don't know enough to advise on the specific matters of visas, immigration documents, etc.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:30 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]