The United Kingdom is part of the Visa Waiver Programme (VMP). There are 43 countries in total that participate in the Visa Waiver programme.

The Visa Waiver Programme permits citizens of these 43 countries to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa. In return, the 43 countries must permit U.S. citizens and nationals to travel to their countries for a similar length of time without a visa for business or tourism purposes.

There are exceptions to these rules that are currently in force, and which are published on the US Department of Homeland Securities website.

An ESTA is an automated system that verifies a person’s eligibility to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Programme (VWP).

In order to be eligible to apply under the Visa Waiver Programme, you must possess a passport with specified security features, it must have a digital photograph of yourself printed on the data page, and your passport must also have a machine-readable zone.

Depending on the offence, if it is “serious” or drug related, then you will need to disclose an arrest on your ESTA application, and which will most likely result in the refusal of your visa waiver, and necessitate a full visa application. The criminal records question on the ESTA application states the following:

Have you ever been arrested or convicted for a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority? Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using, or distributing illegal drugs?

The US authorities currently not only require court convictions to be disclosed on the ESTA, but also cautions and arrest records. For further details about this, and what your options are, please visit our page here: Can United States of America Immigration Officials see my Criminal Record?

As with the USA, a criminal record can impact travel and work visas to other countries. For example, a police caution can also cause serious issues for residency and work visas to Saudi Arabia or China.

If you have lived or worked in the UK, and are looking to work or live abroad in certain countries then you will require a “Police Certificate”.

Police Certificates are issued by ACRO Criminal Records Office. You can apply online for a police certificate here: Police Certificates Online Application

The countries that require a Police Certificate include, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

For the USA, you will also require a Police Certificate not only if you intend to work or live in the US, but if you have ever been arrested (or cautioned or convicted) – the USA does not permit travel on an ESTA where someone has a criminal record, including arrest records. For further details please see here: Can United States of America Immigration Officials see my Criminal Record?

A Police Certificate will include details about all convictions, reprimands, warnings and cautions recorded by the police. A Police Certificate however will not disclose any “stepped down” records.

A record will be stepped down according to the type of offence, and number of years that have elapsed. For example, a caution for common assault will be stepped down after 5 years. For full details about the step down model, please visit here: ACRO Step Down Model

After a criminal record is stepped down, it will nevertheless still be indirectly revealed on a Police Certificate; after the step down period a Certificate will state “No Live Trace”. If someone has never had a criminal record, or had their record expunged, their Police Certificate will simpy state “No Trace”.

If a “No Live Trace” record is revealed, then a foreign nation, notably the USA, will request full details about that person’s previous record.

As with the USA, a criminal record can impact travel and work visas to other countries. For example, a police caution can also cause serious issues for residency and work visas to Saudi Arabia or China.

If you have a police caution that is causing “No Live Trace” to appear on your  Police Certificate – then please get in touch.

If your caution is expunged (deleted) from the PNC then your police certificate will return to “No Trace”.

We have extensive experience in applying for the deletion of police cautions, including warnings and reprimands under the old youth warning/reprimand system.

Unfortunately we do not offer legal aid, but offer reasonable fixed fees.

We have again had another police caution and arrest record deleted for one of our clients. The caution was issued in the context of a domestic dispute.

The police were called and wrongly arrested the client. The client was taken into custody and placed in a police cell.

After taking fingerprints and a DNA sample, the client was interviewed. After the interview a caution was offered which was agreed to by the client, who was anxious to return to her young children.

Little information was provided by the police with respect to the implications of the caution, and the client was rushed into making a very quick decision. It was only after the client was released from custody did she become aware of the significant implications of the caution.

That’s brilliant news – I can’t believe it! Thank you so much

After we assessed the case, we were able to identify serious defects in the police caution procedure. We made prompt representations to the police arguing for deletion.

After a relatively short period of time, the police not only agreed to expunge the client’s police caution, they also agreed to delete the client’s arrest record (please see here: for more information on deletion of arrest records).

The client is now able to resume her career in education without worrying about disclosure of any unfavourable information on a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificate.

If you, or a loved one, has as police record including police cautions, arrest records, PNDs, harassment warnings, fingerprint records, DNA records or local CRIS reports, then please get in touch. We have successfully applied to the police for deletion of many clients’ records.

We usually offer reasonable fixed fees for our services and always aim to settle a case without the need for court.

If the police refuse to remove criminal records, we are prepared, and have significant experience of, issuing judicial review proceedings.

We unfortunately do not offer our services under legal aid.

Our client, a teacher, had received a caution in relation to a domestic common assault allegation. The client had been wrongfully issued the police caution in relation to a malicious allegation made by an ex-partner.

After reviewing the case we were able to clearly determine that there had been some serious defects in the cautioning procedure. After making representations to the police we were able to have the cautioned expunged (removed) from the record.

Had the caution remained on the client’s PNC record the caution would have definitely appeared on the client’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificate for the next 6 years, and may have shown up on an enhanced DBS (Previously CRB) check indefinitely.

We have had many cautions and arrest records deleted for clients,in a multitude of different scenarios, and in respect of police forces across England and Wales.

A police caution can have a serious impact on a professional career or on immigration; if you or a loved one has received a police caution, then please get in touch.

For arrest record and police caution removals, we are usually able to offer a fixed fee.

We are also often instructed to appeal information disclosed on DBS certificates and challenge unfair decisions to place people on the DBS children or adults barred list. With DBS certificate appeals and Barred List appeals we usually charge a reasonable hourly rate.