Job Discussion Forums

[jds1337]

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[roadwalker]

It may matter if you were charged as a juvenile or as an adult. In a perfect world, I'd say, no, you don't have a record. But the arrest may still show up with a notation of no prosecution. The only way to know is to do a criminal background check. If it comes up flagged for your arrest, you should be able to go to court to have it erased, but it still may show in the database. Here's an article from last year about lingering arrest records in the US. http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-arrest-records-rise-americans-find-consequences-can-last-a-lifetime-1408415402

[Bud Powell]

Does the application ask you if you were convicted or charged? It makes a difference.

If you are in the States, you can go to Crimchek (http://www.crimcheck.com/) and ask for a background check. It'll cost about $50.00, and you MIGHT be able to submit it in response to a prospective employer's request for a background check.

[jds1337]

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[likwid_777]

If the charges were dropped and you weren't convicted, how can you have a criminal record? I'm not very familiar with the US law if that's where you're from. However, if you are not convicted in a court, and have no other convictions, you shouldn't have a criminal record. Answer NO to that question because NO is the truth.

[Bud Powell]

Do you live in the same city where the alleged offense occurred? The Chinese consulate has absolutely no idea where you have lived in the past.

Have you been asked to produce a CBC? If not, why worry about it? If you want to cover yourself, go ahead and get the document and be prepared to present it.

You might want to ask for the charges to be expunged if you were never convicted. Have you asked your local legal Aid (U.S.) or a lawyer about expungement?

[jds1337]

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[jds1337]

My boss says the invitation letter and paperwork has been approved in China and is being shipped to me, and that I can go ahead and book my flight. I'm in a weird spot right now. Do I count on my visa being approved and book my flight or wait to take the documents to the embassy before doing so?

Also, my boss suggested that I use an outside service to obtain my Z-visa, basically ship all my documents to them and they take care of it and ship me back the visa, would this have a higher success chance than doing it myself?

[fpshangzhou]

In my experiences of renewing the RP, I would not trust any company/school's word when it comes to documents. Until documents are physically in your possession, I would recommend NOT making any flight arrangements until the embassy stamps the visa in your passport. Due to trusting the company's word about everything being a smooth process, that was a load of bull.... I was sent to Hong Kong to renew and I spent 9 unnecessary days (I had to pay for all expenses) waiting for extra paperwork to be sent to me that should have been provided to me before going there.

Regardless of your location, I would also refrain from using any Visa service, unless you're too far from a Chinese Embassy. I've had my visa renewed 3 times and with all paperwork in hand, everything went smooth. Just remember when filling out documents to cross your t(s) and dot your i(s), and you should have no problems. Good luck!


Cheers,

Aaron

[direshark]

At some point I was considering going to Korea and had minor run in with the law (charges were dropped), and this was a point of concern because you need an FBI apostilled background check to get the working visa.
Anyway, as I learned, what matters is whether you're fingerprinted and booked. If you were fingerprinted and charged as an adult, there is an arrest record floating around somewhere in the United States judicial system. In my case I wasn't fingerprinted and so I wasn't technically "arrested", despite the fact that the cops literally told me that I "was under arrest" and read me my Miranda Rights (how confusing), and thus, my background check came clean.

That said, I was never asked to supply any sort of check for China, and I'm not sure how extensively the China Embassy researches Z-Visa applicants. It could be that if you're cleared on the Chinese end and receive your documents ...well, as others have said, don't test this. Get your Z-Visa (probably through an agent if you don't live near a consulate) and then book the flights.

[jds1337]

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[Bud Powell]

[jds1337]

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[Bud Powell]

Though I have never been in your situation, I highly doubt that the consulate will initiate a CBC. Have you noticed that it is always incumbent upon the FT to supply all of the information? If your school says that you are good to go, once you receive your letter of invitation, you have jumped the hurdle.

I would still initiate an inquiry into having the charges expunged from your record through the county sheriff's office, despite your departure schedule. You may be able to initiate it by phone.

Have you looked in your local database to see if there is actually a record remaining? In my city, the county sheriff's office maintains a public database in which one may look up an arrest of anyone as long as he knows the name of the arrestee, the date of arrest and the case number.

Call up the county sheriff's office.

[jds1337]

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