I was a student in the UK for 4 years on a tier4 student visa, my last year (2014) was the hardest financially and emotionally, I had deep depression and thought of myself as useless and a looser, among all the self distractive things I did to myself is shoplifting at a store, which I'll regret my whole life, I got arrested for that and got a police caution. I am back in my home country now, my depression is gone, I am off medication, and I am lucky to have found a job better than I could have ever imagined. Now my company wants to send me on a business trip to their branch in London, I need of course to request a VISA from the British Embassy, I am scared as hell they would refuse it, and worse tell my employer about my CR. Please help me with an advice. 

Hi Dani 

Not sure whether you've seen the question on the visa application form but it asks:

Do you have any criminal convictions either in the UK or overseas (you must include spent and unspent convictions as well as traffic offences)?”
Have you ever been charged in any country with a criminal offence for which you have not yet been tried in court (including traffic offences)?”

There is no mention of cautions at all and Paragraph 320(2) of the Rules states that an application should normally be refused if:-

The person seeking entry to the United Kingdom:

• has been convicted of an offence for which they have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 4 years; or
• has been convicted of an offence for which they have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 12 months but less than 4 years, unless a period of 10 years has passed since the end of the sentence; or
• has been convicted of an offence for which they have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of less than 12 months, unless a period of 5 years has passed since the end of the sentence

As you can see, very little importance is placed on cautions and I doubt whether you will have any trouble getting a visa for a short business trip. 

Hope this helps.

Debs

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