Hi all 
 I was hoping to travel to Canada and Alaska this June. 
I have a criminal conviction involving drugs from 2004. ( Long story, but I was a GP who got addicted to opiates and wrote prescriptions for myself to try and treat myself ( never a good idea)).
This was over a period of 18 months, I was caught and went into treatment directly. I had a criminal issue with possession and with supply to myself....
Been well since and been back working as a GP for the past 15 years. I also help other Dr's who have got into trouble in a similar fashion. 
I applied for a Canadian ESTA = had to wait a few weeks but this was granted, they had all my info.
I applied for an American Visa in 2011 and was granted a waiver of ineligibly after 20 weeks.  My Visa lasted a year.
I assumed ( perhaps naively) that the 2011 waiver was still relevant, but on applying for a B2 NIV US Visa recently I seem to be back in the same position of the Embassy not being able to grant me one and it all having to go back to  be approved to the Dept of Homeland Security....which takes a while as before. 
My question is does anyone have experience of being granted a waiver of ineligibility only to have to go through the whole process each time they apply for a subsequent visa...? and.. does this take less time?? as I (stupidly) have already made travel plans. 
Thanks

I don't have experience of the waiver system, but from reading Unlock's information, visas are processed at the embassy, while waivers are processedi in Washington. That's their procedure. While the embassy in London only deals with visas applications from the UK, in Washington they deal with waiver applications from all over the world. I suspect they are much more thorough as well.

Having said that, any new information they have should only be positive. You were given a waiver, travelled to the US and didn't start a crime wave. All those years have passed, and there is no new information on your PNC record, and you have all those extra years of helping people with drug issues. You're helping to reduce crime. I would be horrified if they didn't give you another waiver, but I would be surprised if they didn't make you wait a few months before you get it.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

Thanks both, I am aware of the lifelong implications of a CR :-( 
Interestingly my profession were fantastic on getting me back on my feet, which is why I continue to help others who have fallen by the wayside. 
Does the Waiver only last the length of the Visa granted at the time.... it seems likely given the situation I find myself in now.

I don't know if that's how it works, but it wouldn't surprise me. In any case, their previous decision to give you a waiver worked out OK for them, so I can't see why they wouldn't issue another one.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

Hi all. Just want to share my latest experience with the US Embassy in London
With a CR I decided to apply for a visa and not an ESTA.
The CR is from 2001 when I was 21.
I eventually got my appointment after logging on daily and found a spot sooner than Dec 2022 ( searching in June 2022).
Got my AcRO and a subject access request to try and speed the decision up.
At the interview because I had 2 charges, although relating to the same instance I was classified as not eligible for a visa due to it being CMIT.
He said he recommends for a a waiver of ineligibility.
Totally heart broken. As my job now requires me to travel to the states in Oct 2022. Which I doubt will happen now as this waiver can take up to 6 weeks to be approved.
The here seems absolutely no consideration of the time lapsed or how I have turned my life around since that time which was a very regrettable situation and seems the sentence of 60 hours community service and £1000 compensation order is now a life sentence.
I wait and see if I get the waiver if not I really don’t know what to do.

what is CR and CMIT?

I'm purely guessing here but I'm thinking:

CR = Criminal Record
CMIT = Crime Involving Moral Turpitude

CMIT isn't really a thing in the UK and is more a US thing from what I can tell. Unlock has a bit about it.

https://unlock.org.uk/advice/identifying-whether-my-offence-is-a-crime-involving-moral-turpitude-cimt/

Didn't the definition of moral turpitude change recently?
I thought now it related to "serious" crime against a person, property or government.

Of course what is meant by serious is a little subjective I think.

You mention you had two charges. Can I ask, were you convicted of two offences or just charged? I was charged with two offences but one was dropped so just trying to understand how your situation relates to mine. Thanks in advance.

Hi I was convicted of offences relating to 2 different charges.