Some time ago I posted the following on behalf of my girlfriend (foreshortened for ease of reading) and I thought forum members would appreciate some feedback on how the matter unfolded :

" My gf visits the US from time to time under the visa waiver (ESTA) program which allows Brits to arrive in States without a "formal" visa ;they are merely pre-screened to avoid terrorist suspects etc entering.

In 2009 she visited a southern state and received a speeding ticket. Left the USA before the court date. Last year she received an arrest warrant that was sent to our former home address in the UK.

She plans to visit South Carolina shortly. I recently contacted the relevant county court office who dealt with speeding offence and they advised me that she has to pay a fine of almost $700.

I've told her to pay up and move on, but she senses that the escalation in such fines to a staggering sum of $700 is a mere money making exercise for the small state counties.

I carried out some research into the worst case scenario(s) that could occur when she returns to the US:

1) She could be denied entry to the US as the arrest warrant may be placed on the NCIC federal records - Immigration officers will I understand under statute only refuse entry to a party who has committed criminal offences that i)amount to a 5 year prison term....or ii)involve an act of "moral turpitude" as per the current immigration guidelines... - http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf.

A minor speeding offence and non attendance at a small county court appears at the worst to be a class 2 misdemeanour and one that falls well short of the above grounds for non entry to the US.

2) There is a cross border linkage between the US States' police departments with regards to traffic violation "arrest warrants". Thus, when driving around South Carolina and if she was stopped by a police officer then they could consider arresting/ detaining her in order to ask the issuing county whether or not they would want her to be extradited,, at the expense of the state/ county.

I am interested to learn whether anybody has any pragmatic thoughts on the above and whether or not there could be any doomsday scenarios that I have missed, overlooked, misread, or misunderstood that could lead to her a)first being refused entry to US, or b) facing insurmountable problems whilst in the US. I understand that the hire car company she used (Avis) may give some grief and refuse to rent vehicle, but if she used an alternate rentacar firm I doubt they have a record of UK visitors w/ arrest warrants from another state. "


This is what unfolded .

GF has a friend in Florida who asked an Attorney for some advice. They advised that a failure to attend court for a speeding offence is a class 2 misdemeanour and as such would only appear on the State or County's CCIC and would not be entered on the federal NCIC. As such the arrest warrant would not be a reason for entry to the US to be denied.

Renting a car should not be a problem if using a foreign driving licence.

If my gf were to be stopped by the traffic cops in the state , or worse still the county, who issued the warrant then yes there would be complications. Thus avoid re-entering the state. Out of state the cops could in theory come across a record of the arrest warrant and then contact the originating county re extradition, but that would be highly unlikely, and the warrant issuer could not justify the cost of such action. Moreover, some states (eg Washington) will not extradite...period.

My gf has re-entered the US twice since the OP and has had no problems whatsoever. She was once stopped for a suspected red light offence and the cop examined her UK licence and no records of warrant etc were identified before she was allowed to continue on her way.

I finally convinced my gf to contact the county who issued the warrant and see whether they would compromise on repayment of the fine. They offered her a $200 discount on a sum that had escalated to $1000.....original fine was < $100. She rejected the offer.

Any comments or feedback welcome.