Originally Posted by
AdventureA
I was charged and convicted of several misdemeanors and a felony in Washington State (total of 4 separate cases). I had all of the Court cases expunged, and confirmed that the State Identification Bureau (Washington State Patrol) and the FBI had deleted all of the records (along with various other State & Federal Agencies). I spent months enforcing the expungement orders and I thought I had cleared all of the relevant databases. I actually spoke to an FBI Analyst at the end of 2021 who advised me to NOT disclose the expunged records on any federal forms, as they are completely expunged. I specifically asked about Global Entry as well.
I disclosed all 4 cases (listed them as "charged with") on my Global Entry application. Today at my interview the agent asked if I had been arrested. I referred him to my application and said I had been arrested for several charges/cases. When he asked if I had been convicted and what the severity of the cases were, I said everything was expunged and provided all of the expungement orders. Tonight my application was denied for: "You have been convicted and/or arrested for a criminal offense. You are ineligible for the Trusted Traveler Program due to prior criminal convictions."
What databases did I miss? What are my next steps? I believe I can appeal to the Ombudsman and file a FOIA request? Does anyone have any other suggestions?
From my experience with this issue, the only exception to denial is one misdemeanor conviction from over 10 years ago (regardless of expungement). They will not accept anyone with more than one misdemeanor or a single felony conviction regardless if those are expunged or not. Sad but true.