Visa for the US with drugs caution

Classes of Aliens Ineligible to Receive Visas is pretty hard to wade through.

any alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of-...a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.

21 U.S.C. § 802(6) Definition of a “Controlled Substance”
The term "controlled substance" means a drug or other substance, or immediate precursor, included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of part B of this subchapter. The term does not include distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco, as those terms are defined or used in subtitle E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

You may need a lawyer to help you figure out if you fit that category.

See part ii for the exception to the exclusion. I'll bet you have to determine whether the maximum penalty in the UK is for more than one year prison for whatever they busted you for. Whether that means the max penalty in the UK or the US I'm not clear on. Caution is not a conviction, so you would have to fall into the "admitted to committing" category, and I'll assume that's what a caution constitutes as far as this wording goes. Let me guess, this was a stop and search, right?

(ii) Exception.-Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if-

(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or

(II) the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted (or which the alien admits having committed or of which the acts that the alien admits having committed constituted the essential elements) did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed).

Asking the US Consulate would be best-I'm just speculating. I can't believe you'd be excluded without an actual conviction for anything, but what do I know-other than that a caution is not a conviction.

Thanks for your feeback.

@tomjinva Unfortunately, reading the exception clause, I don't think that applies to drugs offences. I think it will basically come down in the end to the mercy of the individual case officer and how serious they perceived the offence.

#2, that exception is for clause i(I) (crimes of moral turpitude), not clause (i)(II) (drugs).

OP, technically, each case is decided on its own merits. However, that doesn't mean your chances are any good if you decide to apply anyway.

Yes, you're right. I did not read carefully to see the exlusion only applies to the first category. I 'd still say just try to call or email the the consulate and see if someone can give you a yes or no answer about it.

"tend to make one persona non grata for visa..."

Actually, if you read the Waiver of Ineligibity section, unless it is national security related, there is broad discretion to waive the ineligibility clauses. If you list the caution on the application and provide the UK Police certificate documentation, and are open and honest at the interview, I can't believe they'd keep you from visiting the US because of a single instance of police caution for possession of a "very small amount" of drugs and nothing else. It simply can't have that kind of draconian and rubber stamp "denied" aspect to it when there's no sign of criminality on the applicants part.

Try phoning and if that doesn't work visit the embassy or consulate, or see an immigration attorney. I doubt you'd get a reply to an e-mail query, especially not one venturing whether you'd get a visa. Too many variables, and e-mail is too easy to ignore. You may well not know until you have an appointment and plead your case.

If you phone the Embassy/Consulate they will tell you to apply for a visa. They will tell you that regardless of what the 'crime' is, unless it's something like a parking offence.

They will NOT venture an opinion on your chances of getting one.

Right, but the whole point of phoning or emailing (can't hurt even if they don't reply) is not to ask for an opinion or prediction on the OP's particular situation, but just to explain it very briefly and see if they can give you a yes or no as to whether that automatically disqualifies you 100% of the time, or if there is discretion. I would think that is not that hard a question for them to say, yes, there is discretion on each case or no, you won't get one for sure. And there is no harm in trying.