Overstay - Will I get back in?

[owe]

Hi!

I'm a Swedish citizen, now living in Sweden. I'm going to the US in June to visit some friends. It's my honest intention to leave the US and go back home after a 30-day visit. But I happen have some history with the US, and that record is not wholly clean, so I'm worried I might not be let in to the country...

History: I first came to the US in 1994 on a F1 student visa; witch was good for a year. This one I overstayed with about 3 months, went to the Swedish embassy, told them I'd lost my passport, they gave me a temporary passport and I traveled back home, and had no trouble at all leaving.

I stayed in Sweden for about 3 weeks, got a new passport, which had a different passport-number, had a round trip ticket and entered the US on the visa Waiver program. I overstayed this one with about 15 months. I repeated the same process with the temporary passport and I had no trouble leaving this time either.

I stayed in Sweden for about one month, got a new passport again, which also had a different passport-number than the earlier one and entered the US with a B1 status visa which was good for 3 months. After some hassle with border patrol officers from me not having a round trip ticket they finally let me through and upgraded my visa to six-month stay validation. This time I overstayed my visa by 3 years and 6 months.

I did the temporary passport thing again and left the US in July of 2000, and I have not been back since.

I now have a new passport again, with a new passport-number. This new passport is a Swedish citizen EU-passport (European Union).

In 1999 I got pulled over and issued a one month “fix-it-ticket� for driving without license, insurance and registration, since I was staying illegally in the country I was not able to apprehend either a drivers license insurance or registration. Not wanting to have this hanging over my head I one year later went to the court and pleaded guilty and was given a $1300 fine. This fine however I never paid (wish now that I would had done so) and when I left the country in 2000 the timeline for when the ticket was due had not yet run out. Do I now have a warrant out for my arrest? Even though it’s been 5 years?

I’m thankful for any help in the matter.

Sincerely
//Owe

[Anonymous]

I'm a Swedish citizen, now living in Sweden. I'm going to the US in June to visit some friends. It's my honest intention to leave the US and go back home after a 30-day visit. But I happen have some history with the US, and that record is not wholly clean, so I'm worried I might not be let in to the country...

To get a definitive answer on this question, and to find out what you might be able to do to remedy the situation, you may wish to check with a nearby U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

In 1999 I got pulled over and issued a one month “fix-it-ticket� for driving without license, insurance and registration, since I was staying illegally in the country I was not able to apprehend either a drivers license insurance or registration. Not wanting to have this hanging over my head I one year later went to the court and pleaded guilty and was given a $1300 fine. This fine however I never paid (wish now that I would had done so) and when I left the country in 2000 the timeline for when the ticket was due had not yet run out. Do I now have a warrant out for my arrest? Even though it’s been 5 years?

It is definitely a possibility. You should check with the court where you entered your plea. You may also want to consult a local lawyer, while you remain out of the country, to see if the court will agree to close the case upon your tendering the fines. If the prosecutor and court agree to do so, you can close the books on the matter without putting your liberty at risk, and they may well choose to do so given that the alternative is to leave the case file unresolved.