11 June 2019

Senior attorney, Karnig Dukmajian, is quoted in The Times article ‏on MP Michael Gove’s future travel to the US following his recent drug use confession.

When a non-US citizen admits to a drug offense or makes a related misrepresentation, the individual will typically be deemed inadmissible to the US. This means he or she will no longer be able to travel to the US visa-free on the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA), and the US government must exercise its discretion to grant the individual a waiver of inadmissibility before issuing a visa.

However the rules of inadmissibility do not apply to diplomatic visas, such as the A-1 visa. This means that if an individual travelling on a diplomatic visa has admitted to prior drug use, it would not prevent them from traveling to the US.

Read the full article here.