[itsme2]

I am 23 years old and charged with theft under 5000 but I have not been to court yet. I am leaving for a trip to vegas before my court date. Will I be able to cross the border with this pending charge?

[River2011]

You should not have a problem leaving the country or returning, though US authorities may question you about the charge if they run your name and see you've fingerprinted. If US authorities ask you if you've ever been arrested you must answer honestly!

Police will likely allow you to change the fingerprinting date if you explain your problem. Yes, be honest!

[Fr_Chuck]

First what is everyone's confusion of Fingerprinting, 10's of thousands of people are fingerprinted and added to the records each year ( or month perhaps) A finger print is merely done to prove or check the ID of someone. It is a record that will show the name you used at that time when you were fingerprinted, You have to be fingerprinted in the US to have a pistol permit, to work with kids at most schools, to work for the boy scouts, to work with kids at many churches. You have to be fingerprinted for many job application.

A fingerprint file is nothing more than a record of ID.

Then, and only then when a fingerprint matches one or more ID ( remember bad guys often give fake names when being fingerprinted) so they may have five or six names in the system with their same fingerprint associated, but when they get printed, their name and ID is then matched to a criminal history data base ( which by the way does not say when you were last fingerprinted) it merely says when you were arrested, for what charges and what the result of the court action was.

Next no it should not hurt your travel to the US.