Does a cannabis warning affect eligibility for a work visa in the UK?

[Thamema]

I got caught smoking weed by the police recently. They took our details down, searched our bags and issued me and my friends cannabis warnings. I'm currently on a student visa in the UK and will be applying for a work visa soon if I land a job within the next couple of months. I was wondering if anyone knew if a cannabis warning would make me illegible for receiving a work visa in the UK or if it's not an issue? Also, would employers sponsoring non-UK nationals to work in the UK care about a cannabis warning when employing you?

Thanks!

 

[Artificial Emotion]

I don't think a cannabis warning is likely to be a problem from what I gather. I assume you're a minor?

 

[Thamema]

Hey, thanks for the reply Artificial Emotion. No, I'm 20, but it was my first time smoking it.

 

[Artificial Emotion]

You don't have to disclose cannabis cautions to vast majority of employers. I don't know if you have to disclose the caution when applying for the visa but I do know they don't routinely check unless you do disclose that you have something like a conviction, a caution etc. I'm not advising you to not disclose it but if it were me I probably wouldn't if I were asked on the form. That said, even if they did check and you did have to disclose it, I'm not sure they would actually deny the visa if they were informed you had a cannabis warning.

But again, employers generally don't care about something trivial like a canna warning if they find out, which they usually don't.

 

[antonomasia]

UK cautions only show up on crb checks if you're going into healthcare or working with children or something similar, you don't have to mention it at all otherwise. I was caught and given a warning before going to college and was told to not mention it and that the college wouldn't and didn't need to know, I would imagine that it would be the same for you when applying for a job.

 

[azuraa]

It would not be a problem in securing a job, but I have no idea about it affecting your visa application.

I work in the education sector for an agency and a couple of my candidates have cannabis cautions and about 90% of schools will employ them. I even have an overseas teacher who has a caution for cannabis possession and is currently working.

I'm sure if schools may employ i doubt that you'll have a problem anywhere else.

Good luck though mate!

 

[Artificial Emotion]

It's not really as much of a taboo anymore, it's generally accepted that most people do that sort of thing when they're young and even presidents and other politicians freely admit to doing it in their youth without people batting an eyelid. If you are asked to disclose a caution for example and you don't do so, that is frowned upon and is much worse since dishonestly is a worse thing than having used a bit of weed in your younger years.

Adult cautions are deleted after six years where before they would stay on your record for life and also it should be said that cautions should not be confused with warnings. In the criminal records checks that used to be called enhanced disclosures (can't remember what the new name is) things as minor as mere arrests and even stop and searches are shown if the inspector thinks it might be vaguely relevant (might be another rank, I can't recall) however as said these checks are only done for things like nursing, child care etc. so most jobs don't require this anyway.