‘Bar mat mum’ denied U.S. visa for Thai theft conviction

Let them in -- they're attractive. (photo: David Caird)

Annice Smoel has bad luck when it comes to vacations. I first wrote about Smoel in May, when she was released from a Thai prison after serving 18 days for stealing a bar mat. Now she’s being denied entry to the U.S., where she’d hoped to have a Disneyland adventure with her kids. From News.com.au:

Ms Smoel had planned to take her four daughters to Disneyland to make up for the family’s Thai nightmare. The trip was all but cancelled after the US embassy knocked back her application for a non-immigrant visa, the Herald Sun reports.

Ms Smoel is ineligible because she is listed as a convicted criminal after she was jailed for stealing a bar mat in Phuket.

The 36-year-old Melbourne mother said her daughters – aged six to 12 – would be shocked by the latest drama.

“They are going to be devastated, absolutely devastated by this,” Ms Smoel said… “It would have been the perfect way to take their minds off all of what’s happened.”…

At a meeting with the US embassy in Melbourne yesterday, Ms Smoel was told her conviction for stealing rendered her ineligible for a non-immigrant US visa.

She could be barred from travelling to the US for up to seven years.

“They told me that normally you have to wait five years after a suspended sentence expires to be eligible for this type of visa,” Ms Smoel said.

If Smoel can prove her crime was a misdemeanor — not a felony — the decision may be reversed.

Aussie bar mat mum Annice Smoel denied US visa | News.com.au.