Hey I'm from Ireland and recently got a ticket for underage drinking. I'm not sure when I'll be back in the USA so should I pay it?

You maybe listed as a fugitive. Therefore possibly not allowed in the USA.
But I’m not lawyer or immigration specialist.

I doubt that the USA would extradite you for a drinking offence. That said, suck it up and pay the fine. The United States is notoriously prissy when it comes to criminal activity. In fact, I’m pretty sure that you’re not allowed in the country with a criminal record. You may find yourself denied a visa or even arrested next time you arrive at immigration.

Depends when your planning on going back? I’m pretty sure there is no way on earth that this ticket could make its way to some record on a database that could then manage to get flagged up at boarder control…

Personally I wouldn’t bother paying it…

(most stupid law in the world, besides its practically food for you Irish isn’t it?! ;) )

Just pay it and be done with it. You don’t want some stupid thing like this hanging over your head for years, do you?

@augustlan‘s suggestion is the best you’ll get. Plus, it’s the right thing to do.

Do the right thing, then you can forget about it. Otherwise, it will hang over you, and may come back to haunt you at a later date.

If you’re not coming back to the states, it will never bother you again. If you are, it will.

You could try and plead to the court that you just weren’t aware of the law or something, since everywhere else its significantly lower (as it should be here but sadly isn’t), but my guess is you’d get a lecture from a judge if you tried that approach. A lot of first time offenders in our country get off with a stern talking to and avoid fines and such, but thats assuming you’ll be here long enough to actually see the court date.

Last option would be to write/call your embassy and ask them what they suggest doing and see if they have any suggestions to avoid payment but not risk being denied entry every again.

If it’s just a fine and you don’t have a court date, you can simply mail a check.

I doesn’t really matter if your think it’s an absolute horseshit law or not, you still broke the law. If you don’t plan on coming back to the US, you don’t have to pay it but if you want to come back ever, just pay the damn thing. Whining about the unfairness of it all won’t move an immigrations officer.

A word of advice, next time you’re in another country, obey the laws or be sneakier about breaking them. Hundreds of thousands of people under the age of 21 drink in this country and they don’t get caught.