"Yes" or "no" to Q21: Have you ever been in jail or prison?

S

sjojo

Registered Users (C)
I had an argument with my wife 12 years ago and our neighbors called the police. The police arrested me with charge of Domestic assault and I stayed in the county jail overnight. The next morning, my case was dismissed (no conviction, no fine, etc) with my wife appearing in the court explaining that I didn't hit her at all, we just had verbal arguments.

Now I am filling N400 for my citizenship, I know I have to answer "Yes" to Q16: Have you ever been arrested .... But what about Q21: Have you ever been in jail or prison? The police put me in the county jail the night I was arrested. Should I say "Yes", or the question only refers to those who committed crimes and sentenced to jail/prison?

The incident happened 12 years ago and since then, I didn't have any other arrest/criminal record, there should be very little chance that I will get denied/deported because of it, right?

Thank you very much for your help.
 
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Say "Yes" to both and explain what happened on a separate sheet of paper. You might wanna also include a few sentences from your wife saying that the two of you just had an argument and how now you are in the "happily ever after" land.

If you are still together with your wife bring her to the interview and make sure she uses a good concealer. Joking about the concealer, of course. ;)
 
Thank you very much for your suggestion, AlexMN.

Yes, I am still living with my wife happily and had 3 kids since the incident. We still had argument from time to time but we learned the lesson from the incident: always shut the doors and windows and keep our voice low.
 
Jackolantern said:
You were in jail overnight. Why is it not clear that the answer must be YES?
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There was a debate on this before. I said the answer should be Yes but
BobbySmyth I remmeber it was Bobby) said that here jail or prison
only mean jail time or prison time as part of sentence but not for
jail time in arrest procedure. For jail in arrest booking procedure,
you already answer Yes to that "Have you ever been arrested ..."
question. Juding by its literally wording I don't agree with BobbySmyth,
but I was actually convinced by Bobby in terms of intent of this
question -- if you observe the seuqnece of those questions you'll
notice it follow sequence of (1) crime but not arrested (2)arrested
(3) charged (4) convicted (5) deferrred judgement (6) suspended sentence
(7) jail or prison.

So most likely the intent of this question is meant for post trial after-conviction sentence
served in jail or prison but NOT for "being physically in jail" prior to trial.
That "in jail" has been taken care of by the question "Have you ever been arrested ..."
In other words "have you ever been in jail or prison" is actually "Have you ever served any setence
time (in jail or prision)".

Therefore if this understanding is accetable, the OP can answer NO.

But of course the responsibility of interpreting this question may be with
the IO.
 
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When you go to your interview make sure you have all your court copies of the incident, however don't expect them to approve you on the spot. I was arrested twice and have no criminal record. I went for my interview on Monday and they told me that they can't make a decision at this time...so now I play the waiting game. Say yes to both questions to be on the safe side.
 
z28eater said:
Say yes to both questions to be on the safe side.
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Maybe add a footnote/addenlum to Q21 (in jail overnight before the case is dismissed. no jail time served as punishment etc). During the interview ask the IO to explain whether here "in jail or prison" is limited to sentenced jail/prision time. If that is the case, ask the IO to change Yes to No
 
Re: the 'interpretation of the question'

....And if the IO has a different understanding of the same (rather simple "have you ever been in jail") question, or just wants to be difficult, what is OP's defense? @immigration forums said so?

So here's how this may go:
IO - have you ever been arrested: Yes
IO - For What : We were arguing loudly and the neighbors called the police
IO - so what happened after that: They arrested me
IO - So did they take you to jail? : Yes
IO - But on your application you said you've never been to jail: Er...


Sjojo, either mark it as 'yes' or get a lawyer to mark it as 'No'. In the latter case you can always fall back on having relied on the advice of a Lawyer.

(You have to explain any 'yes' answers so use that section to explain the overnight stay as the guest of the state. IO should understand as in most cases once police responds to a domestic violence call, _somebody's_ going to go to jail to cool off - or at least that's what I've heard )
 
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GungaDin said:
Re: the 'interpretation of the question'

....And if the IO has a different understanding of the same (rather simple "have you ever been in jail") question, or just wants to be difficult, what is OP's defense? @immigration forums said so?

So here's how this may go:
IO - have you ever been arrested: Yes
IO - For What : We were arguing loudly and the neighbors called the police
IO - so what happened after that: They arrested me
IO - So did they take you to jail? : Yes
IO - But on your application you said you've never been to jail: Er...


Sjojo, either mark it as 'yes' or get a lawyer to mark it as 'No'. In the latter case you can always fall back on having relied on the advice of a Lawyer.

(You have to explain any 'yes' answers so use that section to explain the overnight stay as the guest of the state. IO should understand as in most cases once police responds to a domestic violence call, _somebody's_ going to go to jail to cool off - or at least that's what I've heard )
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It seems the IO does not care how accurately you answer question 16-21
as long as you answer some Yes. You can clarify each one during interview
Remmeber on the old N400 form (and on current I485 form), questions
Q16-21 was actually one single question worded like "Have you ever been arrested, cited, convicted, sentenced ...?". New forms split this single question into several ones. So as long as you provide court documents
that give details about charge/plead/finding/disposition, the IOs will not
be OK.
 
RE: Answer

I would really consult a lawyer, pay the $150, even if the answer is YES. Make sure you answer all subsequent questions from the IO under the advice of a lawyer, just to be on the safe side.- :)
 
rick92 said:
I would really consult a lawyer, pay the $150, even if the answer is YES. Make sure you answer all subsequent questions from the IO under the advice of a lawyer, just to be on the safe side.- :)
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If the charge is not even filed, there is no need to consult a lawyer unless initial consuting is free. I think it is not worth $150.
 
Thanks everyone for the reply. Sounds "Yes" is a safer answer then.

Do I have to send the original certified copy of the court record with my N400? I expunged my records right after the case was dismissed, the only certified copy I had was took away by the IO when I was in my Green Card interview. I only have copies of the record. If a certified copy is needed, how can I get certified copy for an expunged case? Anyone has such experience?

Thanks a lot.
 
sjojo said:
Thanks everyone for the reply. Sounds "Yes" is a safer answer then.

Do I have to send the original certified copy of the court record with my N400? I expunged my records right after the case was dismissed, the only certified copy I had was took away by the IO when I was in my Green Card interview. I only have copies of the record. If a certified copy is needed, how can I get certified copy for an expunged case? Anyone has such experience?

Thanks a lot.
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If this issue was discussed at your GC interview, then by all means declare it. USCIS has it in their computers and they will ask you if there is a discrepancy between your GC and USC applications.

Send them a copy with the explanation that the certified copy was taken by the IO at the time of the GC interview and should already be in your A file.

(something to the effect of... and this case was reviewed by the IO at the time of my LPR interview in <month> <year> and an original certified copy was submitted at that time ...)
 
GungaDin said:
If this issue was discussed at your GC interview, then by all means declare it. USCIS has it in their computers and they will ask you if there is a discrepancy between your GC and USC applications.
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There will be no dicrepancy. I485 asks "Have you ever been arrested, cited, detained, indicted, charged, convicted, fined, sentenced ...?". So if you answer Yes to that on I485 and as long as one Yes to question 16-21 on N400, then there is
no discrepency
 
sjojo said:
Thanks everyone for the reply. Sounds "Yes" is a safer answer then.
Click to expand...

Does your court documents mention you were in the county jail for one night? It is part of police arrest procedure but not part of sentencing so that court record may not even mention it.
Do you need to go to that county jail to get their administratiove record to show you were there.

sjojo said:
Thanks everyone for the reply. Sounds "Yes" is a safer answer then.

Do I have to send the original certified copy of the court record with my N400? I expunged my records right after the case was dismissed, the only certified copy I had was took away by the IO when I was in my Green Card interview. I only have copies of the record. If a certified copy is needed, how can I get certified copy for an expunged case? Anyone has such experience?

Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...

There is a chance even the IO may not bother too much. Bring your copy and said you cannot get original and you alreaqdy submited the original with I485 and it should be in yoru A file. If it is convient, you still can go to that court to get a statement it is expunged, there is no more record etc.

You were not convicted at all and it occured before you getting the GC. In fcat DV is deportable but not inadmissible so that as long as iis not CIMT or aggravated felony even a convicted DV record won't prevent one from getting the GC and once GC is granted a prior conviction cannot be used for deportation any more. This is the ruling of BIA in 1992. Of cpourse you do not even need that ruling because you were not even convicted for yoour
charge prior to getting your GC
 
WBH said:
Does your court documents mention you were in the county jail for one night? It is part of police arrest procedure but not part of sentencing so that court record may not even mention it.
Do you need to go to that county jail to get their administratiove record to show you were there.
Click to expand...

The court documents didn't mention that I was in jail for that night. But the police report said that I was transported to the county jail. I didn't show the police report on my Green Card interview and the IO didn't ask for it either. But not sure whether the police report will come up in the FBI background check, if so, they might have it in my file too.

You were not convicted at all and it occured before you getting the GC. In fcat DV is deportable but not inadmissible so that as long as iis not CIMT or aggravated felony even a convicted DV record won't prevent one from getting the GC and once GC is granted a prior conviction cannot be used for deportation any more. This is the ruling of BIA in 1992. Of cpourse you do not even need that ruling because you were not even convicted for yoour
charge prior to getting your GC
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information.
 
GungaDin said:
Send them a copy with the explanation that the certified copy was taken by the IO at the time of the GC interview and should already be in your A file.

(something to the effect of... and this case was reviewed by the IO at the time of my LPR interview in <month> <year> and an original certified copy was submitted at that time ...)
Click to expand...

Good point and thank you for your suggestion.
 
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