Naturalization - Domestic Violence Arrest, dismissal and Expungement?

[pastorsoh]

Good afternoon!

I am a pastor of a church in New Jersey.
About a month ago, one of our members were arrested on domestic violence charge. It was not filed by his wife but by a police man who happened to witness the heated argument.

After having counseling sessions with me, the judge dismissed the case on the ground of successful counseling and no real threat to his wife.

He is going to apply for US citizenship in 2 or 3 years and I am wondering how this might effect the interview outcome. I read here that it might be a problem for him or might not...

In order to prevent the problem, he is thinking about applying for an expungement of the case.

1) If the case is expunged, does he still have to disclose the arrest in the application form? The record will be sealed so is it necessary to disclose it? Would the INS have the record even if it is expunged?

2) If he does not get it expunged, how important is the record of arrest and dismissal? Would it be possible that his application would be denied just because of the arrest in New Jersey?

3) What can he do to avoid problem when he travels abroad? Can he get the record of dismissal to show that he was not convicted?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[baikal3]

Good afternoon!

I am a pastor of a church in New Jersey.
About a month ago, one of our members were arrested on domestic violence charge. It was not filed by his wife but by a police man who happened to witness the heated argument.

After having counseling sessions with me, the judge dismissed the case on the ground of successful counseling and no real threat to his wife.

He is going to apply for US citizenship in 2 or 3 years and I am wondering how this might effect the interview outcome. I read here that it might be a problem for him or might not...

In order to prevent the problem, he is thinking about applying for an expungement of the case.

1) If the case is expunged, does he still have to disclose the arrest in the application form? The record will be sealed so is it necessary to disclose it? Would the INS have the record even if it is expunged?

2) If he does not get it expunged, how important is the record of arrest and dismissal? Would it be possible that his application would be denied just because of the arrest in New Jersey?

3) What can he do to avoid problem when he travels abroad? Can he get the record of dismissal to show that he was not convicted?

Thank you very much for your help.

1) Even if the case is expunged and the records sealed, the arrest must still be disclosed on N-400 (naturalization application). There is absolutely no way around it.

2) It is important to have a record showing that the case was dismissed and/or expunged. It is also important for the record to show that at no time in the process did the applicant plead guilty/no contest or was found guilty. The definition of conviction for immigration purposes is somewhat different from the definition of conviction in the criminal law and the applicant needs to make sure that he is in the clear of the former. This is particularly important since a conviction for a crime of domestic violence is a deportable offense. So the person your post is about would be well advised to consult an immigration lawyer with some experience in criminal matters before filing an N-400.

3) Assuming that he never pleaded guilty/no contest or was found guilty to any charge resulting from the arrest in question, he should be fine with foreign travel.

 

[fs2010]

Reply to your case

Dear Pastor,

I had the same issue. My second wife who was an alcoholic and whom I married her within 6 weeks created problems with her ex-husband and her daughter at my home after she moved in within 5 months and lied to the officers. It was not her, but her ex-husband and her daughter since she was married to another race man.

After the first incident, I got out of jail within a day and I forgave her for all that she did to me. I took her back as she said that she loved me and all that things. Later within a month just day after thanksgiving, she and her daughter started arguing with my daughter and created a fight and cornered my daughter and tried to choke her. I called 911 and in return I got arrested again since she lied being inside the house and me and my children being outside in the cold weather shivering.

Now, back to back she created these two incidents and now me being a green card holder without any criminal records or no traffic violations had two records. I am a good christian and a true honest man and I would not lie. By gods grace the DA tried to get her back to the court and she disappeared to her state after the second incident and she never came back. She had to be there to testify. Already she got into another trouble in Indianapolis and she was arrested and was in jail for public intoxication and beating up another child in public.

Anyway, I went for the naturalization and the officer was a nice person and he asked me everything and I told him all the truth. I also told him that she was an alcoholic and could only say few things as I could not sit and tell my story there. As, I am the only one who knows exactly what happened. But, he wanted to see the police records, and I took that with me and I gave it to him. He wanted to see the expunged records and I said I will let my attorney know and I faxed my attorney the copy. He also sent my immigration attorney the copy of what he wanted to see including my child support payments for 6 years. I have paid my child support regularly and I have no problems and I am going to send that to my immigration attorney and I am waiting for my immigration attorney to talk to my other attorney to find out what he needs from the court, the police department everything. So, after that I will know what the status is going to be.

I trust in god and I know I am innocent and we all go through things like this with our life. So, please declare it and never lie. I declared it and I never lied one bit on my application for any reason. As it is always good to be honest and truthful and god will bless us. Just have to pray that god has his time for everything and it will happen in his own time.