Can my friend apply for citizenship

B

Bha2005

New Member
Hi all,
My friend got her green card five years back. She is working on a high profile job. Recently she was admitted in psychiatric hospital for five days to get started on a treatment. She volunteered to get admitted. She is still continuing to work. There is question in N-400 'Have you ever been legally committed or confined to Psychiatric care?'. Should she answer yes or no for this question. If yes, what will be the repurcation of this. Will this affect her from getting citizenship. Please help my friend.

Thanks
 
Bha2005 said:
Hi all,
My friend got her green card five years back. She is working on a high profile job. Recently she was admitted in psychiatric hospital for five days to get started on a treatment. She volunteered to get admitted. She is still continuing to work. There is question in N-400 'Have you ever been legally committed or confined to Psychiatric care?'. Should she answer yes or no for this question. If yes, what will be the repurcation of this. Will this affect her from getting citizenship. Please help my friend.

Thanks
Click to expand...
You friend should answer yes. No lying on the N-400. Being admitted for 5 days (Along with documentation) is not grounds for denial. She will be fine.
 
The answer should be no. Legal commitment is only involuntary. Voluntary admission to a hospital is the same as voluntary admission for any medical care . ( I am reasonably certain of my answer. I am a psychiatrist and in my profession `commitment' means involuntary admission, the immigration law may have a different interpretation but that is unlikely)
 
I'm not in the psychiatric community but we had to address this during our N-400 process (it's a *long* story).

"Committed" and "Confined" imply hospitalization against the patient's will or without his/her consent.

Even if your friend was committed or confined (for example, she arrived at a hospital somewhat incoherent but was deemed to be capable of accidentally harming herself and was confined overnight), then checking yes is not an automatic bar to naturalization.

If you type the exact text of the question into a search engine, you should find immigration documents that describe what happens during the N-400 process with that box checked yes.

If that box is checked, then the applicant must prove that any acts that might normally be considered evidence of a bad moral character and that happened during that time were caused by the mental impairment. She must also prove that the impairment is resolved and that no further bad acts will result from it (this is from memory).

In our case, the IO noticed the checkbox during the interview, then she found where a statement from the treating specialist had been attached to the N-400 and said something along the lines of "oh yeah, no problem".

My advice is that your friend spend a half day with an internet search engine. Once she finds the link, she'll be very relieved. Unfortunately, I've searched and I can't find the link I'm looking for.

But, in all likelihood, this is not your friends situation.

Good luck
 
The exact question in N-400 is "Have you ever been declared legally incompetent or have been confined to a medical institution within the last five years? ". She wasnever legally incompetent nor was she confined to the hospital. Can she answer NO and have a letter from her psychiatrist explaining her case during the interview (in case the question comes up)? I appreciate any help in this regard.
 
Bha2005 said:
The exact question in N-400 is "Have you ever been declared legally incompetent or have been confined to a medical institution within the last five years? ". She wasnever legally incompetent nor was she confined to the hospital. Can she answer NO and have a letter from her psychiatrist explaining her case during the interview (in case the question comes up)? I appreciate any help in this regard.
Click to expand...

As said before, a patient who has not been declared legally incompetent (which I believe needs to come from a judge), and who voluntarily accepts psychiatric treatment, but has not been formally committed or confined, would answer "no" to the question above.
 
In Texas, two police officers can sign a form which declares you legally incompentent for up to 72 hours (they can do this after determining that you could be a danger to yourself or to others). Typically the institution will try to get you to "admit" yourself as soon as you are lucent enough to do so.

And, yes, if you checked yourself in (without any declaration of incompetancy), it is not an issue.

And, even if you need to check "yes", it is probably not a big issue unless you did something that might question your "moral character" at that time.

OK, here we go:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2003/8cfr316.12.htm

Some extracts:
(b) Legal incompetence. Naturalization is not precluded if, during part of the statutory period, the applicant was legally incompetent or confined to a mental institution.

(2) If the applicant has been declared legally incompetent, the applicant has the burden of establishing that legal competency has been restored. The applicant shall submit legal and medical evidence to determine and establish the claim of legal competency.
(3) The applicant shall bear the burden of establishing that any crimes committed, regardless of whether the applicant was convicted, occurred while the applicant was declared legally incompetent.

So...

Your friend can probably check NO, and even if she checks YES, she can read the text at that link, and feel relieved.
 
let me clarify
I perform evaluations for involuntary commitment ( confinement) and testify in mental health court at least 10 times a month and I also do evaluations to help the court in competency cases. I spoke to the judge in mental health court who is also a friend and I spoke to a forensic psychiatrist colleague of mine to clarify this.
Legal competency is only adjuciated by a court, it cannot be determined by anyone else.
Confinement in legeal terms means only involuntary admission ( agianst one's will). Details of voluntary psychiatric admission are protected information under health information privacy rules (HIPAA) and need not be disclosed anywhere to anyone in athe absence of a subpoena.
 
Except, if on an N-400, the USCIS asks "have you ever been committed or confined to a mental institution", and you have, I would suggest that you disclose that fact. The number one rule when you fill out an N-400 is "don't lie".

I might have been wrong in my use of "incompetent" above, but I am *very* sure that (in Texas) the signatures of two police officers on a form declaring that, in their opinion, a person's altered status might possibly lead to that person harming themselves or others will result in that person's involuntary confinement for up to 72 hours.

And, as I pointed it - in general this is not a problem anyway.
 
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