Criminal and Mental Health Inadmissibility

Adanne

New Member
Thank you everyone in advance for reading and for trying to help!

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017 in the USA and have been hospitalised numerous times since then. I was trying to understand my new life with the disease and medications and encountered a lot of extreme mania/manic episodes in the first two years which led me to criminal trouble. There have also been arrests due to my condition for disorderly conduct, simple assault, minor property damage (less than 1000 USD; In my bipolar mania I broke a hotel's flower vase) and most recently in 2018 felony arrests for robbery and attempted robbery (in my mania I didn't know what I was doing. One thought later I had was the reason was I thought the person had stolen my phone so I snatched it out of her hands and then returned it to her upon realisation that the phone was hers, but it was too late as I had been accosted by then but I'm not sure as you can't always tell what you're thinking during mania) which upon review of my mental health records by the persecution was later reduced to two simple assault charges which I pled guilty to (I lived in Washington DC), and then after a year of Deffered Sentencing Agreement had the charges withdrawn and case dismissed by the judge. After the court case I left the USA to come back home to my family in Ghana for the mean time while I figure out my life ahead. Ive been working since I came back. I came back to Ghana October 2020 and intend to return back to USA next year for school.

I am just so disheartened by all the nonuniform information I am finding on the internet regarding impediments to my return. one of them is my criminal record which from checking the list of crimes that make one inadmissible, I am in the clear, but still I worry because I have a number of arrests in the DMV coupled with the simple assault guilty pleas which for the purposes of immigration are convictions even though on paper they don't make one inadmissible, and the mental health inadmissibility states that if one has behaviour that has posed a threat to the safety of themselves or others then they are inadmissible - I wonder everyday what will be used in considering this; will my arrests or simple assault pleas of guilty be used? It doesn't say so on the CDC document. How is behaviour that has posed a threat to the safety or welfare of the alien or others determined?

A little background about myself; I am a woman, 32 years old, and lived a perfectly porcelain life in the eyes of the law prior to when I was diagnosed with this disease in 2017. I have a masters degree from an Ivy League university in London and I graduated with a first class from undergrad. I was working with a reputable International Organization in Washington DC while going through the mania. Since my arrest in 2018 I have kept to myself and stayed out of trouble, taking my medications every morning and night as prescribed by the doctor. I intend to attend school in the USA in 2023.

It's been a very tough reality trying to pick up the pieces of my life following the bipolar diagnosis and resulting criminal trouble. But I've been stable and in sustained remission for over 12 months now and haven't gotten into any other criminal trouble since 2018. I'm a valued citizen of my country and involved with mental health organisations for the public good to assist others with mental illness. Thinking of not being able to study in the US or visit again because of the criminal or mental health inadmissibility makes me sick to my stomach. I really hope and pray there's a way out and I can get a visa.

I guess what I'm asking now is please will I face any hurdles as I apply for a student visa next year to return to the United States regarding the mental health and criminal inadmissibility? I look forward to talking to you. THANK YOU!

A little summary, it's been 4 years since the criminal arrests for robbery and attempted robbery.
- the robbery charges were reduced to two simple assault which I pled guilty to (nolle diversion) but after a year of mental health counseling, got the charges withdrawn and dismissed by the judge.
- I have six other arrests for misdemeanours in the DMV from 2017 all dismissed without a conviction by the judge because they saw my mental state (nolle prosequi)
- I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017 and that was the cause of the extreme mania that led to the incidents.

Thank you so much again for helping! It means the world to me.
 
You better try to go somewhere else like Canada or Australia or Europe cause honestly going back to the US sounds so impossible to ya! Good luck in your life i wish you all the best
 
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