Dismissed Domestic Violence temporary restraining order

steve162

New Member
I was served with a Domestic Violence Temporary Restraining order (ex-parte) through Family Law. So it was a civil order, and there were no arrests, and Law Enforcement was not involved.

However, the case got dismissed before trial. As a result, we applied for "Request for dismissal", and court granted it. I was able to verify that court granted it by looking at case-status online.

How do I prove that my case was dismissed, before trial, to immigration authorities. I am on H1-b visa . I will soon be appearing for a green card, or permanent residency application interview.

thanks
 
Hope it isn't too late for a reply to be useful, although you posted a very similar question a few months back to which I've already replied. If you found my answer insufficient it would have been better to reply to the existing thread with follow up questions that others or I could answer as opposed to creating a new thread with a nearly identical question.

In any event the current forum is probably not the right one--this question probably belongs in one of the green card forums--and you are sending a conflicting message by saying that there was no law enforcement involved but posting your question in the criminal convictions section. It is a civil matter and should have no effect on green card processing. Bring along whatever paperwork you have regarding the restraining order just in case they ask but there is no reason to go out of your way to prove it was dismissed--this isn't a criminal matter whose disposition needs to be proven.

Who is "we" in the "we applied for 'request for dismissal'"? If you mean you and your lawyer, and your lawyer attended the restraining order hearing in your absence where the "request for dismissal" was granted, you should be able to get a copy of the paperwork from your lawyer. I trust that "we" does mean you and your lawyer and not you and the person who got the order against you--because as long as the ex parte order was in effect, you shouldn't have had any contact with that person to take any legal actions together--except via a lawyer. I'm confused by how you formally petitioned the court to do something and you only find out about the outcome via their online case update--online case update usually isn't the primary means by which courts communicate with parties to a dispute.

I'm confused also about the tag "divorce" with which you tagged this message. In an earlier post from 2014 or so you said you were applying for your green card via sponsorship by your US citizen spouse sponsor. If you and your spouse who is sponsoring you are now getting a divorce, that could certainly create problems with getting a green card restraining order or not.

The bottom line, though, is that a restraining order by itself has no bearing on your green card process and there really isn't anything you need to prove. It is a bit of a red flag because restraining orders often--but not always--go hand in hand with domestic violence criminal charges which is a very serious matter from an immigration perspective. So they may take a bit more time to do a bit more thorough background check to satisfy themselves that in your case there were no associated criminal charges. But if, in fact, there were no criminal charges or arrests, you should be fine--you don't have anything to prove and just need to be patient while they sort through your situation.
 
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Thanks for your detailed reply.

I will try to answer few things to remove any ambiguities.

Yes, we is me and my lawyer. We settled the case before trial. We settled it in SOC before trial. Temporary judge (attorneys who usually volunteer to be judges) agreed with us that ther is no basic for DV, and opposing side agreed and we were able to dismiss it.

I spoke to my lawyer, and apparently "Request for Dismissal" is "Dismissal" itself. Once court agrees and files "Request for Dismissal", "Request for dismissal" becomes proof for dismissal.

Yes, there was no law enforcement involves. Case started as a civil one (in family law) and settled as civil case.

Yes, before divorce I waas planning to get green card through family, but now I am applying for a green card through employment.

When you said "that could certainly create problems with gettinga green card restraining order or not", did you mean problems only if I apply for green card through Family based. I am guessing there will NOT be any problems if I apply thrugh employeer. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Lastlly, I apologize for posting on wrong forum.
 
I spoke to my lawyer, and apparently "Request for Dismissal" is "Dismissal" itself. Once court agrees and files "Request for Dismissal", "Request for dismissal" becomes proof for dismissal.

Then I would trust your lawyer's judgment unless there is really good reason to believe your lawyer is mistaken. And in any event the restraining order remains a civil matter so the outcome of your green card case isn't going to stand or fall based on what documents you have regarding that civil case.

Yes, before divorce I was planning to get green card through family, but now I am applying for a green card through employment.

Ahhh--there is the heart of my confusion. You mentioned that you were going to have a green card interview so I assumed (especially with your earlier post) that it was via family. Typically green card interviews are waived for employment based candidates. Do you know for sure that in your case they are NOT going to waive the interview? Usually green card interviews are held for employment based candidates only if there is some unresolved issue. If you know for sure that they are going to interview you, do you know what the reason is you are having an interview. My guess would be that if they choose to interview you it will be because of your DUI not the restraining order and you need to be focused on bringing proof of the disposition of the DUI to the interview--not so much the restraining order.
 
I am not sure if I will be interviewed. My priority date was current last month. so I assumed I will be interviewed soon(because I had a DUI on me, which was resolved and I finished courses they asked me to take, paid my fees, did everything they asked me to).

But I have a feeling (probably irrational feeling as I don't have any empirical data to prove) that all candidates who have a DUI (or any criminal history) will be interviewed for green card. Again, correct me if I am wrong (based on your experience if you think that is not the case i.e. green card interviews are waived even if you have a DUI that has been closed )

Again, thanks for your reply and all you do in this forum. This is one of those things people do purely to help others. And I really appreciate it.
 
Also, FYI my category of green card in China have retrogressed, so I guess I won't green card any time soon.
 
But I have a feeling (probably irrational feeling as I don't have any empirical data to prove) that all candidates who have a DUI (or any criminal history) will be interviewed for green card. Again, correct me if I am wrong (based on your experience if you think that is not the case i.e. green card interviews are waived even if you have a DUI that has been closed ).

Actually I don't know this for sure. But I just don't see the difference between a successful interview and an unsuccessful one coming down to whether you have proof of the dismissal of the restraining order. So if you do get called in for an interview I think the working assumption should be that it is related to the DUI. Good luck--sorry that the retrogression will extend your wait a bit more. My only personal data point here is that when I naturalized as a US citizen, I had an active restraining order against me (it wasn't in place at the time of the GC interview). I was asked about it but not asked to produce any documentation. There is no need for proof that the restraining order was dismissed because even had a long term order been granted it is still a civil matter and still has no bearing on the GC process. The only reason they ask about it at all is to check if you are being honest--of course being honest is always important.
 
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