Domestic Violence incident report-NO CHARGES. GC Impact

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randomwork

New Member
my husband and I got into a physical fight recently and I called 911. cops came, spoke to both of us, took photos of my bruises. I didn't press charges and told the cops my husband and I want to stay together and work on our marriage and calling police was just to let him know this is unacceptable. the cop filed a report and gave me an incident report #. A similar incident happened in the past when my husband had called the cops because he feared I would call them first. We are in Maryland.

Questions -
1. Will these incidents show up in background checks even though no charges were filed and no one was arrested?
2. We are government contractors on H1b and on public trust clearance. We'll apply for higher clearances in future. Can they be denied?
3. My I-140 is approved and will be filing for I-485 soon. What kind of information do I need to disclose regarding these incidents on the forms or interview?
4. I read somewhere that during AOS we are asked if you were involved in a crime where you were not arrested. Since in this case no charges were pressed and no one was convicted, no one is guilty, so what should the response be.
 
I don't know much about whether these will show up in a background check or result in problems with a public trust or higher clearance, unfortunately.

However, you and your husband--hopefully you will be able to work out your differences because it sounds like there have been a couple of incidents which is a bit scary--would truthfully say that you have not been arrested.

Regarding what to answer regarding a crime for which you have not been arrested, the question is: "Have you ever, in or outside the U.S., knowingly committed any crime of moral turpitude or a drug-related offense for which you have not been arrested?" The point of this question is that if you answer 'no' but then are later charged and convicted with a crime occurring before you signed your name to your answer, you will be in a lot of trouble. So my recommendation would be that if there is any chance that criminal charges (for you and/or hubby) may eventually be filed resulting out of this incident, that you hold off on filing I-485 (and hence hold off on being forced to answer this question) until you know the final disposition of this incident. If you know for sure that no arrests or charges will be forthcoming ever, you can safely answer "no" to that question.

Domestic violence can, I believe, be considered a crime of moral turpitude so you want to be 100% sure you've got this incident behind you with no charges filed or pending before you answer that question.
 
Thanks Calgreencard. Yes, we are sure that there are no charges filed or arrests made, cuz the officer said that we have one year to press charges after the incident, and neither of us is going to press charges. We agree it was stupid and impulsive on our part to involve cops. The officer said the reports are in the local station only and unless someone wants to find out, they wont be able to easily. Since the one year is not over but we are sure we are not pressing charges against each other - what should we do regarding this question?
 
randomwork said:
Thanks Calgreencard. Yes, we are sure that there are no charges filed or arrests made, cuz the officer said that we have one year to press charges after the incident, and neither of us is going to press charges. We agree it was stupid and impulsive on our part to involve cops. The officer said the reports are in the local station only and unless someone wants to find out, they wont be able to easily. Since the one year is not over but we are sure we are not pressing charges against each other - what should we do regarding this question?
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Well I'm not a lawyer so I can't give legal advice. However my common sense advice would be to wait a year--or if you can't wait a year at least wait as long as possible--to be absolutely sure this incident is behind you before filing I-485. The fact that similar things have happened in the past makes it hard to see this as a one time, isolated incident--from the point of view of an outsider certainly the risk seems to exist that something similar will happen in the future. My view is to wait as long as possible to be as sure as possible that new charges don't arise from the old incident.
 
Thankyou Calgreencard. @Ivnp - i called up the sheriffs office today here in Maryland and they say the report is not going to the DA. It's only going to go through an approval process and stay at the local police station. I specifically asked if the DA can press charges and the records mgmt lady said not in this case, but if u had a blue eye then they would do it even if the victim doesn't want to.
 
randomwork said:
Thankyou Calgreencard. @Ivnp - i called up the sheriffs office today here in Maryland and they say the report is not going to the DA. It's only going to go through an approval process and stay at the local police station. I specifically asked if the DA can press charges and the records mgmt lady said not in this case, but if u had a blue eye then they would do it even if the victim doesn't want to.
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You are asking the right questions but you should be asking a lawyer--not the sheriff (and not for that matter an anonymous message board). I think you are fairly safe if you ask a lawyer and the lawyer gives you the same answer that the sheriff does. But the sheriff isn't there to be your friend so I wouldn't rely on their word without confirming it with a lawyer.
 
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