Hi,
Here is a new case. My wife and I went recently to get our H1/H4 revalidated. I had just switched jobs and since my old H1 visa had expired we wanted to go get it revalidated since we had work in India.
The consulate approved my visa, but then they asked my wife if she had had trouble with the law a few years ago.
In July of 2000, my wife was arrested wrongfully on a shop-lifting charge in a fancy store in New Jersey. She was shopping for stuff and when she checked out she forgot to pay for articles at the bottom of the shopping cart. The store security stopped her outside and they immediately made a big hoo hah about it, even though she acknowledged her mistake and offered to pay for it. They called the police and took her statement and the store's statement and took her to the police station. By this time she called me and I went to the station and the police said that they will have to book her. Since we were new in the country, I was not aware of the laws, so we agreed to get out of the station by pleading guilty before the judge and paying a fine. The judge dismissed the charge as a 'disorderly personal offence' as per NJ state law. I contacted a lawyer and she said such type of offences are not kept on record for long and even then they are only local to that town.
She was of course fingerprinted and her passport details were taken down. We both were on a B1 visa at that time.
Since then, my wife and I have travelled at least 4 times back and forth from India. We have been to the consulate in May 2001 and got our H1/H4 visas stamped. At that time she wasnt even questioned about anything. After getting that first H4 she has since travelled to India twice and returned to America without incident. We also have a 2 year old daughter who is a American citizen.
So now when we went to the consulate in early Feb 2006, the embassy officer asked her about it. Then he asked me to step out of the interview booth and wanted to talk to her alone. He basically told her that her record had been flagged and she needed to be cleared by the FBI. So she was asked to come back later that afternoon to be fingerprinted extensively. The embassy office was gracious and said that it wasnt a big deal and it was more embarassing for him to question her like this.
He said that they will call her in about 4 weeks and let her know what the progress was.
Has anyone had this experience before ? What has been the outcome ? Any chance that they will permanently deny her entry ? My lawyer doesnt say so. Says its such a minor offence. There are people with greater crimes who have been allowed in even after 9/11.
Feedback on this is much appreciated.
Here is a new case. My wife and I went recently to get our H1/H4 revalidated. I had just switched jobs and since my old H1 visa had expired we wanted to go get it revalidated since we had work in India.
The consulate approved my visa, but then they asked my wife if she had had trouble with the law a few years ago.
In July of 2000, my wife was arrested wrongfully on a shop-lifting charge in a fancy store in New Jersey. She was shopping for stuff and when she checked out she forgot to pay for articles at the bottom of the shopping cart. The store security stopped her outside and they immediately made a big hoo hah about it, even though she acknowledged her mistake and offered to pay for it. They called the police and took her statement and the store's statement and took her to the police station. By this time she called me and I went to the station and the police said that they will have to book her. Since we were new in the country, I was not aware of the laws, so we agreed to get out of the station by pleading guilty before the judge and paying a fine. The judge dismissed the charge as a 'disorderly personal offence' as per NJ state law. I contacted a lawyer and she said such type of offences are not kept on record for long and even then they are only local to that town.
She was of course fingerprinted and her passport details were taken down. We both were on a B1 visa at that time.
Since then, my wife and I have travelled at least 4 times back and forth from India. We have been to the consulate in May 2001 and got our H1/H4 visas stamped. At that time she wasnt even questioned about anything. After getting that first H4 she has since travelled to India twice and returned to America without incident. We also have a 2 year old daughter who is a American citizen.
So now when we went to the consulate in early Feb 2006, the embassy officer asked her about it. Then he asked me to step out of the interview booth and wanted to talk to her alone. He basically told her that her record had been flagged and she needed to be cleared by the FBI. So she was asked to come back later that afternoon to be fingerprinted extensively. The embassy office was gracious and said that it wasnt a big deal and it was more embarassing for him to question her like this.
He said that they will call her in about 4 weeks and let her know what the progress was.
Has anyone had this experience before ? What has been the outcome ? Any chance that they will permanently deny her entry ? My lawyer doesnt say so. Says its such a minor offence. There are people with greater crimes who have been allowed in even after 9/11.
Feedback on this is much appreciated.