Question 18 is: Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?
Is a traffic violation an offense?
How to Report "Adjourned in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD)" case on N-400 Form?
- Thread starter WhoRunTings
- Start date
Question 18 is: Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?
Is a traffic violation an offense?
In this context (for the determination of deferred adjudication ) it must involve a plea of guilty or no contest. You wouldn't be eligible for deferred adjudication if you plead not guilty and the evidence is sufficient to convict you of the offense.
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So Question 17 ("Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense") should exclude traffic ticket too?
Only Question 16 need to consider traffic tickets because it says
"for any reason" rather than "for any crime or offense".
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Could the fact that the OP agreed to pay restitution not count as an implicit admission of guilt?
Here is the original words that define conviction for immigration purpose
(I am not sure if case of withheld judgment,do (i) and (ii) both have to be there or not,)
8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)
(48)
(A) The term “conviction” means, with respect to an alien, a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld, where—
(i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and
(ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien’s liberty to be imposed.
(I am not sure if case of withheld judgment,do (i) and (ii) both have to be there or not,)
8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)
(48)
(A) The term “conviction” means, with respect to an alien, a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld, where—
(i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt, and
(ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien’s liberty to be imposed.
WhoRunTings
Registered Users (C)
So, I paid restitution. To me, that seems to fit the definition of a "form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the alien’s liberty to be imposed."
Which means that by paying restitution, I am now convicted by the USCIS definition. Am I understanding this correctly?
Thanks for looking up the law, WBH.
No, since you never entered a plea.
I agree. There was neither guilty verdict/judgment nor a plea in this case.
"NO" is the correct answer.
The timeframe for ACD expungement probably varies from state to state. In New York, the case is expunged after 6 months.
Expungement does not matter much for imigration purpose. Maybe it can make things worse if expungement means you can not even get your own
certified court record.
Only a presidential pardon can make a difference if you really can
influence Obama to do so.
It does not make much difference either when there is no conviction.
If there is a conviction, expungement does not make it look better.
If there is no conviction, no expungment does not make it look worse.
And if you tell USCIS there is no conviction, and they want to see court documents to confirm.
You have to provide certified court docuemnts. If it is expunged before you get a copy of certified
court record, you may have trouble getting it if it is expunged.
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My point was that an expunged conviction must be disclosed and can effect the outcome of an application, whereas an expunged ACD (when it's not defined as a conviction by immigration law) does not have an effect on your application since you don't need to disclose it.