I-485 - Worried about criminal charges and convictions as young offender

S

someguyonl1

Registered Users (C)
Hello folks, I am currently living in the US on an L1 class visa and have recently married a USC.

I have a question regarding the I-485. It specifically asks if you have ever been charged or arrested.

Regarding my charges most occured as a youth while residing in Canada. I was charged and/or arrested on a few occassions, this was a long time ago and I do not recall the exact nature of my charges or arrests.

For almost all of my charges I was given some sort of alternative measures (basically a slap on the wrist). Under one instance, I was prosecuted (one charge may have been theft, again this is over 10 years ago so I do not recall) and I had to perform community service.

I know this sounds vague, but can I simply use a general explanation for why I am answering yes? The charges were over 10 years ago and none of them ever involved imprisonment. The records for these charges have been likely destroyed since they occured as a young offender over 10 years ago.

Also, as an Adult I received some serious charges, one being criminal harrassement, the allegations made against me were false and all these charges were dropped. That being said, can I simply state that I was charged and the charges were dropped?

Note that all of this occured before entering into the US, since then I have had multiple TN's and also a L1. I am assuming I have passed existing security checks. I just want to make sure that I provide the necessary information so I do not cause any problems down the road with my application.

I Look forward to your replies!
 
someguyonl1,

I think you have to specify even if you were not imprisoned. Anything other than minor traffic violations needs to be mentioned. Also just because you were granted a L1 visa or TN doesn't mean you have passed security checks. If you don't specify these charges,they might still find out later in the I485 stages and it might cause long delays. Just specify that you were charged/arrested but never imprisoned and provide the details.
 
JMJ said:
someguyonl1,

I think you have to specify even if you were not imprisoned. Anything other than minor traffic violations needs to be mentioned. Also just because you were granted a L1 visa or TN doesn't mean you have passed security checks. If you don't specify these charges,they might still find out later in the I485 stages and it might cause long delays. Just specify that you were charged/arrested but never imprisoned and provide the details.
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Can you define details? Do I need to know the exact charges or find them out? Or even find a record of all arrests? Unfortunately I do not have this, or recall all incidents, like I said above this occured a long time ago.
 
If you answer "yes", then you must provide details, not just in writing but as certified court documents provided by the jurisdiction where the crime occured.

Charges (date, crime etc)
What you pleaded (guilty, not guilty, no plea)
Result of those Charges (guilty, dismissed, not guilty)
Details Punishment if any (diversion, probation, community service, jail etc)

You forget something you do just 10 years back? If you tell to people, they would probably think you are one who takes crimes you commited very easily.

Tread carefully on this. You better remember and get court documents.
 
GreenCardVirus said:
If you answer "yes", then you must provide details, not just in writing but as certified court documents provided by the jurisdiction where the crime occured.

Charges (date, crime etc)
What you pleaded (guilty, not guilty, no plea)
Result of those Charges (guilty, dismissed, not guilty)
Details Punishment if any (diversion, probation, community service, jail etc)

You forget something you do just 10 years back? If you tell to people, they would probably think you are one who takes crimes you commited very easily.

Tread carefully on this. You better remember and get court documents.
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I was between 11 and 15 and I am now almost 30. I do not recall the exact charges or dates, to me that sounds fair. I was a kid, when I did these crimes and kids make mistakes.
 
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someguyonl1 said:
I was between 11 and 15 and I am now almost 30. I do not recall the exact charges or dates, to me that sounds fair. I was a kid, when I did these crimes and kids make mistakes.
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You are right.
Get all relevant papers from the criminal court/s so that you can produce where required. By the way, after two years the records can be expunged. Get a consultation with lawyers (practice in criminal matters).
 
assur said:
You are right.
Get all relevant papers from the criminal court/s so that you can produce where required. By the way, after two years the records can be expunged. Get a consultation with lawyers (practice in criminal matters).
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I just spoke with the Freedom of information services. They said that the youth records would have been purged.

Regarding the adult charge, they should be available and I have requested that everything be sent to me along with proof that the charges were dropped.
 
someguyonl1 said:
I am going to make an appointment with a lawyer, I don't think it is worth taking any chances over this.
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Goodluck, and dont worry about, get your stuff done, and everthing will go smooth. Put your efforts to build confidence. Have your evidences ready for demand. ALWAYS, say or mention everthing that is true.
 
I just called the local police department, all records are destroyed. What I am worried about his how to explain this, I don't recall the exact charges so I feel like I would do more harm then good if I mention charges that were never even pressed against me. The only thing that I can truthfully say is that I was never imprisoned.

I have called multiple offices and all have said that the records were purged and destroyed.

How would you explain this?
 
someguyonl1 said:
I just called the local police department, all records are destroyed. What I am worried about his how to explain this, I don't recall the exact charges so I feel like I would do more harm then good if I mention charges that were never even pressed against me. The only thing that I can truthfully say is that I was never imprisoned.

I have called multiple offices and all have said that the records were purged and destroyed.

How would you explain this?
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Good to hear that. Enjoy.
 
someguyonl1 said:
I just called the local police department, all records are destroyed. What I am worried about his how to explain this, I don't recall the exact charges so I feel like I would do more harm then good if I mention charges that were never even pressed against me. The only thing that I can truthfully say is that I was never imprisoned.

I have called multiple offices and all have said that the records were purged and destroyed.

How would you explain this?
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If the Police Department said they destroyed, get that in writing from them. Say that you will need that for USCIS or Department or Homeland Security.
Any shred of official paper will help.

For immigration purposes, unlike Canada, US does not ignore small crimes that occured more than 5 years back.

Other option is that you just dont even mention the events that occured 15 yrs back. Just mention the most recent one only. (assuming you answer "yes")
 
someguyonl1 said:
I was between 11 and 15 and I am now almost 30. I do not recall the exact charges or dates, to me that sounds fair. I was a kid, when I did these crimes and kids make mistakes.
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Dont get me wrong on this one. Society stigamatizes people once they are convicted or even if found not guilty. You tell people that I got charged with DUI but the court acquitted me, I am sure most of the people will still think you were drunk while driving.

It doesnt matter what you do or don't, it does matter what other people think.
 
GreenCardVirus said:
If the Police Department said they destroyed, get that in writing from them. Say that you will need that for USCIS or Department or Homeland Security.
Any shred of official paper will help.

For immigration purposes, unlike Canada, US does not ignore small crimes that occured more than 5 years back.

Other option is that you just dont even mention the events that occured 15 yrs back. Just mention the most recent one only. (assuming you answer "yes")
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The crimes occured, 18, 17 and 13 years ago. Ages 12,13,17. ALL under the young offenders act. Immigration will really look at these crimes and consider them towards your application?
 
unitednations said:
I haven't checked in a while but when I went to RCMP web-site regarding pardons/expungement, fingerprints, etc., there was a warning regarding u.s. immigration that they don't recognize these things.

You will still have to say you were arrested. there is a lot of information sharing between Canada and USA.
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I have never said that I do not plan on saying whether or not I was arrested. I was merely seeking advice in how to present that I was arrested and also and am wondering how significant of an impact this could have on my application.
 
unitednations said:
Stating the obvious but you need to discuss with an immigration attorney. They need to determine if they are crimes of moral terpitude, the space, nature of the crimes; whether the punishment carries a possible sentence of more then one year, etc.,

You won't get a very clear answer on the boards as this isn't an everyday thing that gets asked.
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Unfortunately the pool of immigration lawyers available who also know well about criminal implications is very small. Best is to contact any law firm with lot of lawyers and one that just deals with immigration.
 
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