I485 interview and criminal conviction - please help!!

C

ceejay

Registered Users (C)
I have got my case transferred to local office at Bloomington, MN. My interview is scheduled
on oct'27. I have got a disorderly criminal conviction and that is why the case would have got
transferred.

1. Do I need to face the interview with an attorney? Could anyone please suggest good immigration
attorneys who deals this kind of cases at Minneapolis?
2. If anyone was or is or will be in my situation, could you post your advises or send me a private
message or a mail please?

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
 
Thanks a lot litmu for your private message. I sent a reply.. could you please respond it?

I am also eager to hear from gurus and people who has the similiar situation. Your input will be very valuable to me.

Thanks!
Ceejay
 
Question

Is your 485 employment based?
What is the conviction about?

I am EB based, and my derivative is in similar situation like you.
 
See Imm and nationality Act at USCIS Homepage (link attached)

Inadmissible aliens

deportable aliens

See links for criminal grounds for visa refusal/deportation.

From what I understand, a plea of "no contest" is a conviction in the eyes of the CIS. The same, I believe, goes for deferred sentences and court supervisions. The only time it is not a conviction is if the case was thrown out of court. I had a DUI with court supervision and dismissed criminal tresspass issues at my Chicago interview. Both were arrests, but only the DUI was a conviction. You must have court certified documentation of ALL ARRESTS, not just convictions.

The key is what category does your conviction fall under. If the maximum possible penalty (regardless of the actual sentence) for your conviction was less than 1 year and if you were not actually imprisoned for more than 6 months, you are not inadmissible (you should not have a problem). You need to call a criminal attorney in the state in which you were arrested to figure out the maximum possible sentence for your issue. The officer just wanted court certified copies of ALL records pertaining to the case. He did not ask any questions beyond that point and was more intererested in my W2's and tax records.

I did not have any atty with me and cannot advise you on whether you need to have one present. It is a comfort level issue.

The court documents are very easy to get. You call the courthouse that handled your case and send them a check and they will mail you your copies.

I am not a lawyer by profession and do not check this website very often. Please consult an attorney for legal advice.
 
attended the interview - waiting for approval

I will post a detail one soon. But at this time, my name was not cleared yet at security check :( and my wife name already did. So the INS officer didn't approve our cases today. The officer was nice. I don't know how long I need to wait on this. I knew my FBI clearance was updated online case status check. I believe this is different if I read other forums in the portal. Is this IBIS check?

--ceejay
 
hi ceejay

1)so at the time of interview u accepted that u were arrrested before.
please post ur experience at the time of interview.
2)u attended with lowyer?
2)how do u know about ur name check?

thanks
shankar
 
Interview experience

I went for the interview with my wife two hours before. The security told to come back after one hour. So we were let in an hour before the interview time. I heard good things about INS bloomington office and it was up to the reputation. As we were waiting for my attorney to arrive, the INS officer stopped by couple of times to check if we are ready as his previous appointment was cancelled (At that time we didn't know he will be interviewing us). He was a cool, nice guy. Finally our attorney arrived just five minutes before the interview time.

Later the office took us(including my wife although two different times were mentioned in the letter) to his room. After the oath, he started asking our - Passport, Driver license, SSN, EAD, EVL and Paystubs. He then started asking some routine questions like Birth date, Place of Birth, the date last travelled and all. Then he took the fingerprint of us in a form. Later he browsed through the 485 application and went through it. There he asked question of whether I got arrested before. I said yes. I told him about the arrest(5th deg domestic) and the conviction(disorderly conduct). He wanted me to explain the incident. He didn't sound authorative or threatning.

The most disappointing moment for me came when he mentioned that the security check was not cleared for me yet. I don't why he told the following : Your crime is not deportable.. If it were, you would have already got those orders". So, it is giving me some hope although I expected my ordeal to come to an end yesterday. Still crossing my fingers...

Folks, any idea how long it will take the security check to complete?

Let me know if you have questions.

-ceejay
EB2
I485 RD 07/03
 
Thanks!!

Thanks Niladri30 and litmu for your support and guidance. It helped me a lot in preparing for the interview.

-Ceejay
 
ceejay, niladri30 and litmu,

we are going through the similar situation and the interview is coming up in 2 days and getting more and more nervous. can anyone of you reply here or send me a private message on this board or at rani4001@hotmail.com. it was a misdeameanor situation and confused about taking lawyer with us and trying to find out what kind of help we get from a lawyer. i will explain to you the situation at length through an e-mail or in private message once i hear from you. please let me know asap as we have interview coming up and have to decide on the lawyer.

rani4001
 
it was a misdeameanor and maximum panelty was some $ fine and no jail time. instead of paying fine and taking conviction on record, we got out taking middle road of community program (no contest) and completed in 1 month. records are sealed and case dismissed.
DO WE NEED AN ATTORNEY REPRESENTATION DURING AN INTERVIEW OR IT WILL BE SAFE TO GO ON OUR OWN? WOULD ANYONE PLEASE LET US KNOW ASAP.

rani4001
 
It is a safe practice to go with an attorney for the interview even one has no criminal conviction. It is your right and the first question to you by INS officer is that "do you have an attorney?" Send me the private message and will try to give my suggestions.
 
Ceejay,
There are some threads discussing name/security check, and you may take a look.
I have a question for you. What's your RD and when did your case transfered?
Thanks,
 
ntant said:
Ceejay,
There are some threads discussing name/security check, and you may take a look.
I have a question for you. What's your RD and when did your case transfered?
Thanks,
Click to expand...

My RD is 07/03 and my case transferred to local office on 09/04.
 
after finger printing

cejee/rani4001/other gurus,

Pl advice how long it takes to get interview after finger printing. Did you inform before hand to INS about your conviction upfront or waited to inform them till interview.

I am confused what should I do.

Is there any thing helps during interview like doing some volunteer service and earned good conduct certificate from sheriff office etc.

Did they ask you for court case certified copies if any or you took it some with you.

I have collected copies of my case like

certified copy court despoistion record,

cetified copy of arrest record

trying to get judgement and sentance record.

any thing else you can think of.
 
Memorandum of Law on Issue of Moral Turpitude

Any body has idea on this. I was talking to attorney he is advising do some thing like this and I am not yet confident on this. He is not yet my attorney. I am afraid he just want to make me afraid and trying to convince me that I need take some preempt actions before interview comes or INS finger out.

Action he is advising on

1) Memorandum of Law on Issue of Moral Turpitude
This is a legal memorandum that is filed with the USCIS office with jurisdiction over your file. It generally required 14-21 days to prepare and file.

2) Attorney advising: Affirmative Action

The I-485 that you filed requested information about any history of arrests or criminal charges. This should be amended and supplemental documentation should be provided. The USCIS will find out about the charges so it is generally better to provide the information voluntarily.


3) My question was: I asked him if I have to travel out of country incase of emergency comes up with family back in home country.

Attorney advising: Generally our office contacts the BCBP and the ICE unit at the point of entry in order to avoid any unnecessary problems that may result from the review of your criminal history at the point of entry.

Pl advise me if you have any idea on this
 
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