N-336 hearing: what to bring, what to expect

hdelad

New Member
Hi,
I have an N-336 hearing coming up. It is regarding a misdemeanor I failed to disclose during my first citizenship interview (the record was expunged and I thought I wasn't supposed to disclose it). Some days after the interview, they asked for my (expunged) records (regarding the misdemeanor) before they made their decision, and so I got the records and sent them, along with an apologetic letter on why I did not reveal this at the interview. They denied me and I appealed. With my appeal I only sent a brief, and no other evidence. A few weeks ago, I received a letter from the USCIS regarding my hearing saying to bring with me the originals of whatever copies I submitted to them.

My question is: does this mean I have to get my expunged records again and bring them? The records don't help or support my case, and I didn't submit them with my appeal. I only submitted them BEFORE my denial. Basically what I want to know is if they're requesting I bring all of the relevant documents/evidence I submitted when applying for naturalization, OR only those pieces of evidence I submitted to them when I appealed, along with whatever other evidence supports my case?

I'd normally err on the safe side and get the records anyway, but I no longer live in the county that has the records, and the drive to there from here is like 3-4 hours--plus it involves me having to get records from a number of different nearby counties (the reason for this is complicated). So I'd rather save the 100 bucks it'd cost me in gas, not to mention time, if I can.
 
If you already gave them the originals and they kept them, they should have the documents with them for the appeal and you wouldn't need to get more originals. But there's always a chance that they'll misplace your originals, so it's good to have the originals just in case they don't.

But you're going to lose the appeal anyway. The N-400 says you must disclose arrests even if your records were sealed or otherwise cleared, so you can't use expungement as an excuse. And if they approve you, that opens the door for others to deliberately hide their expunged offenses and get away with it.
 
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