n-400 and Public Intoxication Charge

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easybay

Registered Users (C)
In Aug 2008, a month before her 18 birthday, my daughter received a Public Intoxication charge (PI). She paid the fine, did community service, took alcohol awareness, and has not had any other mishaps since then. She was eligible to apply for citizenship in Sept of 2010, but we decided to wait till she turned 21 (Sept 2011), and we could get her record expunged (Oct 2011).

We would like to apply for citizenship for her, but don't know if we need to wait 5 years to prove good moral character. She is graduating from college in May 2012, has held part time jobs through college, has done 2 unpaid internships during the summer, maintained a 3.3 gpa, made the dean's list one term.

I realize that we have to list the conviction on her application. Do we need legal representation? What will a lawyer actually do?
 
easybay said:
In Aug 2008, a month before her 18 birthday, my daughter received a Public Intoxication charge (PI). She paid the fine, did community service, took alcohol awareness, and has not had any other mishaps since then. She was eligible to apply for citizenship in Sept of 2010, but we decided to wait till she turned 21 (Sept 2011), and we could get her record expunged (Oct 2011).

We would like to apply for citizenship for her, but don't know if we need to wait 5 years to prove good moral character. She is graduating from college in May 2012, has held part time jobs through college, has done 2 unpaid internships during the summer, maintained a 3.3 gpa, made the dean's list one term.

I realize that we have to list the conviction on her application. Do we need legal representation? What will a lawyer actually do?
Click to expand...

First of all, had either parent naturalized BEFORE she turned 18? The whole thing could be irrelevant. N-600s don't have a GMC issue.

IF an N-400 is required, it was delayed pointlessly. The incident described was minor and not a real issue for an N-400.
 
Thanks for your reply. Parents were naturalized Jan 2011, so she is not eligible.

The PI was a class C misdemeanor and it happened in Texas. The University lawyer who we consulted for the expunction said it was in the same category as running a stop sign. We didn't think we needed to wait for the full 5 years, but thought it was best to get the record expunged. We will list the conviction on the N400.
 
P.I is not a CIMT and doesn't violate GMC, plus she was 17. You're not going to have a problem with USCIS, and no you don't need a lawyer. Even if you wasted the money to get it expunged, you would still have to admit to it on the application. What will a lawyer do, take your money..... that is about it.


easybay said:
In Aug 2008, a month before her 18 birthday, my daughter received a Public Intoxication charge (PI). She paid the fine, did community service, took alcohol awareness, and has not had any other mishaps since then. She was eligible to apply for citizenship in Sept of 2010, but we decided to wait till she turned 21 (Sept 2011), and we could get her record expunged (Oct 2011).

We would like to apply for citizenship for her, but don't know if we need to wait 5 years to prove good moral character. She is graduating from college in May 2012, has held part time jobs through college, has done 2 unpaid internships during the summer, maintained a 3.3 gpa, made the dean's list one term.

I realize that we have to list the conviction on her application. Do we need legal representation? What will a lawyer actually do?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So how should we answer questions 15-21? Here is what I have so far...

15 - no
16 - yes
17 - yes
18 - no
19 - yes
20 - no
21 - no
 
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