Hi,
Looking for help from forum experts here.
I had a petty theft misdemeanor in Aug 2002 for which I had 364 days of jail sentence, suspended to 364 days of unsupervised probation. The probation ended October 2003.
I applied for my citizenship in Jan 2008 - falsely assuming that I am beyond the 5 year period from the arrest date, Aug 2002. I did the immigration interview in May 2008 and the Officer mentioned that he cannot make a decision at the time of the interview. After about 20 months of wait, my application was declined for two reasons: 1. Lack of good moral character within the 5 year period and 2. False testimony.
After talking to an immigration lawyer recently, I realized the mistake that the 5 year period needs to be from the end of probation and not from the date of arrest. Now, I am trying to assess if I should reapply now. I am getting advice that I better wait till 2013 (5 years after my immigration interview) so the false testimony doesn't affect the 5 year Good moral Character status.
I am trying to understand where the false testimony came about. In the N-400 application, I checked all the boxes correctly in Part 10-D where questions about my arrest were asked. I provided the court documents with the application. In the explanation box below Question 21, I mentioned the suspended sentence (364 days of unsupervised probation) instead of the actual sentence (364 days of jail). But I explained the entire arrest record in a separate sheet of paper; like mentioned above, I had included the court documents also. Does this mention of suspended sentence instead of the actual sentence grounds for false testimony?
During the immigration interview, I gave all the documents about the arrest to the officer. When he suggested that this falls under 5 years, I replied that the arrest date was Aug 2002 and so it was outside of the 5 years. It was my misinterpretation of the definition of 5 years of good moral character, not trying to hide any information. Would the above answer of mine been the reason for false testimony?
Given the above, should I wait till 2013 or can I apply and explain my earlier N-400 mistake in a note? I have to take a foreign assignment starting early next year for my work. If I have to wait till 2013 for my re-application, I will have to forgo the assignment. If I take the assignment and stay out of the country for the majority of the next 2.5 years, I wouldn't meet many of the residency requirements for the N-400 reapplication.
I appreciate your feedback,
Thanks.
Looking for help from forum experts here.
I had a petty theft misdemeanor in Aug 2002 for which I had 364 days of jail sentence, suspended to 364 days of unsupervised probation. The probation ended October 2003.
I applied for my citizenship in Jan 2008 - falsely assuming that I am beyond the 5 year period from the arrest date, Aug 2002. I did the immigration interview in May 2008 and the Officer mentioned that he cannot make a decision at the time of the interview. After about 20 months of wait, my application was declined for two reasons: 1. Lack of good moral character within the 5 year period and 2. False testimony.
After talking to an immigration lawyer recently, I realized the mistake that the 5 year period needs to be from the end of probation and not from the date of arrest. Now, I am trying to assess if I should reapply now. I am getting advice that I better wait till 2013 (5 years after my immigration interview) so the false testimony doesn't affect the 5 year Good moral Character status.
I am trying to understand where the false testimony came about. In the N-400 application, I checked all the boxes correctly in Part 10-D where questions about my arrest were asked. I provided the court documents with the application. In the explanation box below Question 21, I mentioned the suspended sentence (364 days of unsupervised probation) instead of the actual sentence (364 days of jail). But I explained the entire arrest record in a separate sheet of paper; like mentioned above, I had included the court documents also. Does this mention of suspended sentence instead of the actual sentence grounds for false testimony?
During the immigration interview, I gave all the documents about the arrest to the officer. When he suggested that this falls under 5 years, I replied that the arrest date was Aug 2002 and so it was outside of the 5 years. It was my misinterpretation of the definition of 5 years of good moral character, not trying to hide any information. Would the above answer of mine been the reason for false testimony?
Given the above, should I wait till 2013 or can I apply and explain my earlier N-400 mistake in a note? I have to take a foreign assignment starting early next year for my work. If I have to wait till 2013 for my re-application, I will have to forgo the assignment. If I take the assignment and stay out of the country for the majority of the next 2.5 years, I wouldn't meet many of the residency requirements for the N-400 reapplication.
I appreciate your feedback,
Thanks.