Naturalization with a restraining order?

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usasf99

Registered Users (C)
my ex was granted a restraining order (still in effect) by a civil court judge. b4 applying for citizenship, I consulted with an experienced Immigration lawyer who suggested to run an FBI check (CIJS division, I followed the instructions on http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm) and State DMV. they both came with no arrest records since I was never arrested, jailed, fined, convicted or whatsoever.
During the interview, Mr INS asked me about the order and why did I get it (they probably got a hit from court public records).. I told him my story ..asked me if I was ever arrested and I said no(truth!!). we went through civics test, etc, had to sign my photos, forms. They wanted a copy of the order from the court to be mailed. He told me that he will hand it over to his supervisor and will be notifed for the oath IF APPROVED.
Went back to my attorney and explained what happened. She told me that my case looks fine because:
- deportation is not questionnable, there are no charges, no conviction, therefore no crime involved. An order doesn't mean a conviction of a crime
- I was never convicted or arrested etc... the FBI does not miss anything in their database and a minor arrest would have been reflected on their response.
- my order looks very mild and there is nothing to stress about. she has seen worse than mine.
-bad interviews last more than 40 min ( vs mine 10-15 min)
-she said most importantly , that the officer did not mention anything about namecheck which means that FBI had cleared my name.

Now I m at their Mercy waiting for their answer.

anyone has any similarities or experience to share? anything that I m not aware of? any comments and suggestions are welcomed.

thank you for your help.
 
Johonny, here are answers to your questions:
1- the order was issued in a family court.
2- it will expire next year
3- I was never fingerprinted: neither in the police station nor in the court ( do poeple get FP in court??)
4- the allegations were: verbal abuse and stalking !!
5- it was granted after being a LPR for 4 years
UCIS does not rely on FBI only. they just happen to have searched public records of the county I live/ lived in and it came up with my name, remember also that all restraining orders bar people from having firearms, so maybe that would give a hit somewhere. as I told you, my FBI check has a big no arrest record stamp on it.
As I told you, I was never arrested: she went to police station and complained and then they called me to explain what happened: said my side of story and left, is this an arrest? if so, why it is not on my criminal record (both FBI and state?). I remember, that the officer couple of days later, when he handed me a temp restraining order (b4 the hearing), told me, they are no charges against you, you need to go to this court (family) this day...


by the way. I got a mail from my DO today, after I sent them the copy of the order last week, where they stated in a form N 14 again that they need the following ( exactly how it is phrased in that form): A court document saying that you have not been convicted of any crime. if "no record". then there needs to be a letter saying "no record" from the court in my county.


I don't know what the officer wants exactly? is what he asking for doable? just go to the court and show them the INS requst or what?
 
Johnnycash,

thank you for your input and valuable answers.
the second letter from UCIS, to me shows a good sign, why? because if they had any confirmation from state or FBI of conviction of a crime, do you think they will discuss the matter with me? they will say: hey you are a convict > not elligible> go for another five years or you must leave the US!! I don't think they would go further and ask me for such letter from court ( makes sense?).
all the info I gave earlier is true and nothing is missing (civil case nature, FBI and state records,etc, ...) I m not trying to embellish the case and make it look like I m getting my citizenship. It's just the logic of things (just like ones and zeros in the digital world!).
how the hell they got info about restraining order, no idea! Could be the ex, could be her b/f ( who was extremely jealous and I still believe he is the mastermind of the whole court story since I was good friend with ex for a while after our relation ended.. oh well, people are crazy sometimes).
DO I REALLY CARE ABOUT HOW THEY GOT THE INFO? I CARE ABOUT HOW TO BECOME CITIZEN!

all I have to do is to follow instructions and get a letter from the court and wait...
 
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johnny,
you seem to be a detail oriented person. how on earth did you get into a debt over a MILLION dollars?
 
Delhi? Yes and No. However Delhi is the only Indian consulate accepting DCF.

PS:
I hope you learn from your past mistakes and rebuild your fortune. All the best for your Natz also
 
JohnnyCash said:
Rahul
The other half million dollars, which I got as a consumer loan from a bank to do a business, lost in a bad investment along with my own family’s money of million dollars.
Click to expand...

You seem to think that $40K+$60K = $1 million. Wrong Johnny!

1 million is ten times that of your $100K. MY guess? Your statement of "other half million," as quoted above.
 
hey Johnny,

thank you for your help in the beginning but your compliment of calling me selfish is not nice! when I said I don't care about how they knew the info, I mean't whatever is done has already happened. I m not hiding any info from anybody and will try to help as much as I can.

to all other fellas? why you guys discuss Johnny's debt problems under my thread? let's be productive and hit the core of questions and not how somebody got in judicial or financial trouble.

criticizing is easy, Helping solve critical issues take more courage and wisdom.

no offense to anybody.
 
this is an update that I wanted to share ( so I m not called selfish as it was posted earlier!!)
went to family court and asked for record letter: the clerk would not give me anything stating that this is not a criminal case. So she asked me to go and get a county criminal record check which I got from the Sheriff's office for a 20 dollars fee. Clean with no criminal record. I mailed to the INS and now waiting for their response. Hopfully this nightmare will be over unless they want something else.
 
It's to my understanding that citizenship can be denied for numerous reasons - aside from crimes, petty or serious- seems like a lot is taken into consideration. Character judgment seems to be pretty big on the list. So while a restraining order may not bee seen as a crime they may see it as another minus. I will be on the positive note here and say that if your lawyer did not see that as a problem then it should be ok.

However I should mention that I initially went to a lawyer over some concern of mine and she told me to just ignore it- that it shouldn’t be a problem.

Boy, was she wrong. Johnny may sound a little geared up but I would be concerned as to how did they find out about the restraining order.
 
My lawyer just told me that most likely they got the info through The California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) (Ca has such system). the system is a database where agencies report to ( sort of FBI CJIS) and it includes as well restraining orders so they can be enforced. Doesn't matter whether they are civil or criminal.
She is still convinced that having a civil RO similar to what I got is not a crime (otherwise, half of the country would face criminal charges and half of the immigrant would have to leave :D ... basically, local criminal clearance letter proves that there is no criminal activity). At least removal is out of the scope (thank god) and now it's up to the INS officer to determine at his own discretion whether to grant or send me back for another round and money spending even if there was no conviction.
 
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