Please give your suggestions and comments

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ca_case2000

Registered Users (C)
Hello Guys,
I am very silent watcher of this forum; this is very great forum where you will get answers and strength. I have issue which is bothering me very much, no sleeps and tension.
Just share your thoughts and experiences.

In January 2003 I have applied for I 485 at VSC, but I got email that my case is transferred to local office (Dallas) on 08/25/2004 ( I moved to Dallas from NJ in Nov 2003). I know I will be getting interview because in I 485 I answered “yes” to item 1b because on Sept. 7, 2000, I entered a plea of “no contest” to a violation of an infraction of California Penal Code 415. Stemmed from a misunderstanding about a pulled fire alarm
What happened at California (Case)?

‘People say if you are in wrong place at wrong time everything go wrong’

This what exactly happened to me, in January 2000 while I was waiting for friend in front of restroom to go to Lunch but suddenly the fire alarms goes on, we thought it is testing so we just carried on went to Lunch, by the time we came back my director (client) was waiting for me, then they talk to me and said I was responsible of pulling fire alarm. I denied charges and I left the client place. Here I want to tell one thing is that my manger (who I use to report) never believed and he wanted me to stay back. After couple of days I got a call from police station saying that they (client) have a lodged criminal case against me because I pulled the fire alarm and in California they have law that if fire people respond to false alarm they have to investigate the situation.
Next I hired a attorney to represent me , in mean time I moved out of California to work for another client (I was with same consulting company ) but still my case was going because my attorney was representing me and some occasion I visited California , As of these the only evidence they have was security video tape. I never saw this video tape, So as per my attorney we decided that we will go for Trial after watching video tape, so on in August 2000 my attorney and DA office viewed the security video tape, according to my attorney the video tape is not clear and it is not clear that I was the person in video tape standing in hallway and pulled fire alarm. So DA gave to options to my attorney option 1 was to go to Jury trail and option to 2 is to reduce or change charges to an infraction which will be just fine.
To pick option and to tell my attorney I had only 30 days, If I go with trail then I have to be in California for all time of my Jury trail and my attorney fee was $120.00 per hour which is very expensive for me but I thought in my mind that I want to go to Jury trail because the I know I did not to do it , for option 2 I spoke to my company immigration attorney (she is also same attorney for my green card )because I don’t want to get into trouble during my green card process. So immigration attorney spoke to my attorney in California and they have decided that I can go with option 2 because immigration attorney told me that I won’t be getting any jail time just fine which is like traffic ticket.
So as per my attorney I have decided option 2, DA office has changed my charges to Penal Code 415 (2) which says following
415. Any of the following persons shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than 90 days, a fine of not more than four hundred dollars ($400), or both such imprisonment and fine:
(1) Any person who unlawfully fights in a public place or challenges another person in a public place to fight.
(2) Any person who maliciously and willfully disturbs another person by loud and unreasonable noise. (3) Any person who uses offensive words in a public place which are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.
And paid fine which has ended the case on September 7 2000.


Now comes very Tension Part of my life …….

According my immigration attorney she can’t represent me Dallas because she doesn’t have license to Patrice in Texas. As of these I meet two attorneys in Dallas, the first one says my case is very complicated and she is charging too much money which I have not spend for my whole GC processing but the second says little complicated and he is charging very reasonable which I can afford.
So my question to you is which attorney should I pick ?Does the attorney who is charging more will have more experience? And also give your opinion and guidance about my case situation ?Do you thing I will have problem in getting GC or not.
I have all documents from court and attorney regarding this case and also I am getting certified copies of my case from California Court .
If anybody has same or similar experience, please give your suggestions and comments.

Thanks
CA_CASE
 
its very unfortanate incident. There are a couple of similar cases on the board, you might need to do some search, I think a class C misdemeaner is OK (like traffic tickets), i dont really know what is infraction.
Attorney sometimes just sit down and give you some confidence during the interview, they might prep you, but they will be silent during the interview. so that is something to consider when deciding on paying hefty legal fees. I would ask them specifically how they can help my case, and make sure I understand their strategy. I would not just take "complicated case" and trust they will solve it
There are some sites that have attorney rating (http://www.martindale.com) so you might also consult with that
 
This is weird. Immigration law is federal law. You don't need to have license in a different state in order to practice Immigration Law there.
 
Wrong Information

chinabee said:
This is weird. Immigration law is federal law. You don't need to have license in a different state in order to practice Immigration Law there.
Click to expand...

Immigration Attorneys must belong to a State bar, because case action can be brought under the US District Courts of that Circuit that governs the state in which he practices. Therefore, it is wrong to assume that one doesn't need to have a license in a different state in order to practice Immigration law. Irrespective of which law it is, one has to be a member of the local state bar and carry a license to practice law.
 
ca_case2000,

You should not be too worried. Just get all the court documents that indicates any punishment or fine paid. Have them certified.

As per immigration law, at the worst your case falls in "petty offence" exception (90 days jail)

Coming to question on lawyers, all that immigration lawyers do is paper work. You have to be alert and get all imformation from the net yourselves. At this stage there is practically nothing your can help you with, except for filing regular immigration papers.

Frankly speaking, your case is not complicated at all.

Going into past, you should have risked a trial if they were not able to tell clearly that on the Video it was you. They have to prove a case "beyond a resonable doubt" to find you guilty.
 
My humble advice to you is just go to bed and have a tight sleep. Nothing to worry.

I recently had a successfull interview at the Dallas District office with an arrest on file (Transferred case).

Yours is very low level situation, and take it easy...The interviewing officer won't even care about it..

But since this our most important and turning point of our life, it is recommended to have an attorney sitting beside you. The attorney may become handy if and only IF the officer wants to ask any questions..

one thing for sure, the officer will be asking about the arrest record (as it will written on top of your file from the FBI's fingerprint hit records)...just be prepared to say ' Yes' to the question on "Have you ever been arrested". If he ask little more explanation...have it in brief..submit any court records...

Worse case, your attorney can handle if the officer gets into look for more details...which I highly doubt it....


contact this attorney which I used for my interview...she is nice...charges $175/ Hour...my whole interview process took 15 minutes..the wait time is about 30 minutes...most probably you would be paying $175 for the interview plus the initial consulting fee ....say roughly the whole thing may cost you less then 400 in worse case...

The attorney name is : Susan Lane
http://www.lawyers.com/chaneylane/

Any questions, IM me. I won't be checking that frequently as i used to ..but I will try to reply with in 4-5 days....
 
one more thing...Assuming that you don't have any other issues (like change of employers, out of status AC21 etc) than this arrest....
DON'T trust those attorneys that say your case is complicated...thats plain Bullshit..they just trying to squeeze more money out of you from your situation..
 
this thread open my eyes..

me too in the same situation... i can call it arrested/questioned by niagara border pertrol, when I wanted to cross the border to got to canada to claim refugee status. i came to US using H1 visa, but when they questioned me i couldnt show any records because i didnt have my passport with me. this happened in Nov 1999. the they recorded me as illegal entry to US, and gave me a form to give it to canadian border, if they accept then they will send the form back to US, so they will update there records.
I came back to US in a month and withdraw my refugee case in Canada, and travelled canada several times after that without any problems.

when I did my fingerprint in May,2003, I was expecting this record to get pulled out from FBI.

Then last November I had to do FP for canadian embassy and FBI sent the report to myself, and as I expected it showed as arrested and realsed or something, which I gave it to canadian embassy.

Anyway, now my file got transfered to Los Angeles, CA office to schedule for an intereviw.

Do I need to have an attorney to defend me at the time of interview, or can I go by myself.
My worry si if anything happens, they deny then what happenes.

any inputs will be appreciated.
 
Arrested folks -- Delay is good!

If any of you have arrest records (other than serious felony) and INS knows about it and yet delays on your file, it is a good thing. If INS observes serious felony offenses in your record, it usually acts pretty fast to deny and launch removal proceedings. So, if you already had a RFE regarding the arrest and there was no response after that from INS, it may only mean that either your file is about to be transferred to local-office, or it is going to further sleep in the queue for routine processing.
 
jimmy9252 said:
I had the same situation:
I have an arrest 10 years ago for Theft that resulted in 1 years probation. After 1 year the case was dismissed. I marked this when I applied for AOS.
My case receipt is in April 2002 and first FP was Jan 2003 and RFE for the arrest records was Nov 2002. Since then I havent heard anything back.
A friend of mine with exact same details was approved in Houston in 2 years and the interviewing officer was very easy on him. Told him to stay out of trouble.
I think one must list everything in the application and unless they are unadmissible there should be no problem. Only problem may be that their case may take for ever like mine.
Click to expand...


I think USCIS should know only revelant information
1. Why were you arrested
2. What are the charges
3. What is the end result if the case

Dismissal after 1 year of probation amounts to dismissal. But I speculate that when you tell them that you received 1 year probation, they think that you may not eligible for petty offence exception (petty office exception comes into play only when original crime was a crime of moral turpitude).

10 years is a enuf time to show good conduct, stand tight.
 
jbgc said:
this thread open my eyes..
Do I need to have an attorney to defend me at the time of interview, or can I go by myself.
My worry si if anything happens, they deny then what happenes.
any inputs will be appreciated.
Click to expand...

In confusing/complicated cases like this, it is always good to have an attorney with you, especially one who is aware of criminal complications to immigration.
 
poongunranar said:
If any of you have arrest records (other than serious felony) and INS knows about it and yet delays on your file, it is a good thing. If INS observes serious felony offenses in your record, it usually acts pretty fast to deny and launch removal proceedings. So, if you already had a RFE regarding the arrest and there was no response after that from INS, it may only mean that either your file is about to be transferred to local-office, or it is going to further sleep in the queue for routine processing.
Click to expand...

So, if there are no grounds for outright denial/deportation, then what else does INS want to know further ??
 
patnams

patnams said:
So, if there are no grounds for outright denial/deportation, then what else does INS want to know further ??
Click to expand...

There is a lot that they need to do -- ranging from ordinary quality-control exercise to verifying petty offenses and possibility of fraud which may not be obvious in the exterior and ya-da ya-da. The point is that if it is a serious case of removal/deportation, they act very swiftly at the local-office level. If not, it only means that you are placed in queue for possible interview and examination. Now, if yours is a straight-forward case, you are not going to be grilled and it will be a perfunctory exercise. However, if it is a complex case but is not complex enough to warrant an outright denial and deportation, further questioning becomes a necessity. I have seen at least two cases which were moved very swiftly at the local-office level and at least one of them finally packed off and left voluntarily before having to be placed on removal proceedings.
 
my case took 2 yrs to get the interview scheduled after the transfer. The reason that I heard it from INS thro' my attorney's correspondence with them by email is that cases like these (with the FP hits) are going to be assigned to officers only one per day. So it will eventually take longer to clear the que. Another crap, but some expalnation over there why the arrest cases move slowly at the local office.
 
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