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srbose

Registered Users (C)
Need guidance from my great Forum member. Any comment/suggestion are most welcome. Last year back I was arrested for simple Domestic Violence as I called the police so that I can be arrested, as I was feeling guilty but the judge dismissed the case immediately next day. I was not in lock up but the police took my fingerprint and dropped me at my home. I am not aware if at all I was convicted for Infraction (section 415.1). But my fingerprint resulted in a criminal record hit based on (FOIA) and it is the reason my I-485 case got transferred from TSC to Dallas on 12/19/03. While filing I-485 Part 3 paragraphs 1, I did not mention I was arrested. Dallas has done my Name check and no record found. As of today no interview.
 
srbose

Friend:

I think you need not worry on this count. If it was a major red-flag, they would have written to you to first submit the records and other dossier regarding your arrest for Domestic Violence. Yes, Domestic Violence is a criminal offense for which the immigration consequences are huge. It is considered to be an aggravated felony for immigration purposes invoking some of the harshest consequences that result in removal/deportation proceedings. But, don't worry, my dear friend. Your case clearly doesn't qualify for aggravated felony. However, it is unclear if you plead guilty before the Judge. Do yourself a favor. See if your case was dismissed WITH PREJUDICE or WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Let me guess, that it was done with prejudice.

It is amazing to see the depths to which a penitential soul would transcend to call the police for what has hurt its own conscience for an offense it had perpetrated on its spouse. Really, you are great, my friend. Surely, let me tell you, that it is not just wishful thinking, but purely based on whatever little law I know that you are not going to suffer the consequences for what you did, even though you could have avoided doing it. Do not hesitate to post any of your concerns here.

You are safe and my prayers will be there for you. All the best.
 
You have great integrity, and it's not common. (Reminds me of the 'scent of a woman' movie's Al Pacino dialog) Hopefully you will come through without any issues. All the best.
 
Thank you poongunranar and IHac1

Hi poongunranar and IHac1

I cannot express my gratitude to you in words and sentences. It was simple altercation between me and my wife based on the simple blood report bill amount $1200 sent by Hospital by mistake while sitting on floor carpet, I just pushed my wife shoulder and she could not control her balance. I was repenting and for first time in my life I saw police station in USA at night. I was not in their custody as they came to know I called the police from my wife. After taking the Finger print the police officer dropped me at my home and told me visit Municipal Court. Next morning, I went with my wife to court, judge heard our story from us and police officer and declared Case dismissed. I asked the police officer should I face problem obtaining GC because of Fingerprint. He said to me since my case is dismissed by judge, police department will tear away FP paper after six month as per the NJ state law and I am free to work anywhere in USA as well as obtaining GC. I enquired INS customer service about my I-131 pending over phone, INS sent mail to my company mentioning "PLEASE SCHEDULE APPOINTMENT AND BRING PROOF OF FILING, RECEIPT OF PAYMENT". I am afraid Dallas officer will conduct interview after that they will deny first AP and later I-485 based on my FOIA report as well as not mentioning Page 3 paragraphs 1 about my arrest. Please suggest.

EB3 (India)
 
srbose

Did you file your I-485 petition, after the arrest incident and you forgot to mention the arrest? Or, are you saying that I-485 was filed before the arrest incident and you just didn't get an opportunity to file the I-485 with the right answers w.r.t your arrest?

Please note that in your case, there are no charges and hence no conviction. Since the Judge dismissed the case, I strongly feel that it was dismissed with prejudice and therefore the State did not prosecute you. Ipso facto, you are not covered under the Criminal Justice System.

However, if you had not answered YES to the questions related to your arrest while filing I-485, it may be a precarious situation because of possibility of committing a penalty under perjury. However, I would still say that when called for I-485 interview, they will explicitly ask you to verify if all the answers are true in the form, at which time, you may correct the answers depending on what you already submitted. I do not think they will punish you, given the fact, you had on your own will had called the police and submitted yourself to the fullest extent of law. Hence the question of a crime of moral turpitude is not applicable here. In a worst case scenario, if you are cornered for suppression of truth in your I-485 form, you can tell them the true fact that you were not convicted and no judge had ordered any restrainment of your freedom to warrant an affirmative answer to those questions. Please note that whatever I have posited in bold have legal repercussions and should not be read very lightly in a pure literal context.

As I always used to say to others who write to me privately about their fears w.r.t having a brush with the Criminal Justice System, I plainly tell them to just face the interview with aplomb without trying to conjure up all the worst case scenarios. Focusing on the present wins the future you are afraid of. Friend, let me tell you plainly, that almost all of them (at least 10) reported their success stories with me. Only one guy, whose criminal case was going on for 2-years wasn't able to take up the financial and mental stress anymore and finally decided to leave to his own country. And more than those stresses, he felt lonely, isolated, bitched and condemned by many in the society and his own close-circles that he couldn't take it any more. Why I am saying this is not to just make you feel good, but to be pragmatically optimistic about your case. While I exude hope, I do not hype it up only to make you feel hopeless later.

Just as those ten folks, you will also be successful in your pursuit, if you can only patiently await your turn for interview, without conjuring up all worst-case scenarios. Please note, law in this country is equally poised for relief and remedy to both the immigrants as well as INS. If you are convinced that INS has more teeth to take you on, I am even more convinced that I have more teeth as well to seek remedy from those very same laws. This is a great country and you can join me in reiterating the motto of the State of South Carolina: Dum spiro, spero. (As long as I breathe, so long will I hope.)

Your dreams will come true. Just have a good night sleep. God bless.
 
SRBOSE,
First of all, find out whether you have been really arrested or not? One way is to get the police report from the county where you have been taken into custody. There are lot of online companies that does the same thing and also they can run the background check both from the city and country records.

If there is a record of arrest (whether dismissed or not), you better be accurate in answering the question during the interview.

I just went thro' the similar situation and got approved in the interview. I had a misdemeanor arrest which I put it on the 485 application. I bought a background check report (I beleive it is http://www.backgroundcheck.com )before I filed the 485 just to make sure the record is still in the county records, and the report came with the hit. So I stated 'yes' to the question on 'have you ever been arrested' on 485 and definetly expected it to be transferred to local office in Dallas.

But be prepared to wait for the interview little longer than normal...I waited for 2 yrs from the Dallas office. And also be prepared to state the truth without fear...infact, the first question will definetly be on the arrest (if you happen to have).... even before I tell my story the officer was prompting what the story ending was....and said fortunately they don't care about it...and approved without hesitation...

so don't worry , you will be approved without any problems...as the hit on the FP automatically triggers the local transfer...and they just want to make sure what you stated in the 485 is accurate and probably want to listen from you on oath...thats all...
 
Dear Poongunranar and ItsOver

May God bless you for your great encouragement? I filed I-485 after the arrest incident. To be honest my memory did not help me to remind specific incident (Arrest) as I moved from NJ to CA and settled down. I requested my independent attorney to file FOIA as I was not sure of what caused the transfer since after my first FP 11/21/03, TSC issued me EAD on 12/01/03, later TSC transferred my I-485 on 12/19/03 and I-131 on 02/17/04 to Dallas for an interview. Dallas is now processing from 11/01/2003(I-485) cases; I did not receive any mail from Dallas. Last week my FOIA report came, while I was scanning the pages, I found my FP got Hit mentioning "SIMPLE ASSULT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE" reported on Feb 18,03. I requested my lawyer to make necessary amendment in I-485 describing whole story in email. But the lawyer is not responding my email, phone call and voicemail. I was worried, as I am not receiving any response from my paid attorney. I hired him as independent attorney representing me in USCIS. I have requested him "Please let me know what his fees". But No answer. It is making me worried.
 
srbose

I forgot to mention what I had delved in detail at some other thread. Yes, do what ItsOver had suggested. However, not every detail will be made public to the private screening agencies, even though they should have close to all. For a detailed arrest/background-check, you need to go to your County Jail (contact the Sheriff's department of your county) to do a background check against you. That is the one which will be more complete. In fact, even those records indicate that it is not complete and will not have all the records as certain information may not be shared with the individual as well in accordance to certain statutes that prevent law-enforcement from sharing it with the individual. I asked a law-enforcement officer as to what that implies and she said that it is just to protect themselves from unfair law-suits, but whatever information you get out of the search you do at your county jail should basically be it.

FYI, my I-485 and my I-131 is also transferred to the local office and I do not have any arrest record whatsoever. So, don't get panicked over the transfer, per se. Also, my point was that, the transfer in your case may well be due to your arrest record, but not so for a stronger possibility for denial. If so, the local adjudications unit would have solicited specific documents/dossiers to be submitted to itself within a few months of transfer. Such a thing did not happen in your case, whereas it did happen in that very same Dallas office for one of the members of this forum who was arrested and prosecuted by the State for aggravated assault/sex-abuse against a minor. Personally, that was the closest case which was highly specific in its follow-ups that the guy felt cornered and specifically targeted for witch-hunt. As ItsOver said elsewhere, if it is a simple case of arrest, they do not really care. In your case, you can be more relaxed than you actually are. Correct your I-485 information during the interview.

I would appreciate if you can shed more light on what you mean by "I read the FOIA report where I found my arrest...." Where did you get the Freedom of Information Act Report? How would a FOIA report contain individual's arrest records? I am bemused. Kindly help.
 
Hi Poongunranar here is the FOIA info

First of all, I am very sorry for delayed posting. In USCIS website there is Column heading FOIA. Download the FOIA application form. If you just write the I-140 SRC number in FOIA application, USCIS will say, "I-140 belongs to Employer". When you write your I-485 SRC number, CIS will send the copy of all the papers, which you or your attorney sent at the time filing I-485, nothing else. But if you write SRC Number of both I-140 and I- 485, CIS will send you detail status step by step of their action taken so far on your case such as labor petition, LC approval, I-140 petiton, I-140 approval, I-140 ammedment, I-140 substitution, IBIS name check, result of name check and FP report from FBI everything you will receive by postal mail. There are no fees for filing FOIA, you do not have to pay even for the photocopies, and it is all yours at no charge except for sending FOIA application via postal mailing charge. Individual just has to fill the form. You will able to find out the reason of transfer of your case from TSC to Dallas. After filing the application, CIS will send you acknowledgement copy with control number, which is receipt number starting with DL from Dallas. CIS will let you know whether it is simple or complex case. Simple case takes one month and complex case takes 3 months after filing FOIA application. Mine was complex case. Simple case mean just I-140 approval copy/LC approved copy/I-485 copy. I can go through the each field of the application so that no one in this forum will have any difficulty while filing the FOIA application. If you take your Attorney help, he/she will charge you $250.00 for filing up the FOIA application as my attorney charged.
 
srbose

Thanks a lot for sharing the information. I didn't know that I have FOIA privileges for the immigration forms pending with INS. However, their caveat seems pretty scary to me where they have mentioned not to file for FOIA to know the status. Now, how can one take it for granted that INS will not suspect the real motivation for filing FOIA? In any case, thanks for sharing the information as it will be very helpful.

So, you got a mention of the arrest only at the FP section and not any other adverse comments? Also, you were not sentenced or convicted. Such being the case, was the offense the only thing mentioned? If so, can I infer that it says that the FP match produced a record of type SIMPLE ASSAULT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?
 
Hi Poongunranar

FOIA is independent body with in CIS, filing FOIA does not trigger YOUR case approval or denial. It is freedom of information about your file pending in INS for long time or case transfer or any agency other than CIS. Yes, I got a mention of the arrest only at the FP section. It is written of type SIMPLE ASSAULT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND DATE OF ARREST. Many employers do not give approved LC copy and I-140 copy as well as I-140 amendment or substitution, in that scenario FOIA will come to your help to obtain the copies with out any problem. I came to know all these information from immigration lawyer after paying consultation fees. Please let me know if you or any one else need more info. These Forum members are great; I really appreciate them for their valuable information during bad time as well as good time.
 
srbose,

I am not sure if you know about my case, but I was scared as hell too since my file was transferred.
I was arrested for selling beer to a minor and while on F1 when I was not supposed to work. The officer during the interview did not even care. All he asked was ' were you arrested'. I said 'yes'. Then he asked 'what charge'. I told him 'selling beer to a minor' . thats all I said..i did not elaborte.. he did not even bother to ask any more details.. all he said was that everything looks fine on my file and that becoz of the arrest record he would need his supervisors approval. So he went and came back in 3-4 min and said our case was approved. That arrest record did not even cause a second look/thought to him. I think he has seen worse..
But let me tell you one thing...poong helped me also and you have the best advice legally and morally going for you. Although he claims not to be an attorney, his advice is better than Johnny Cochrans' :-)
I understand what you might be going thru, but it will all be fine. I can relate to it perfectly since I went thru the same ordeal.

Let me know if you would like more information..

Pip
 
Thanks, pip

God bless you, dear friend, because it is precisely people like you, who do not hide your ordeals and share your fears, frustrations and more importantly your victories which goes a long way in giving people what they need the most: HOPE.

There was a time, when people never used to discuss their criminal records, leaving all and sundry wonder if there are even any criminal charges on aliens. Questions related to arrests and crime record were either ignored or deemed as unworthy of a response. Condemnation and spite followed up too. But, guess what! Soon all of that changed in this very same forum. People started to appreciate what others are going through during their worst times. They could identify a part of their own frailities in others' failings. Soon, they softened up and were compassionate to those who faced such ordeals with the Justice System. Ultimately, we the users of this forum became more inclusive to only convey a message that compassion is always better than condemnation, even as all of us continued to remain anonymous.

Let everybody hope till the last and may all good things befall everybody -- those with or without any brush with the Justice system. These stories will prevent others from falling victim to similar circumstances and in a nutshell, just make them better persons. After reading about DUI/DWI, many in this forum instantaneously affirmed that it was not worth it and even promised to themselves that they are not even going to try it. From those aspects as well, whatever we deliberate here sends a right signal to many!

Once again, thanks to folks like you.
 
Thanks srbose

srbose said:
I came to know all these information from immigration lawyer after paying consultation fees. Please let me know if you or any one else need more info. These Forum members are great; I really appreciate them for their valuable information during bad time as well as good time.

Dear Friend -- Thanks a lot to you as well. Yes, we need your help desperately in this regard. I am going to cite you and your information regarding FOIA in any of my private/public responses to anybody with an arrest record. So far, I used to suggest only the background check at local county jails, but this seems to be pretty straight-forward as well. The only difference is that getting a report from the local jail is a few minutes job, whereas FOIA may take 3-5 months, I guess.

Please continue to contribute more on FOIA and other indispensable facts you may have. Prayers move mountains and be rest assured that you are in mine as well as others'. You are just going to be fine and PIP knows what I mean when I say that :)
 
Dear Poongunranar and Pip

I really appreciate both of your encouragement, which I cannot expect in an Alien Land. Before posting my message, I was really hesitating as no one will reply and everyone will ignore me. I am now quite relaxed and confident of facing interview. But I am worried for one action from Dallas office, when I enquired about my I-131 filed on 09/15/03 in TSC, currently Dallas is processing AP from April 15,04. Dallas office sent letter to my office asking me schedule interview for AP. Instead of approving directly I-131 based on transfer from TSC to Dallas on Feb 17,2004 and above processing date, Dallas office is asked me to visit their office for AP. I am not going to India now, I will not schedule interview in Dallas District office for I-131. My I-485 is transferred on 12/19/03 from TSC to Dallas, currently Dallas is processing 12/15/03. I am not sure, whether to enquire about my I-485 case status from 800 numbers or postal mail asking Status Inquiry? I like to get rid of Dallas office as early as possible. Kindly reply at your own convenience.
 
srbose -- go for an interview

Hey man, I am also transferred to Atlanta on my I-131 for an interview. Now, I am going to wait for another month and then walk over to ADO to ask them about I-131, which has by now itself crossed the date for I-131 processing. I am just allowing them some time for them to receive the file. So, in my case also, I think, they are just going to ask me schedule some time or they may even schedule one and ask me to pay a visit. That is all to it. Don't worry about the adverse action possible to not visit Dallas office. Don't expect Dallas to approve your I-131 without an interview.

Please do note that my life is also hanging up in the air with an I-131 interview at ADO. I don't think we have to worry just because we have interviews scheduled for I-131s. All in the game. :)
 
Dear Poongunranar and Pip

For your information, I got the result of the online criminal background check, there is nothing like I was arrested or convicted. Report is completely clean.
 
srbose

There we go....This should again bolster your confidence in taking up your interviews. We are all with you and am absolutely sure that you will get through this unscathed. God bless. Keep us posted.
 
Hi my friend poongunranar

How are you? I like to stay for two to three days in hotel or studio or motel near Dallas District office to meet an immigration officer. Kindly let me know if you are aware of any staying place. As you know I live in Los Angeles district I am not familiar with Dallas.
 
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