Will my expunged criminal record affect my citizenship application?

Expungement is still visible to CIS and must be reported. What does larceny equate to ... do not know ... Bob / Jack / Joe / baikal would know better.
 
Larceny is a legal term for theft. The outcome would depend on whether the OP committed a petit larceny or a grand larceny. Considering the fact that the OP had to take a class in order to get the charges dismissed, this equates to alternative sentencing and will be viewed by the USCIS as a conviction for immigration purposes.

AK74u47, was this a shoplifting conviction, by any chance?
 
Vorpal said:
The outcome would depend on whether the OP committed a petit larceny or a grand larceny.
Click to expand...
It was likely a petit larceny since grand larceny is considered a felony (OP mentioned his was a misdemeanor). That being said, the exact charge, state of offense, possible/actual sentence would be required to make any determination of possible immigration consequences.
 
Bobsmyth said:
It was likely a petit larceny since grand larceny is considered a felony (OP mentioned his was a misdemeanor). That being said, the exact charge, state of offense, possible/actual sentence would be required to make any determination of possible immigration consequences.
Click to expand...

And the date of the conviction is also important with respect to naturalization. The OP mentions "couple years ago" but that's not specific enough to determine whether it's in the statutory period.
 
Bobsmyth said:
It was likely a petit larceny since grand larceny is considered a felony (OP mentioned his was a misdemeanor). That being said, the exact charge, state of offense, possible/actual sentence would be required to make any determination of possible immigration consequences.
Click to expand...

Good point.
 
All theft equates to a CIMT (crime involving moral turpitude), the additional questions are whether it falls under the petty offense exception and if it was a single occurrence.
 
Vorpal said:
Larceny is a legal term for theft. The outcome would depend on whether the OP committed a petit larceny or a grand larceny. Considering the fact that the OP had to take a class in order to get the charges dismissed, this equates to alternative sentencing and will be viewed by the USCIS as a conviction for immigration purposes.

AK74u47, was this a shoplifting conviction, by any chance?
Click to expand...

I think it was a petit larceny. My case actually got dismissed before I took the classes, but my lawyer advised me to take the class in order to get the charges expunged. I'm not really familiar with laws, so I don't know if that will make any difference.. and it was a single occurrence, and there is no other criminal record besides that. and yes it was a shoplifting conviction. thank you for your help!
 
It depends on maximum possible sentence. But keep in mind whether due to intent or mistake, there is one day overlapping between immigration-purpose felony/misdeamnor and state defined felony/misdemeanor. State define misdemeanor|felony as a crime/ofoense fotr which maximum senetcne is <=|> 365 days but for immigration purpose, a felony is defined as a crime maximu
punishement is 365 days or longer. So a state-defined misdeamenor can be a felony in the eye of USCIS.

Read teh following:

(i) Crimes of moral turpitude.-Any alien who-

(I) is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years (or 10 years in the case of an alien provided lawful permanent resident status under section 245(j) ) after the date of admission, and

(II) is convicted of a crime for which a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed.

is deportable




http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-5667.html
 
ak74u47 said:
This happened when I was 18, so it's been about 2 years now since my case got expunged.
Click to expand...

Expungement does not matter for USCIS. If you read N400, you can clearly say the form
explicitly stresses that expunged records be disclosed no matter whoever (police, judge, prosecutor etc) told you you do not need to.
 
ak74u47 said:
I think it was a petit larceny. My case actually got dismissed before I took the classes, but my lawyer advised me to take the class in order to get the charges expunged. I'm not really familiar with laws, so I don't know if that will make any difference.. and it was a single occurrence, and there is no other criminal record besides that. and yes it was a shoplifting conviction. thank you for your help!
Click to expand...

If the case was dismissed in court, that means that you were found not guilty. If this was the case, what was the purpose of having the case expunged?
 
Vorpal said:
If the case was dismissed in court, that means that you were found not guilty. If this was the case, what was the purpose of having the case expunged?
Click to expand...

I think that is common. One is innocent until proven guilty but that is only for crminal punishment. If you are arrested and are aquitted by court, your neighbor still think
you are guilty of something otherwise why would the police arrest you in the first place? The reverse is also true, just think that if your neighbor is often arrested by the polioce for child mosteting but is never convicted, what would you think of him? Would you worry about your children's safety?
Therefore any anyone who ecnounters criminal court procedure want to have their record expunged /sealed by court so that his/her neighnot college, relative won't see it. So regardless of disposition (convistion, aquitial dismissale), expungement of records alwats does the person involved a big favor.

The bottomline is: arrest record is a social stigma regardless of whether you are found guilty or not, regardless of whether you are really innocent or not so if you have one, better have it expundged if possible
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top