I am a female Petitioner for my husband. My first marriage ended because of Domestic Violence. It went on for years and culminated in one final incident where I acted in self defense and struck my x-husband. The police were involved and my X claimed he was an innocent victim and that it was an unprovoked attack. He spoke to the police 10 hours after the incident at his doctor's office. When they came to speak to me about it I did not admit to anything, but did not show them the bruieses all over my body. Long story short, I was charged with a felony assault, went to a jury trial after 3 years of postmonements and after my young daughter testified as a first hand witness, explaining and demonstrating how her father was choking me that day and also that he often abused me..in her words "many many times" the DA offered me a deal that I could not refuse, charges dropped to misdemeanor simple battery, one year of probation, anger management and a small fine. I took the deal, the case was settled, competed all of the conditions and my record was cleared under the first offender act in my home state.

Now....5 years later I'm remarried and I'm petitioning my spouse. I read in the documents that I MUST disclose any past domestic violence convictions. I complied with the law, sent in the appropriate information stating that my case was completed, when and how. My spouse goes in for his consular interview and is grilled about the incident. He knows about it. Knows most of the details about the event, but I've never really brought out my court docs and detailed to him my plea bargain. The CO asks him.. are you aware that she may abuse you? He said, well I'm sure anyone is capable of anything if the circumstances are what she delt with.

Has anyone else (male or female) been in this position? I would really appreciate your input and advice on how you were treated through this entire process with this bearing down on your application.

I have to acompany my spouse to his next interview and I'm sure they will ask me about it that day.

What should I take with me? Can we be denied because of this?

Victim

Victim, I have never gone through that but I have read enough on the subject to tell you a little and I am sure somone with first hand experience will jump in sooner or later.

I would not worry a lot about being denied. They will grill him at the interview about it and it is important that he knows about it. So far they seem to want to mainly make sure a spouse or fiancee is fully aware of the history of their petitioner and is willing to accept that. They will also give him some pamplets about domestic abuse and his rights. You will be fine.

A benficiary can not be denied benefits (i.e. Visa) due to the past criminal history of the petitioning USC.

That is not true.... A recent example is this whole recent DCF debacle that is ongoing is the result of new legislation that will cause some USC's to be ineligible to file petitions.

I'm talking about the law as it currently stands under IMBRA. What does the new legislation state? Has the president signed it on to law yet?

Signed into law on July 27, 2006. HR 4472

Title IV: Immigration Law Reforms to Prevent Sex Offenders from Abusing Children

This title provides that any alien convicted of the federal crime of failing to register as a sex offender is deportable. Additionally, the Act provides that a citizen convicted of a specified offense against a minor is not eligible to petition for a family-based visa. That bar, however, may be waived if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that the citizen poses no risk to the alien with respect to whom the petition is filed.

Geez. I sure hope we don't end up with some kind of IMBRA like mess where DOS starts sending petitions back to USCIS to be readudicated. I found a USCIS memo dated 7/28/06 instructing the centers how to comply with this so hopefully USCIS learned their lesson with IMBRA.

Too late... A "re-call" of sorts has already started........

Post the memo please!!!!

I guess you are correct for the poor DCF people caught up in this. Here it is.

Apparently it took 6 mos. for the info to get over to the DOS

Thank you for all of the feedback. I spent some time reading through the threads last night and feel more confident about the interview. My husband is well aware of the situation and said so to the consular officer. I do have a 'conviction', however it was expunged and technically erased from my record. I know this doesn't matter under IMBR, but that is the case here, also, this does not involve child abuse, so the recent legislation share does not pertain to my situation. At this point, I have disclosed everything to the USCIS, they approved my K3 and I-130 petitions without a single RFE and I have the opportunity to explain the details further to the consul if required. I'm also planning on taking letters from my lawyer, trail transcripts and a letter from my court ordered AMgmt counselor. I think I'll be ok.

I would still like to hear from some of you on your experiences if you were interviewed. What you were asked? What the focus was? Anyway...thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond.

Victim

Is there a thread about this subject? As a recent filer (not DCF though) I'm interested in learning exactly what's involved.

What consulate did you go through? I'm sure others will be interested to know about this and what the outcome is for you and your husband. I know many consulates would not give a 2nd interview at all, and if they doubt the situation would return the petition/applocation to the USCIS for review. It would really be helpful to others if you completed your timeline. Have you gone to the 2nd interview yet?

~Kiyah~