German Criminal Record - Advice

[gurnblanston 0]

Hi all,

 

I'm a British citizen married to a USC applying for my spousal visa / green card through the US Embassy in London.  

 

My I-130 is in process and I'm collecting my documents in anticipation of the next step. I have only ever resided in the UK and my police record for here states NO TRACE, but annoyingly I was once arrested on a charge of petty theft in Munich, Germany during Oktoberfest some 9 years ago. I was released an hour or two later after reluctantly paying a fine which essentially functions as an admission of guilt. 

 

However, the police certificate I recently obtained from Germany came back clean -  stating 'Keine Eintragung' which translates to 'No Registration/No Entries'.  I understand that some minor convictions are wiped from the records in Germany after a certain period of time (5 or 10 years depending on the severity), however, without boring anyone with details or futile protestations of innocence, the circumstances of my arrest were dubious to say the least - the officers at the station would only accept cash, and after my initial attempt to prove my innocence during questioning, they twice reduced the fine - first to 1400, then down to 1200 euros after the original quote of 1600.   My friends and I all had the feeling at the time that that money was quietly pocketed and the arrest never logged but that's by-the-by.  

 

I'll assume it was logged and will obviously declare it when I come to fill out my DS-260 and re-state it during my interview should my I-130 be approved - so I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge/experience specific to this issue and might be able to offer some advice on the following:

 

- Do I also need an Apostille in addition to the German police certificate?

 

- Should I attempt to retrieve a copy of the arrest sheet and/or court documents (I didn't appear in court) from Germany or is that unnecessary given the police certificate came back clean? Will they even still have them? Would this show up in a background check?

 

- Will I need a Subject Access Report in addition to my UK police certificate if it came back with NO TRACE? (I've never been arrested or cautioned in the UK)

 

- Aside from matter-of-factness / total honesty/transparency and avoiding my conspiracy theories about the circumstances of the arrest, are there any ways to go about / not go about presenting this information on the forms and to the interviewer?

 

-  What are the chances this will derail / lengthen my application? Is petty theft considered a significant 'crime of moral turpitude'? Is it likely I'll need a waiver? Should I be seeking legal advice? 

 

This is my first visa application and so obviously I'm a little nervous about it all, so I'd really appreciate any insights anyone can offer.

Thanks so much x

 

 

[Mark88 183]

It will all depend if the fine you got back then was declared a "Verwarnung" or it was given to the state attorney "Staatsanwaltschaft". Since it doesn't appear on your record, it doesn't look like anything.

[gurnblanston 0]

thanks so much, Mark88 - feeling a little confounded by all of this so i really appreciate your insight.

 

to your point - i’m fairly sure it was more than just a “Verwarnung” or caution/warning - the size of the fine would seem to suggest that also - which makes the clean record all the more perplexing. 

 

in any case, i’ll probably check in with a lawyer to try and make sense of it and report back in case anyone else has needed to get a police record from a country in which they’d never resided. 

 

thanks again x

 

PS - if anyone did know if it’s necessary to get an apostille for a German police record - or a Subject Access Record in addtion to a clean UK record I’d love to hear from you!

[Mark88 183]

3 hours ago, gurnblanston said:

in any case, i’ll probably check in with a lawyer to try and make sense of it and report back in case anyone else has needed to get a police record from a country in which they’d never resided.

 

That probaly will be your best option. The quickest way to get a response from a German lawyer is over JustAnswer.com

[gurnblanston 0]

that's very kind of you - thank you so much x