messing up on DS-230

[missmango 0]

Oh god...where to start?!

We dropped off our I-130 back in September and I was asked to fill out the DS-230, part I at the embassy.

Question #41 asks if the applicant has been charged or convicted of an offense or crime. I skipped a few words and only read "crime", so I checked the "no" box even though I had been charged a fee for a DUI-related incident back in 2008.

Shortly after our first apointment I contacted the embassy and asked if I could re-submit the DS-230 the day of the interview and they said that was fine.

So in the meantime I gathered the court documents and had them translated and planned on taking them with me to the interview in two weeks and explain myself right then and there.

I saw an attorney last week and I explained him my dilemma and all he had to say was "oh boy, that's not good at all" because the USCIS will consider it lying, etc.

I now contacted the embassy and asked them what to do and they simply said to bring the proper documents and answer the question truthfully...not quite sure what to make of that answer.

What do you think I should expect from this? Any idea how much this could affect/delay our process? We are at the final step (interview) and we are scheduled to fly to the States 2.5 months after the interview.

I greatly appreciate any help and input!

Thanks!

Edited June 4, 2012 by missmango

[tortuguita 1]

My advice would be to do exactly as the Embassy requested. Given that your original response to the question was an error and that you have made good by contacting the Embassy in advance to attempt to rectify the situation, gathering all necessary papers, my thinking is that things will be ok. Do you have the date/name of individual at the Embassy that you spoke with. It might be helpful to have that on hand to corroborate your attempts to rectify the error. How often do we hear the question, "Well, who did you speak with?" If you don't have that information you might just wish to call the Embassy again to confirm what you were told and get the official's name etc. It couldn't hurt.

[missmango 0]

My advice would be to do exactly as the Embassy requested. Given that your original response to the question was an error and that you have made good by contacting the Embassy in advance to attempt to rectify the situation, gathering all necessary papers, my thinking is that things will be ok. Do you have the date/name of individual at the Embassy that you spoke with. It might be helpful to have that on hand to corroborate your attempts to rectify the error. How often do we hear the question, "Well, who did you speak with?" If you don't have that information you might just wish to call the Embassy again to confirm what you were told and get the official's name etc. It couldn't hurt.

Thanks for your reply!

I did indeed save all e-mail communication between me and the embassy and I plan on printing them out and bringing them with me. Unfortunately, no e-mail includes a name, just a generic signature with the unit's address, phone number, and opening hours. But that's better than nothing

I really hope that they understand that I am contacting them to make things good. Sure I could have contacted them previouly and not wait two weeks prior to my apointment, but after that initial "ok" they gave me, I figured I'd be good to go...until I spoke to the attorney who scared me :-(

[tortuguita 1]

Good luck with everything. And, yup, there are a lot of scary people out there. It's SO hard to weed out the good and bad information. Of course, if you lied on your app it could mean troubles for you. But, as this isn't the case I should sincerely hope the Embassy officials arn't ogres. We're just human, we make mistakes, and you made an attempt to correct yours. Let us know how it goes!