Outstanding warrant for K1 beneficiary

[visak1 0]

Hello, everyone! i need your advise.
I'm a beneficiary, we filed our i129 a couple of months ago and I found out that I have an outstanding bench warrant for failing to appear in court. While I was in US this summer I was arrested for tresspasing and they set a date to november so I physically was unable to appear because my visa expired in september. We contacted the attorneys and they want 5000$ for this. We simply can't afford it. What shall we do? Will it prevent us from getting an approval and is there any way to explain the situation to the officer to be able to resolve it upon my arrival? Thank you. 

Edited December 13, 2017 by visak1

[Michelle13 39]

Were you unaware of the court date?

 

 

[visak1 0]

12 minutes ago, Michelle13 said:

Were you unaware of the court date?

 

 

It was on the ticket but I didnt know what to do about it.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

16 minutes ago, visak1 said:

It was on the ticket but I didnt know what to do about it.

Something is better than nothing. Why didn't you attempt to contact someone o find out? I don't know what the repercussions, as far as the visa itself, are - but you have to fill out that it happened on the K1 visa application (DS-160).  

[Michelle13 39]

31 minutes ago, visak1 said:

It was on the ticket but I didnt know what to do about it.

These things don't just disappear by not doing anything. 

 

You could try reaching out and explaining the situation.  But it sounds like you were aware of the problem and chose to do nothing. 

[visak1 0]

2 minutes ago, Michelle13 said:

These things don't just disappear by not doing anything. 

 

You could try reaching out and explaining the situation.  But it sounds like you were aware of the problem and chose to do nothing. 

You here to judge? 

[RO_AH 1,625]

You were given a ticket with a date on it that you knew that you were unable to make. You obligation at that point was to call or contact the courthouse prior to leaving and asking what your options were. I won't state why I think you left without doing that first because I don't want to be accused of being judgemental.

 

What to do now...Contact the court or prosecutor's office with all of the information from the citation (or better yet, send a scanned copy), along with an explanation as to why you did not appear,  nd ask what your options are. There is no reason to hire an attorney without attempting to try to handle it on your own first. 

Edited December 13, 2017 by RO_AH

[geowrian 22,336]

Sounds a lot like this case...

 

A bench warrant for failure to appear may be a CIMT requiring an I-601 waiver. This is not a case of pleading to the CO at the interview really...it's something to be addressed via a waiver (assuming it considered a CIMT).

After the visa interview, you will be informed if you are inadmissible and can file the waiver at that time (you can't file it before the refusal). The fee is $930 for the waiver, plus it's usually beneficial to seek the assistance of an experienced immigration attorney that handles waiver cases.

 

Edit: Alternatively, you can try to get the case re-opened, resolved, and warrant cancelled before the interview. They will still know about it, but may not be an issue at that point depending on how it is resolved. Again, this is not something that is really DIY...a good lawyer would be recommended.

Edited December 13, 2017 by geowrian

[JayMar2019 2,741]

1 hour ago, visak1 said:

Hello, everyone! i need your advise.
I'm a beneficiary, we filed our i129 a couple of months ago and I found out that I have an outstanding bench warrant for failing to appear in court. While I was in US this summer I was arrested for tresspasing and they set a date to november so I physically was unable to appear because my visa expired in september. We contacted the attorneys and they want 5000$ for this. We simply can't afford it. What shall we do? Will it prevent us from getting an approval and is there any way to explain the situation to the officer to be able to resolve it upon my arrival? Thank you. 

I'm gonna be completely honest with you at this point. Without knowing the full situation of what happened, the fact is, you have an arrest record (in the US for that matter), and it was for trespassing. Now, when there's is an arrest, there's a dissolution - meaning when there's a beginning there has to be an end. The fact that you say you got the ticket, but didn't know what to do about it, while irrelevant to your current situation, is truly hard to believe. And even if you weren't aware that you had a previous court date, the fact is, you knew you had been arrested prior to filing the I-129F. So to me, the right thing to do would have been to first make sure that your arrest records was clear, dissolved and/or expunged prior to you and your fiancé paying $535.00 and filing the petition.

 

So with that said, more than likely, you are going to get denied, whether it be at the USCIS level or the Embassy level. And truthfully, because you have a bench warrant at this point, any US government agency can detain you for failure to appear once they run your name in their system. What I would recommend you do, is figure out a way to handle the bench warrant at this point and prepare to possibly be denied the K1 visa. Once and if you are able to fix and nullified the prior criminal situation, you and your fiancé should think about marriage in your country and starting the CR1 spouse visa with the understanding that you might have to get a waiver during that process.

 

But again, I said IF things are able to be fixed.

 

Good luck!

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

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