Did not disclose Juvenile record, now N400 (split)

[preetlb 0]

I had a juvenile arrest at the age of 15 years which was dismissed and later expunged. There are no other offenses including traffic tickets. I am 23 now and  applied for naturalization last month  . I did not include the arrest record as an attorney told me that juvenile records may not be included unless charged as an adult. Did I make a mistake? Any insight will be helpful.

[Tugger1 0]

2 hours ago, preetlb said:

I had a juvenile arrest at the age of 15 years which was dismissed and later expunged. There are no other offenses including traffic tickets. I am 23 now and  applied for naturalization last month  . I did not include the arrest record as an attorney told me that juvenile records may not be included unless charged as an adult. Did I make a mistake? Any insight will be helpful.

Hi Preetib - I believe the attorney you consulted did not provide you with good advice, or may not be familiar with immigration law. After much researching in my own case, I learned that although sealed juvenile records are sealed for all intents and purposes, any arrest records do however need to be disclosed truthfully to DHS in response to their direct question in the N400 application. Juvenile arrests are not deemed criminal in nature and will not normally disbar anyone from naturalization - however denying such arrest in the naturalization application could pose major problems. Depending on how soon the court documents were sealed/expunged after attaining the age of majority, there is always the possibility that they had already found their way into open records databases and hence will be accessible to certain authorities even though they were later sealed by court order. You could verify your own record with the FBI CJIS Division: Record Request, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306. There is a fee and it may take upto 8 to 10 weeks so I'm not sure how this will play out with your application timelines. When submitting a record check request, it would probably be best to avoid any reference to immigration. If no record is found relating to your Juvenile case, that is great. If any issues do arise, being truthful will be the best way to approach this. It is my understanding that even at the interview itself honest mistakes made in the application can be pointed out to the interviewing officer without consequences. You should know they will go through responses point by point with you so this may be a good time to mention any negligent errors. In my case I did obtain whatever few copies of my sealed records I could from the court along with a letter from the magistrate to say the case had been sealed. To be completely transparent I even submitted a copy of an old speeding ticket that had been paid promptly since I was taking absolutely no chances. As a result everything went smoothly and I had no problems at all. I realize how stressful and confusing this can be, so I'm answering in some detail. But I do want to reiterate I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. If you have concerns, it would be best to consult a good immigration attorney who can guide you through this process. Best of luck!!

PS. I had lost my old login credentials to this to forum and created a new profile in orderto respond to you, hence the slight difference in my user ID.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Tugger1
added more content

[preetlb 0]

35 minutes ago, Tugger1 said:

Hi Preetib - I believe the attorney you consulted did not provide you with good advice, or may not be familiar with immigration law. After much researching in my own case, I learned that although sealed juvenile records are sealed for all intents and purposes, any arrest records do however need to be disclosed truthfully to DHS in response to their direct question in the N400 application. Juvenile arrests are not deemed criminal in nature and will not normally disbar anyone from naturalization - however denying such arrest in the naturalization application could pose major problems. Depending on how soon the court documents were sealed/expunged after attaining the age of majority, there is always the possibility that they had already found their way into open records databases and hence will be accessible to certain authorities even though they were later sealed by court order. You could verify your own record with the FBI CJIS Division: Record Request, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306. There is a fee and it may take upto 8 to 10 weeks so I'm not sure how this will play out with your application timelines. When submitting a record check request, it would probably be best to avoid any reference to immigration. If no record is found relating to your Juvenile case, that is great. If any issues do arise, being truthful will be the best way to approach this. It is my understanding that even at the interview itself honest mistakes made in the application can be pointed out to the interviewing officer without consequences. You should know they will go through responses point by point with you so this may be a good time to mention any negligent errors. In my case I did obtain whatever few copies of my sealed records I could from the court along with a letter from the magistrate to say the case had been sealed. To be completely transparent I even submitted a copy of an old speeding ticket that had been paid promptly since I was taking absolutely no chances. As a result everything went smoothly and I had no problems at all. I realize how stressful and confusing this can be, so I'm answering in some detail. But I do want to reiterate I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. If you have concerns, it would be best to consult a good immigration attorney who can guide you through this process. Best of luck!!

PS. I had lost my old login credentials to this to forum and created a new profile in orderto respond to you, hence the slight difference in my user ID.

Thanks Tugger1 for the quick response . Is there a way of submitting an addendum to the N400 modifying the mistake ? Or should I just get all my papers to the interview? Will it be too late?

 

Thanks

Preetilb

[Tugger1 0]

4 minutes ago, preetlb said:

Thanks Tugger1 for the quick response . Is there a way of submitting an addendum to the N400 modifying the mistake ? Or should I just get all my papers to the interview? Will it be too late?

 

Thanks

Preetilb

Advance disclaimer: I am not an attorney. None of the following is legal advice and should not be treated as such - just expressing some views, not specifically directed at anyone in particular:

a. Addendum process would need to be researched but may be difficult.

b. It would be beneficial for applicant to hand carry certified copies of all available court documents and also a letter from the magistrate stating that the case was sealed. If court documents are no longer available, a court letter to that effect.

c. Applicant should be upfront, and really respectful in explaining that he/she was/is not fully clear about the correct response to this question, given that it relates to a sealed juvenile case and that he/she would like permission to re-state the response and submit additional court documents if the original response is deemed incorrect. They do go over each question and each response line by line and from some accounts do permit corrections if needed.

c. If the applicant became a legal permanent resident after the juvenile arrest, it would be important that responses to this question in the green card application and N400 should match up.

 

To avoid any mis-steps the best course of action would be to obtain the services of a good and reputable immigration attorney.

 

 

[Ontarkie 14,972]

4 hours ago, preetlb said:

I had a juvenile arrest at the age of 15 years which was dismissed and later expunged. There are no other offenses including traffic tickets. I am 23 now and  applied for naturalization last month  . I did not include the arrest record as an attorney told me that juvenile records may not be included unless charged as an adult. Did I make a mistake? Any insight will be helpful.

You need to consult a few lawyers and not the same one who gave you that advice.

You were supposed to  revealed the the charges and disposition/court records or what ever you could get your hands on when you applied to become an PR. Do Not continue with the N400 without consulting a few attorneys. 

 

I'm also splitting this to it's own thread. It's best to not hijack another members thread for your questions.

[Boiler 47,655]

A competent Lawyer may well recommend giving Naturalisation a miss.

[Tugger1 0]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

A competent Lawyer may well recommend giving Naturalisation a miss.

Let's not assume the worst. Mis-steps do occur especially when incompetent lawyers provide bad input as happened in this instance. Approaching it in a forthright manner to explain the mistake can bring it back on track.

[Boiler 47,655]

Mis step?

[Going through 5,674]

 

16 hours ago, preetlb said:

I did not include the arrest record as an attorney told me that juvenile records may not be included unless charged as an adult. Did I make a mistake?

Yes you made a mistake.  The question is "have you EVER been arrested/cited/etc."  not "have you EVER AS AN ADULT..."

By signing the form at the end you made a sworn statement that everything included in the application was accurate, full and true...when you knew it wasn't.

 

I don't say the above to bring you down, but to make a point:

 

Going forward, if you were to reach the interview stage---an IO would question why the information was left off.  Saying "well a  lawyer told me..." wouldn't cut it as a good excuse because, in the end, you are responsible for the information on the application---not the lawyer who advised you.

 

Now, if you ALSO left the arrest information off of your initial green card application you've put yourself into further hot water because USCIS *could* judge your initial green card application as improperly approved---hopefully you included the information back then and submitted the appropriate documents?

 

Right now, if I were in your shoes, I would talk with a few immigration attorneys and find out what their advice is before you continue with the N400----do NOT go back to the same guy who advised you to leave the information off.

 

People leave information off of the application all the time/forget stuff.  Normally, those are "small things" like previous address/place of employment/a forgotten short vacation outside of the US.  At the interview, those types of omissions can easily be admitted to the IO and the application updated.  Leaving out past criminal history is taken more seriously....regardless of how long ago/whether the record was expunged or not.