I was cited for petty theft Penal Code Section 484(a)-488 (a misdemeanor) on June 2013. I would like to apply citizenship in 2019

[Prince03 0]

14 hours ago, xyz12345 said:

 

I'm also a newbie (and esp not an immigration lawyer) in giving opinions so I still would defer to more knowledgeable VJers. Sorry, I just find your questions interesting and like to know the answers myself.

 

My take on this is that YES to Question #s 2-5 and 7.

 

Not sure about Question # 6.

 

Why did you say YES to Question # 1? You weren't arrested for that petty theft? The police just cited you and you showed at the police station? If you were arrested for that particular crime, then the  answer should be NO. However, have you done additional crime for which you were not caught? If that particular petty theft was your one and only crime (both caught and not caught), then the answer is NO. (Someone should correct me on this). This is different from Question #3.

 

Hope the detail below will help. Please clarify my information.

 

The day that incident happened, police just gave me a ticket and the date to go to the court on ticket. I didn't go to police station. No handcuff, no photo mug shot, no fingerprint.

 

All my life I have only this case that I did something stupid.  I felt guilty and regret about it.  I did not have any problems, even traffic tickets since this petty thief case happened (June 2013).

 

[Prince03 0]

12 hours ago, geowrian said:

Looks generally right, although the first question should NOT count the arrest for petty theft. If that was the only criminal offense, then the answer would be NO. If there is something else for which you were not arrested, then it would remain YES.

Hope the detail below will help. Please clarify my information.

 

All my life I have only this case that I did something stupid.  I felt guilty and regret about it.  I did not have any problems, even traffic tickets since this petty thief case happened (June 2013).

 

[Prince03 0]

10 hours ago, NYCruiser said:

I agree with the replies...(don't forget to provide copies of everything if they ask you or take it to the Citizenship hearing). USCIS will ask you about this. Not a bar to getting citizenship though....

Thank you so much for your suggestion.  I appreciate.  I do have all court minutes, ticket, police certificated which shows the case was dismissed and all records was destroyed.  I will bring them with me on interviewing.

[Prince03 0]

9 hours ago, Going through said:

(In reference to the 3 numbered questions in your original post):

 

1)  Answer yes.

2)  Answer yes.

3)  Answer yes.

 

Deferred adjudication/Diversion/court ordered classes/court ordered fine/court ordered probation still counts as a "conviction" in the eyes of USCIS and their own policy manual, whether the charge was dismissed in the end or whether there was no plea of guilt officially entered.

 

Put it this way---if you were NOT found guilty of the crime (whether an actual plea was entered or not is irrelevant for judgement),  then you wouldn't have been ordered to take the Theft/Violation class and pay the court-ordered fine.

 

Submit a court-certified statement from the courthouse that had jurisdiction over where you were living at the time of the arrest detailing that the records have been destroyed/purged.  Also be prepared to submit documentation that the fine was paid and the court-ordered class was completed.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your suggestion.  I appreciate.  I do have all court minutes, ticket, police certificated which shows the case was dismissed and all records was destroyed.  I will submit and bring them with me on interviewing.

 

Here is more information.  Hope the detail below will help. Please correct me.

 

[Prince03 0]

13 hours ago, drex33 said:

I think it is better to hire a lawyer for your case. No one can tell you here for sure what is right and wrong to put on your application. To me, best way is hire an attorney and pay some extra money so you can achieve your goal. I don’t think you can do this on your own.

 

Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your suggestion and support.  I'm thinking about that too.  I'm nervous.

[Going through 5,675]

8 hours ago, Prince03 said:

Here is more information.  Hope the detail below will help. Please correct me.

 

1) You answer NO.  Unless you have committed another crime in the past for which you were NOT caught.  The petty theft you were arrested for in the past does not count for this question, since you were caught and cited and received an appearance ticket for court.  It also means a police report was made by the officer (even if you didn't receive a copy of that report), and you were booked for a court date.  Even though you weren't thrown in handcuffs, you were cited which is a form of arrest.    For example, if you shoplifted from Walmart, and "got away with it" (ie. left the store with the item, went home and no one from Walmart ever found out you stole from them).

 

2)  You answer YES.  You were cited.

 

3)  You answer YES.  You were charged with a criminal act.

 

4)  You answer YES.  Diversion is a form of conviction, regardless of whether a plea was entered, and regardless of whether the case was dismissed in the end.  The case was dismissed on the condition of you completing the diversion judgement/program (ie. the court-ordered class you took, and the court-ordered fine you had to pay).

 

5)  You answer YES.  You received Diversion/Deferment.

 

6)  You answer NO.

 

7)  You answer NO.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by Going through

[Prince03 0]

10 hours ago, Going through said:

1) You answer NO.  Unless you have committed another crime in the past for which you were NOT caught.  The petty theft you were arrested for in the past does not count for this question, since you were caught and cited and received an appearance ticket for court.  It also means a police report was made by the officer (even if you didn't receive a copy of that report), and you were booked for a court date.  Even though you weren't thrown in handcuffs, you were cited which is a form of arrest.    For example, if you shoplifted from Walmart, and "got away with it" (ie. left the store with the item, went home and no one from Walmart ever found out you stole from them).

 

2)  You answer YES.  You were cited.

 

3)  You answer YES.  You were charged with a criminal act.

 

4)  You answer YES.  Diversion is a form of conviction, regardless of whether a plea was entered, and regardless of whether the case was dismissed in the end.  The case was dismissed on the condition of you completing the diversion judgement/program (ie. the court-ordered class you took, and the court-ordered fine you had to pay).

 

5)  You answer YES.  You received Diversion/Deferment.

 

6)  You answer NO.

 

7)  You answer NO.

 

 

I had a chance read on your post "My N400 interview" that is really help me figure out what I'm going to through in the future. 

 

Extremely Nervous Here !!! LOL.   Did you consult with attorney before you start N400 form?

 

And how deep the detail you told when the immigration officer asked you "What happened in the incident 23 yrs ago? (If you don't want to mention in public post, would you mind to inbox message for this detail please?, I want to prepare myself to answer the immigration officer. 

 

For my case, all the documents that I'm going to attach, the documents didn't show the detail what I did. The ticket only showed petty theft penal code 484(a)-488 a misdemeanor, court minute that I plead to enter Diversion program, case dismissed, case closed,  and certified from police that case dismissed, closed, destroyed.

 

 

And thank you so much for clarified my information.  English is my second language, I'm confused with all the crime question's meaning.  Especially, question number 1. Now I understood the meaning of the question number 1.

 

By the way, in question number 1.  I just realized that I had 2 speeding tickets (Both of tickets, I didn't get arrest. The police handed me the ticket). The first ticket was happened in 2011 and I already paid fine.  The second one was happened in 2012 and I already took traffic school.  (I didn't mention these 2 speeding tickets in my K1 visa, adjust status, removal 2 yrs green card because all the form, they didn't mentioned about traffic ticket)

 

Do you think I can still answer "NO" on question number 1?

 

[Going through 5,675]

1 hour ago, Prince03 said:

Extremely Nervous Here !!! LOL.   Did you consult with attorney before you start N400 form?

No I did not consult with an attorney.

 

1 hour ago, Prince03 said:

And how deep the detail you told when the immigration officer asked you "What happened in the incident 23 yrs ago? (If you don't want to mention in public post, would you mind to inbox message for this detail please?, I want to prepare myself to answer the immigration officer. 

I told her what I did, what the details of my arrest were, when it happened, how I had learnt my lesson at a young age (when she asked me if I'd committed further crimes afterwards).  She seemed somewhat sympathetic when she worked out the dates and remarked that I'd been charged as an adult since I'd *just* turned 18 about a week before it happened.  I told her I'd deserved whatever was coming to me back then, because I did commit the acts---there was no question about my guilt.  I basically laid it all out for her honestly (and had also rehearsed how I would answer the "why did you do it?" question----but that never came up).

 

1 hour ago, Prince03 said:

For my case, all the documents that I'm going to attach, the documents didn't show the detail what I did. The ticket only showed petty theft penal code 484(a)-488 a misdemeanor, court minute that I plead to enter Diversion program, case dismissed, case closed,  and certified from police that case dismissed, closed, destroyed.

It's more than what I had as evidence.  I had 2 separate CIMTs under my belt, and I'd received a diversion sentence for both---I'm not going to declare what exact crimes I committed----it's irrelevant now---but, looking back on it, I was very lucky to receive diversion  for both.  Perhaps due to my age at the time.  All of my records submitted to USCIS over the years were just court-certified statements that all the records had been destroyed years ago.  Although on those letters, it did state the nature of the crimes/actual charges, as well as the dates it happened...but not the final disposition.

 

1 hour ago, Prince03 said:

By the way, in question number 1.  I just realized that I had 2 speeding tickets (Both of tickets, I didn't get arrest. The police handed me the ticket). The first ticket was happened in 2011 and I already paid fine.  The second one was happened in 2012 and I already took traffic school.  (I didn't mention these 2 speeding tickets in my K1 visa, adjust status, removal 2 yrs green card because all the form, they didn't mentioned about traffic ticket)

List the traffic violations on your N400.  Get your hands on any evidence you have that shows the fines were paid.  (ie. bank statement, credit card statement, DMV driving record).

 

1 hour ago, Prince03 said:

Do you think I can still answer "NO" on question number 1?

The correct answer for question #1 is still NO.  Again, you did not "get away" with anything regarding the speeding----you were cited for them.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Going through

[retheem 568]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:27 PM, Prince03 said:

You were charged. So that's a YES

You were not convicted, that's a NO

You were not under a deferred adjudication (a deferred adjudication is a conviction for immigration purposes); So it is a NO

 

Just make sure you have your evidence ready, coz they want to look at it.

 

[Stevo1979 71]

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 8:44 AM, drex33 said:

I think it is better to hire a lawyer for your case. No one can tell you here for sure what is right and wrong to put on your application. To me, best way is hire an attorney and pay some extra money so you can achieve your goal. I don’t think you can do this on your own.

 

Best of luck!

its not everything that requires an attorney.

Worse case than this has been approved. OP you are good to go to answer 'YES"  to questions 2-6 and will still get approved

Edited November 14, 2019 by Stevo1979