Arrested for underage drinking 15 years ago

[wonderif 0]

Hey guys

 

I‘m a Swiss citizen and my husband is a US citizen. We‘ve been married for two years and both reside in Switzerland. We recently applied for our IR1 visa.

 

When I was 18 years old - almost 16 years ago -  I traveled to the US for 3 months to visit my prior host family (from being an exchange student when I was 15) and friends. 
During that time, my friends and I were stopped by the police due to underage drinking (only in the US, in Switzerland I was legally able to drink). I only had my ID card on me, so they arrested me (only for one night, I was released on a bail bond the next morning). I had to appear in court (plead no contest) and was found guilty. I had to pay around 200.- USD fine and that was it (a first degree misdemeanor in Ohio - not sure if it was one back then)
 

I‘ve entered the US multiple times since then and never had any issues. For the immigration purpose I tried to find my court documents, but the police couldn‘t find anything at all using my name. Only once I finally got a case number after calling multiple places, I was able to order my certified documents from the county clerks office.

 

My question would be if this will be a problem during our process. Will we have to do anything special (other than getting certified copies of all case relevant documents which I already did and of course mentioning it all when getting to the NVC stage)?

An immigration lawyer we visited a while back (but didn‘t ever use for the IR1 process) said, that it’s not a problem as it‘s only a misdemeanor. Just wanted to make sure 🙂

 

Thank you all so much for your feedback.
 

 

[JFH 12,189]

You don’t have to provide a police certificate from the US. 
 

You must, of course, answer all questions truthfully. If you are asked at any statue of the process of you have ever been arrested then the answer would be “yes”. I completely understand, as a European, that what you did was perfectly legal had you been in Europe. And I personally think a drinking age of 21 is ludicrous (here they send people off to war to get their limbs blown off at 18 but don’t consider them adult enough to have a glass of beer) but we are where we are and that’s the law here. 
 

It’s unlikely to be a problem if it was just a case of having alcohol in your possession. It might be an issue if there was disorderly behavior involved or any criminal activity such as DUI. 
 

It definitely will be a problem if you attempt to cover it up or omit this when specifically asked.

[wonderif 0]

11 minutes ago, JFH said:

You don’t have to provide a police certificate from the US. 
 

You must, of course, answer all questions truthfully. If you are asked at any statue of the process of you have ever been arrested then the answer would be “yes”. I completely understand, as a European, that what you did was perfectly legal had you been in Europe. And I personally think a drinking age of 21 is ludicrous (here they send people off to war to get their limbs blown off at 18 but don’t consider them adult enough to have a glass of beer) but we are where we are and that’s the law here. 
 

It’s unlikely to be a problem if it was just a case of having alcohol in your possession. It might be an issue if there was disorderly behavior involved or any criminal activity such as DUI. 
 

It definitely will be a problem if you attempt to cover it up or omit this when specifically asked.

Thank you so much for your answer.

 

I thought a police certificate always has to be provided in the case of an arrest? Also I‘ve been living in the US for one year (from 15 to 16 and 5 months) - does this mean ig‘s more than 6 months over the age of 16?

 

yes, it‘s only been the possession. 4 girls, all underage, driver didn‘t drink.

 

Of course I wouldn‘t try to hide it, that‘s why I‘m wondering if I need anything else than copies of the case.

[wonderif 0]

25 minutes ago, JFH said:

You don’t have to provide a police certificate from the US. 
 

You must, of course, answer all questions truthfully. If you are asked at any statue of the process of you have ever been arrested then the answer would be “yes”. I completely understand, as a European, that what you did was perfectly legal had you been in Europe. And I personally think a drinking age of 21 is ludicrous (here they send people off to war to get their limbs blown off at 18 but don’t consider them adult enough to have a glass of beer) but we are where we are and that’s the law here. 
 

It’s unlikely to be a problem if it was just a case of having alcohol in your possession. It might be an issue if there was disorderly behavior involved or any criminal activity such as DUI. 
 

It definitely will be a problem if you attempt to cover it up or omit this when specifically asked.

That‘s all it was.

[JFH 12,189]

16 minutes ago, wonderif said:

Thank you so much for your answer.

 

I thought a police certificate always has to be provided in the case of an arrest? Also I‘ve been living in the US for one year (from 15 to 16 and 5 months) - does this mean ig‘s more than 6 months over the age of 16?

 

yes, it‘s only been the possession. 4 girls, all underage, driver didn‘t drink.

 

Of course I wouldn‘t try to hide it, that‘s why I‘m wondering if I need anything else than copies of the case.

You don’t need to provide them for the US. They already have access to your records. You’re dealing with the government when you are dealing with immigration. 

[wonderif 0]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

You don’t need to provide them for the US. They already have access to your records. You’re dealing with the government when you are dealing with immigration. 

Thank you! So the above posted case (see picture) shouldn‘t be a problem? We got caught at the parking lot of wallmart sitting in the car (parked) talking to other people in their car through our windows. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by wonderif

[JFH 12,189]

I can’t imagine that would be a problem assuming that’s your only negative involvement with the police. 

[wonderif 0]

2 hours ago, JFH said:

I can’t imagine that would be a problem assuming that’s your only negative involvement with the police. 

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

yes, this thing has been my only involvement with the police ever. Stupid late teens behavior 😞

my swiss record is clean

[wonderif 0]

What do you think @Paul & Mary, @missileman, @geowrian, @Boiler?

I have seen you have a lot of experience with the immigration process.

 

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[B&C2017 123]

23 hours ago, wonderif said:

Hey guys

 

I‘m a Swiss citizen and my husband is a US citizen. We‘ve been married for two years and both reside in Switzerland. We recently applied for our IR1 visa.

 

When I was 18 years old - almost 16 years ago -  I traveled to the US for 3 months to visit my prior host family (from being an exchange student when I was 15) and friends. 
During that time, my friends and I were stopped by the police due to underage drinking (only in the US, in Switzerland I was legally able to drink). I only had my ID card on me, so they arrested me (only for one night, I was released on a bail bond the next morning). I had to appear in court (plead no contest) and was found guilty. I had to pay around 200.- USD fine and that was it (a first degree misdemeanor in Ohio - not sure if it was one back then)
 

I‘ve entered the US multiple times since then and never had any issues. For the immigration purpose I tried to find my court documents, but the police couldn‘t find anything at all using my name. Only once I finally got a case number after calling multiple places, I was able to order my certified documents from the county clerks office.

 

My question would be if this will be a problem during our process. Will we have to do anything special (other than getting certified copies of all case relevant documents which I already did and of course mentioning it all when getting to the NVC stage)?

An immigration lawyer we visited a while back (but didn‘t ever use for the IR1 process) said, that it’s not a problem as it‘s only a misdemeanor. Just wanted to make sure 🙂

 

Thank you all so much for your feedback.
 

 

I don’t think it should be a problem as long as you don’t try to hide anything and have the relevant copies. But I’m really not an expert on that.

[Boiler 43,438]

There are 2 issues medical and criminal.

 

Criminal, I just do not see an issue, too long ago and not a CIMT anyway.

 

Medical I suppose could be a question the Doctor would raise but yet again a long time ago and no reoccurrence.

[wonderif 0]

37 minutes ago, Boiler said:

There are 2 issues medical and criminal.

 

Criminal, I just do not see an issue, too long ago and not a CIMT anyway.

 

Medical I suppose could be a question the Doctor would raise but yet again a long time ago and no reoccurrence.

Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it!

 

Yeah, there never has been a reoccurrence. Also my husband and I have two kids/babies, so I don’t even remember when the last time was I’ve drank alcohol at all 😂

[geowrian 22,335]

Agreed - I don't foresee it being an issue.

[wonderif 0]

6 hours ago, geowrian said:

Agreed - I don't foresee it being an issue.

Great! Thank you so much for your answer. It’s a big relieve to hear that this shouldn’t be an issue.