Will wife’s esta answers effect our case? (Merged threads)

[Bob tommy 0]

Im sorry if this is a long complicated post but I find myself in a bit of a situation. My wife and I have visited the US once before 2 years ago. She was on esta and I am a citizen. When filling out the esta 2 questions stood out. This is because my wife has an encounter with the police when she was still a juvenile. Long story short she was hanging out with friends and a classmates parent thought it was suspicious and that drugs were involved and she called the police. She was never arrested but had to visit the police station in the coming day and was questioned. She never admitted guilt and no marijuana was found. She got a letter stating the charges were dropped and that no action would be taken. He two questions that concern us now are:
 

1. Have you ever been arrested or convicted for a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority?

 

To this we answered no because it seems like a minor crime and doesn’t fall under any of these categories. Additionally from our research possession convictions aren’t a CIMT. 

 

2. Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using, or distributing illegal drugs?

 

To this we also answered no because she never violated any law. 
 

We are now concerned because we would like to get an IR-1 visa and come live in the US. It seems like from the situation we described above she is not inadmissible because she was a juvenile, not convinced, no admission of guilt, and no evidence. However we are aware we must disclose this to the embassy when we apply for the visa. 
 

Our main concern is that we misinterpreted the ESTA questions that we answered on her previous visit. From looking online there are mixed opinions to when you must click yes to the first question. We are worried that we unintentionally misrepresented on her ESTA and because of this she will be permanently banned from the US if we apply for an IR-1 visa. Does anyone have any insight into this issue?

[Bob tommy 0]

Im sorry if this is a long complicated post but I find myself in a bit of a situation. My wife and I have visited the US once before 2 years ago. She was on esta and I am a citizen. When filling out the esta 2 questions stood out. This is because my wife has an encounter with the police when she was still a juvenile. Long story short she was hanging out with friends and a classmates parent thought it was suspicious and that drugs were involved and she called the police. She was never arrested but had to visit the police station in the coming day and was questioned. She never admitted guilt and no marijuana was found. She got a letter stating the charges were dropped and that no action would be taken. He two questions that concern us now are:
 

1. Have you ever been arrested or convicted for a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority?

 

To this we answered no because it seems like a minor crime and doesn’t fall under any of these categories. Additionally from our research possession convictions aren’t a CIMT. 

 

2. Have you ever violated any law related to possessing, using, or distributing illegal drugs?

 

To this we also answered no because she never violated any law. 
 

We are now concerned because we would like to get an IR-1 visa and come live in the US. It seems like from the situation we described above she is not inadmissible because she was a juvenile, not convinced, no admission of guilt, and no evidence. However we are aware we must disclose this to the embassy when we apply for the visa. 
 

Our main concern is that we misinterpreted the ESTA questions that we answered on her previous visit. From looking online there are mixed opinions to when you must click yes to the first question. We are worried that we unintentionally misrepresented on her ESTA and because of this she will be permanently banned from the US if we apply for an IR-1 visa. Does anyone have any insight into this issue?

[Boiler 43,745]

Sounds Ok to me.

[Mike E 11,727]

Her answers to 1 and 2 were correct.

 

No need to worry.

 

Why do you think has to be disclosed to the embassy?

Edited September 15, 2023 by Mike E

[beloved_dingo 1,939]

19 minutes ago, Bob tommy said:

We are worried that we unintentionally misrepresented on her ESTA and because of this she will be permanently banned from the US if we apply for an IR-1 visa. Does anyone have any insight into this issue?

I'm not sure why you're concerned about this as long as the version of events you shared are accurate. She wasn't arrested or convicted and you say she didn't violate any drug laws. Don't overthink it. 

 

a) You say she wasn't arrested or convicted. That alone makes the first question irrelevant.

b) Even if she had been arrested, a minor marijuana arrest/conviction would not be "a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority".

 

Get the court records for peace of mind. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by beloved_dingo

[powerpuff 5,982]

Two threads merged. Do not start multiple threads for same or related questions as that constitutes spamming and is terms of service violation. If you posted in a wrong forum, click on top right three dots next to your name on a post and click Report and request it to be moved.

 

VJ Moderation 

Edited September 15, 2023 by powerpuff

[Bob tommy 0]

13 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Her answers to 1 and 2 were correct.

 

No need to worry.

 

Why do you think has to be disclosed to the embassy?

Because when we apply for the ir-1 they ask a differently worded question that we have to answer yes to. 

[Bob tommy 0]

14 minutes ago, beloved_dingo said:

I'm not sure why you're concerned about this as long as the version of events you shared are accurate. She wasn't arrested or convicted and you say she didn't violate any drug laws. Don't overthink it. 

 

a) You say she wasn't arrested or convicted. That alone makes the first question irrelevant.

b) Even if she had been arrested, a minor marijuana arrest/conviction would not be "a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority".

 

Get the court records for peace of mind. 

That’s good to hear. It’s just I have been reading about how badly worded these questions are and that they may expect any interaction with the police disclosed. 

[Mike E 11,727]

13 minutes ago, Bob tommy said:

Because when we apply for the ir-1 they ask a differently worded question that we have to answer yes to. 

What question?

[Bob tommy 0]

7 minutes ago, Mike E said:

What question?

On the ds-260 the question is worded as ”have you ever been arrested or convicted of any offense or crime even though subject to pardon, amnesty, or other similar action?“. 
 

This also doesn’t seem like it is something we can answer yes to. But the fact that she was at once point charged with something I feel it needs to be disclosed. I just don’t know where else I can put it. 

[pushbrk 12,243]

3 minutes ago, Bob tommy said:

On the ds-260 the question is worded as ”have you ever been arrested or convicted of any offense or crime even though subject to pardon, amnesty, or other similar action?“. 
 

This also doesn’t seem like it is something we can answer yes to. But the fact that she was at once point charged with something I feel it needs to be disclosed. I just don’t know where else I can put it. 

You said she wasn't arrested.  If that's true, she also would not have been charged.  Check the record to be sure you answer correctly, but do not worry about this being grounds to deny the visa.  Lying might be, but not the circumstances as you describe them.

 

[Mike E 11,727]

9 minutes ago, Bob tommy said:

On the ds-260 the question is worded as ”have you ever been arrested or convicted of any offense or crime even though subject to pardon, amnesty, or other similar action?“. 

She was not arrested. 

9 minutes ago, Bob tommy said:

 

 

This also doesn’t seem like it is something we can answer yes to. But the fact that she was at once point charged with something I feel it needs to be disclosed. I just don’t know where else I can put it. 

Based on what you have written, she was not charged either.

 

Being questioned by a police officer is not being charged.

 

By all means, get the required criminal records for the country where she was living in when this happened to see what is there. Go to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html

 

if what is there says she was arrested or charged, get it fixed.

 

If she answers yes to something that did not happen, there can be bad outcomes.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Mike E

[Bob tommy 0]

2 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

You said she wasn't arrested.  If that's true, she also would not have been charged.  Check the record to be sure you answer correctly, but do not worry about this being grounds to deny the visa.  Lying might be, but not the circumstances as you describe them.

 

It’s true she was not arrested. She was simply told in a letter to go to the police station to answer questions. After that she received a letter the charges were dropped. 

[Bob tommy 0]

1 minute ago, Mike E said:

She was not arrested. 

Based on what you have written, she was not charged either.

 

Being questioned by a police officer is not being charged.

 

By all means, get the required criminal records for the country where she was living in when this happened to see what is there. Go to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html

 

if what is there says she was arrested or charged, get it fixed.

I have reviewed that document already. There is nothing on it. Additionally in her country on convictions appear on the document. It still appears she was charged because there is a letter asking her to speak with the police that details the charge and then later a letter that the charges were dropped. However still no arrest warrant or officers taking her into custody or anything like that. 

[Mike E 11,727]

1 minute ago, Bob tommy said:

It still appears she was charged because there is a letter asking her to speak with the police that details the charge and then later a letter that the charges were dropped. 

The term, in English “charge” was used in both letters?