soundedguy

I think he asked a fair question and very sure he knows what visajourney is all about. No criticism or mockery please.

dear my all best friends.. a few minutes ago i got good news from immigration.. they approved my application and my new status is oath scheduled.. finally i came at the end of my journey.. thanks for your all best dishes and best advicess and helping to me..

I am happy for you and now you can finally relax and get you some good rest. Congratulations.

when they arrest me .. i went to the comissioner and they charged me 2800$ i paid it to the bailbond.if i paid to this money to the detention centre or court then they will give me back my almost 2500 back.. but bail bond lied to me he got my all money ..my crime is not a huge .. no injured somebody or no damage to the any public area.. just my licance was suspended thats it . and i got ticket i thought i pad but i fotgot to pay thats why i did not go tot the court. i m people you know and i can forget things sometimes which are very important for me

I think all you could do now is just wait and see what happens. I believe you would be approved.

Hi guys, quick recap of what happened during the interview and the outcome.

I got back to the US on February 7 and decided to stay here until May, mainly to appear for the citizenship interview.

DURING THE INTERVIEW IN SAN FRANCISCO

I wasn't nervous going to the interview. All week and all night prior to my interview, I had a clear visual imagery of a nice immigration officer, and indeed I got assigned to someone who never failed to smile and was really nice to me all throughout.

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I have the following issues in my application: I've been arrested for domestic violence last year but no charge has been filed; I have overdue taxes for 3 years amounting to $80,000++ both state and IRS; and I have traveled for 557 days out of 3.8 years that I've been a resident (they only allow 548 days).

I aced the oral and written exam (very easy since they give you some materials to study); I also answered all questions correctly. He said, "Great job! You answered all the questions correctly!"

ARREST ISSUE - During the interview, the IO said, "I know you have some court documents for me... I will look at them later." Then when he was ready, he looked at the following documents: 1. Original copy of the police clearance that I got from SF Police Department; 2. Original copy of my arrest record showing the date of the arrest and the outcome that I got from SF Police Department as well); 3. Original copy of the court disposition of my arrest that I got from the SF Court)

The IO asked me what happened during the day I was arrested and I gave a VAGUE account of it (TIP: Never give a very detailed account of the incident leading to the arrest, and NEVER mention details that would incriminate yourself.) He was sympathetic and told me not to worry about it coz my case has been discharged. He also said that arrests happen all the time but a discharged outcome does not affect the application. He said, "Your arrest is OK, don't worry about this."

MY OVERDUE TAXES FOR 3 YEARS - I showed him 3 documents: 1. Installment agreement with the California Tax Board that shows a monthly installment plan instead of a one-off plan 2. An appeal letter to the IRS in 2010 and the IRS response saying it's OK to halt tax payments for two years until I am ready to pay (I was experiencing hardship at that time coz we lost everything in stock market options); 3. The new installment agreement with IRS to shows an installment payment plan to slowly pay-off my taxes, commencing on January this year.

He reviewed all the documents and said..."It seems like you earned a lot in the past and it's good that you have these agreements with the IRS and tax board. I understand you want to pay these all off. Good thing you were able to ask for an installment agreement with the CA Tax board and the IRS." I told him that I am slowly recovering and will be paying everything off in no time.

MY TRAVELS OUTSIDE OF THE US - He said that I am only allowed to travel for 548 days out of 3 years immediately before I filed my application.

He checked my travels and my passports and said, "I have not interviewed anyone who traveled as much as you did in the last 3 years." He asked me a lot of questions and I gave him honest answers. The main reason I had to travel was I had to set-up a cost center in Manila to augment our business in the U.S.; and that I have been declaring my worldwide income as US income and paid my taxes every year. Also, it was impossible for me to continue doing business if I couldn't keep my operations expenses low. I also stated that I had to set-up a cost office, hire staff, and train them and that required considerable amount of time on my part.

He said they're very strict with the travel requirements and if I only exceed 1 day, he will deny my application; but he also said, "But you can always reapply but the next time you reapply, you have to count the days and be careful with the number of days spent outside of the U.S." He said he has to count every single day that I spent outside of the US in the last 3 years. At the end of the interview, he handed me a document that says, "Unable to make a decision right now."

When I got home, I counted the days that I traveled out of the U.S. I got a total of 557. That's an excess of 9 days! So, I got sad and was almost certain I wouldn't be approved; however, I was also hoping that they'd approve me because before I left the immigration office, I wrote down a detailed explanation of my travels. I also told the officer to please look at all my documents and all the reasons I had to travel -- that it was out of necessity so I could earn a living. He said, don't worry I will look at everything.

Before I left, I told him. "You're so nice. I wish my future IOs would be as nice as you are." He said, "Thank you for saying that."

Two days after my interview, I got calls from an anonymous number. When I called, it says it's a private number. I thought it was a solicitation call so I ignored it. I got a total of 12 calls that I ignored.

Today (Monday, March 25), I got 2 calls from the same number and I ignored it as well. Then i got a voicemail. When I listened to it, it was the IO officer, asking me to call him back through his direct number because he said he has a question for me.

I called him, and he said, "Thanks for finally getting back to me, I had been calling you! I am not supposed to leave my personal information but I was worried you won't get my message." And then he told me that he cannot eliminate my middle name for my new name and wanted to inform me that they have to retain it as my middle name. He also said, "By the way, your application has no problems so I approved you."

I was almost speechless and semi-shocked coz I thought I'd be denied. I thanked him over and over again and he said, "Congratulations, please wait for your oath notice in the mail." We chatted further and he asked me if I have other questions. I said none anymore and then thanked him again.

Some lessons that I learned:

1. Do not worry - worry won't add another day to your life.

2. Don't be afraid to face your fears. I have read some posts in the forums about some people who refuse to travel because of an arrest record despite the discharged outcome of the arrest. Not all immigration officers are ruthless. I always imagine / pray for kind immigration officers and I always get assigned to the nice ones at the airport or even this IO who interviewed me. I discovered that many IOs won't discriminate as long as you can show proof that your arrest has been discharged. After my arrest in Aug 2012, I went out of the country twice for a total of 5 months and entered the U.S. twice and got questioned twice at the immigration office. I never felt discriminated against nor harassed.

3. Be thorough in submitting all your documents especially if you have issues like I did.

4. Do not be nervous during the interview. Nervousness has no basis. Be calm and collected. During the interview, try to assert yourself and make sure you give some written or oral explanations of each of the issues involved. This is what I did -- i was very thorough in explaining and made sure the IO understood where I was coming from.

5. Have faith in mankind. Not all IOs mean to make your life difficult.

Thanks all, and hope you got something out of my posts here.

I want to officially congratulate you for your journey. I have learned that anybody could be a victim of arrest. For a very careful and law abiding resident like me to be arrested. The law on domestic violence is so harsh that even an arguement can get you arrested.

I am happy for you. Congratulations.

yes i did declare to them my original court documents when we submitted at the application time.and also when i went to interview i brought again original certifed copy..i think it was charged because when i arrested i stayed one night in a detention center.after that day i mean tomorrow my friend paid money to the bailbond and he let me out from there..it is almost 2800.00$ i went to the commissioner..after that i just went to the court about my traffic tickets.and they were dismissed by the judge..on my original court certified show that nolle prosequi...when i got traffic ticket i thought i paid but i forgot to pay it. thats why i did not go to court.i think they suspended my driver licance. my driver licance issed by pennysilvannya (i live in philadelphia) but i was working in maryland at that time..so the police officer said me that you driving car with suspended driver licance in out of state ...

$2800 is alot of money for any traffic related incident. Again, the way your lawyer presented the whole thing could be the problem here. All you can do now is just wait and then appeal if they deny you which I highly doubt they would. USCIS are looking into your good moral character. I'm optimistic you would be approved.

if i get denied so my whole case will be over i mean aos roc and n400?? my whole paperwork was on the table front of the IO i saw them..i m just worried about that ..i searched my case status but still samething.. it says thatOn February 20, 2013, your N400, APPLICATION FOR NATURALIZATION was scheduled for interview. You will receive a notice with a time and place for your interview. If you have not received the notice within 30 days of the date the notice is mailed, please call customer service at 1-800-375-5283 for further assistance. If you move, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address

i will wait 15 or 20 days.. if i can not get any respond... so i m thinking to get info pass apointmen.. is it gonna work ??

From what I can understand, I don't think there is much to be worried of. Did you declare your arrest? was you charged? what did the court disposition on the arrest says?

after interview passed to the civic test but desicion can not be made now because of some reason( mine is arrest ) the question is how many days or month should we have to wait to get a new from uscis??

OR DESICION CAN NOT BE MADE NOW WHAT DOES IT MEAN????????????

Delay isn't denial. Meanwhile, only unless you update your timeline, disclose details about your arrest, outcome of arrest and time of arrest could you get accurate responses.

You totally can if you want, but if you have the police statement from the arrest then that would be good as well. You should be able to get a copy.

You are doing the right thing by enclosing a copy of the police record, and DA's letter. If you can get the arrest record that would be even better.

Yes I will be enclosing also the police report along with my application and can only wish for the best. I know I can't be deported on that and would even be happy just having my green card.

When it's domestic violence it's always right to be wary. Just like if it was a drug arrest. USCIS does, and has, used the mere fact of an arrest against someone with the statement that the lack of charges just meant they didn't have enough evidence, not that the person didn't do anything. So it's better to assume the worst and prepare accordingly.

I totally understand that admission is equal to conviction. I didn't admit to doing anything but argument. Even the police statement says argument on my part. I won't be admitting to doing anything wrong but arguing with my wife due to her gambling problem. Might be a smart idea taking a lawyer with me during the interview.

I would send a copy with your application, certainly doesn't hurt.

I'm a little worried about this letter from your wife. What exactly does it say? I'd be wary to use a letter from your wife because it looks like you bullied her into writing a letter for you. Given your arrest for domestic violence you want to avoid anything that could be seen like you are exerting pressure on your wife. If the letter is simply an outline of events "this is what happened. I got angry and called the police. We are seeing a counselor together/ourselves", rather than "it was all my fault. He is totally innocent etc etc" then it'd be fine. But still, I wouldn't include any letter from her personally.

I agree with you. The letter has we had an arguement due to my jealousy which made me angry and ended calling the police, there was no act of violence going on. I think I will use your suggestion, it's more appealing. I appreciate all the response and suggestions.

These documents are sufficient. You didn't have charges pressed against you, therefore no court record. The letter from the DA is clear that you were not charged.

How the interview goes depends on your file. You will no doubt be asked about it so be prepared to explain what happened. Try not to get too heated about it.

I appreciate your response. It's easy being told to be calm but hard to actually be. I will try to be very confident during my interview. I'm adding enough good moral character evidences as I'm enrolled in college studying computer science and would be graduating in december, grades are very good and i'm including my grades, letter from my church that me and wife both attend church since 2009, me and wife every year paid over $10k in taxes and a letter from my wife taking blame and responsibility of the incident. I'm hoping that these would be able to convince them of my good moral character.

I will be including a copy of the police report with the certified letter from DA and court with my application. My question again is do IO's go through the application before the interview or they do it only on the interview day?I have been told that including those documents with my application would save me alot of time. How true is that?

There was no judge whatsoever. I didn't appear in court nor before judge. The district attorney declined to file for charges.

Yes I understand that expungement don't work for immigration. There was no charge filed against me less any guilty plea or so. Only thing until expungement was my arrest record. I'm worried

Yes, I was arrested for domestic violence battery after my wife falsely accused me of pulling her hair. The DA didn't press no charges and I didn't go to court. I have just expunged the arrest off my record.

The letter I attached were official letter from the DA saying no charges were filed against me and certified disposition from the court showing arrest only.

Thanks you guys for responding.

The attachments are too blurry to give you advice

And what advice are you looking for

or what questions do you want answered?

I would like to hear from experience about what to expect during my interview, how to prepare, possibility of a denial among other. I don't know how to fix the blurry part, it's very clear from my end.

Thanks for responding.

It kinda bothers when one post questions hoping for alot of responses and experiences thoughts and don't get them. I'm getting prepared in mailing off my documents and want people with experience and thoughts to give me advice.

This is the letter I got from the DA and court and have them certified. I need useful advices, thoughts, experiences please guys.

Sorry for the confusion about your gender and really do appreciate you sharing all these useful informations.You have alot of courage and a very strong lady. The past is the past and shouldn't be duelled on. I'm optimistic you would be approved of your citizenship and please let me know how everything went. It's easy for an IO to say they get domestic violence cases often like it's not a big deal for them but yet it's a deportable offence for we non-citizens. I have expunged my arrest from my record but was able to get a court certified letter and letter from the DA showing no charges were filed which I will be taking with me during my interview.

I'm wishing you luck and will be praying everything goes well for you. I would get a letter from your husband about the incident that he was to blame to take to the interview. Good luck once again.

I am back to the US finally and had my biometrics done yesterday. I was supposed to have it on Jan 8 but I was still abroad and ended up moving the date twice. THe 3rd biometrics date that they gave me is Feb 11, 2013. I'm done with that already

I did receive a yellow letter from the USCIS asking me to bring 4 documents: payment agreement with the IRS, my CA ID or Drivers License (I have neither yet), my old and new passports and my travel permit, and my court documents and original arrest records. These are so many issues and I wonder if these will have negative effects in my application. I'm quite nervous already.

ciaobella80, I'm in the boat with you. I was involved in an arguement with my wife and she called and accused me I pulled her hair which got me arrested. The DA didn't press no charge and I did obtain a certified letter from the DA saying no charges were filed and a certified letter from the court showing my arrest. You were very brave to travel overseas. I'm dying every single minute of the day regretting even arguing and what my interview would be like when I file for N400. I refuse to travel overseas until I naturalize. I realized you said you slapped your wife or something. That alone is enough for the DA to put you on probation and you need to quit saying that. If you admit that during your interview, you might have problem. You need to come up a way to explain the incident incase they ask you that's why it won't be a bad investment hiring an attorney. Also make sure those documents are certified. During your return back to the country, did they fingerprint you? Did they send you for a secondary inspection? Did they ask you questions concerning the arrest? To be honest, go consult with an immigration attorney even if you don't hire them and have them advice you. No mistake is worth it this last stage of the immigration process.

Thanks for creating the thread. 2 months is right at the corner. By the way, that app was awesome. Cost $1.99 on my Android phone but it's worth it.

My interview was approved on the spot, very quickly. That said, I had been a GC for 10 years, not by marriage, and the incident was over 6 years ago. So I probably looked like a very minor threat. How long ago was your arrest? That would probably be the most important factor.

Here in LA there is an immigration law clinic right in the same building as USCIS, and for 20 dollars they'll look at your case and give you very practical advice (they told me I'd be fine and I didn't even need to send certified copies of the records in the n400. I was scared because I lived across the country from that court and it was going to take weeks for me to get certified copies). I personally don't htink you need to get an attorney, and I think most people on this forum will tell you the same, but if you want peace of mind you can get it if you can afford it.

Again just send ALL the possible records relevant to your case in your N400 and bring certified copies with you.

Mine happened in october 2012. Even though I told the officer I didn't commit the crime, he was still desperate to arrest me. I have talked to few immigration attorney who told me to opt out on the diversion program if possible and go to court which I did and the DA failed to charge me because they basically didn't have a case. No picture, no injury, house was in order, wife wasn't pressing charge. I have the certified copies now but still anxious and nervous. Congrats on your approval. I will be glad when this is over.

As long as you send all the relevant documents with your N400 (photocopy is fine), and bring certified or original copies of those same documents with you to the interview, there is almost no way this would cause you problems.

I had an arrest for shoplifting that was dismissed via community service and the interviewer barely made mention of it ("so I see you had this back in 2005... okay, moving on"). Your issue is way less complicated than mine.

Thank you for responding. Was your interview approved? I don't know what to expect or know or even don't know if I should hire a immigration attorney. My arrest wasn't meant to me but I guess the office was desperate to arrest. Just because my wife falsely said I pulled her hair.

I wish I could hear from more people who have been arrested and share their experience with me.

I know I have posted questions on my arrest here and all response have been very helpful to me. Now, I am back again hoping to hear from people who have been arrested and have applied for N400 or know anybody who has.

Here are some info.

I was arrested on DV but no charges were filed, the DA rushed me into signing to pretrial diversion program with no charges being filed. After doing some reading and thoughts, I decided to for opt out on the program because it doesn't sound good especially program. I explained to my lawyer and let him know the definitions of conviction for immigration which is different from an average citizen's conviction. I was totally removed from the diversion program and all documents destroyed. The DA gave me a letter that no charges was filed with no participation in any program or anything. I went to the court and have it filed into my record, certified and also got a letter from the court that no charges was filed and certified also.

Now, the only thing on my record is an arrest. What do I need to know before my N400 interview? What are the chances that my approval would go through supervisory?

Thank you all for responding and advicing.

I thought I read somewhere that you also need to include a copy of your passport...double check to be sure.

I didn't include my passport.

Awesome!!! Did you get any tracking number? Thanks!

Yes I did and always tracked it. Logon to your USCIS account and you would see the tracking number or click on the USPS link and it would track it for you.

My conditional is done March (3rd to be exact) of this year. With that I'm looking to file this week. Not that this entirely matters but DH and I will be married for 4 years come April 2013.

I just want to check if all of this evidence is sufficient. If you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know.

Here's my Cover letter.

"1/9/2013

USCIS Vermont Service Center

75 Lower Welden St.

P.O. Box 200

St. Albans, VT 05479-0001

RE: I-751 JOINT PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF STATUS ON:

Amanda B, USCIS # [Number}

Dear USCIS examiner:

Enclosed please find a JOINT I-751 petition for removal of conditions of permanent resident status regarding my wife, Amanda B. Please also find a money order for $590, the fee for this form. My wife entered the US on a CR-1. We are happily living together and request that this petition be accepted for removal of conditions on the residence of my wife Amanda B.

• Enclosed with the I-751 is an Additional Information page – Previous addresses lived.

Enclosed also please find the following documents to verify the status of our marriage and ongoing relationship:

• Copies of the passports and green cards of Amanda B.

• Copy of New York State Drivers License for Amanda B

• Copy of New York State Drivers License for Paul B

• Copy of rental agreement

• Copy of 2011 Tax statements filed as married, but not jointly

• Copy of Fertility treatments with Paul B and Amanda B.

• Copy of Positive Pregnancy Blood test (resulting in our 3rd medically documented Miscarriage at 8 weeks)

• Ultrasound from pregnancy that ended in a miscarriage.

• Copy of 2 shared AMEX credit card with transactions by Paul B and Amanda B

• Copy of Homeowners Insurance Bill addressed to both Paul and Amanda B.

• Copy of the title of our car, showing joint ownership.

• Copy of Holiday Cards addressed to Paul and Amanda B.

• Copy of various Bank statements showing a joint account at NBT Bank.

• A copy of our hotel reservations for our 3rd wedding anniversary vacation we took to Montreal, Canada in April of 2012.

• A copy of our airline reservations for a vacation that we took to Dominican Republic in August of 2012.

• Pictures of vacations taken in April and August of 2012.

• Pictures from our wedding April 18th 2009

• Labeled pictures of our married life together post Entry into the United States.

• Copies of various mail items to the address both of us reside at.

You may feel free to inquire at any of the sources of enclosed documentation for validity of their statements, and you are always welcome to visit our home should you ever desire to do so. Please advise me if you have any further questions or problems related to this petition.

Sincerely,

--------------------------------

The information I've provided I'm a tiny bit worried about. I didn't get a bank account until I had a job in the US. I opened my bank account October 2011 and had my husband put on the savings account November 2011 (I included that statement) then a few others throughout the year.

The vacations we took were all in 2012 as we weren't in a place financially to really go on vacation. I do have tons of photos (photographer)and will have them labeled with our label maker. Question is should I put this on the front of the photo or is the back ok? I'll be sure to put them in chronological order.

My uneasiness is about our taxes. We really didn't know how to file jointly last year. But we did file as married on both of our taxes (does this matter or should I take it out all together?)

I did include our Fertility treatments because I read somewhere that pregnancy and ultrasounds were a good thing to add. This would let them know that while we don't have children it hasn't been for lack of trying.

Our joint ownership of our new car was just in 2012. I'm getting a bit worried only because a lot of our documentation is in 2012 and late 2011. I've heard a few get an RFE. Hopefully photos of friends with their babies 'growing' will kind of help with timelines as well.

I'm not sure if this will be of assistance but my husband and I do both work together at the same company. Should I provide pay stubs from the same work place? I'm not sure if that will make a difference.

Also I'll be sending this out with a money order (for traceability) should we also send it out via Certified Mail? (I was going to do this but want to be sure it's still ok to do)

Good package and I would throw in these. 2010 tax transcript also explain to them why you filed separately, utility bills, insurance card with both names, 401k of any of you with the spouse as beneficiary. You don't have to get them all but some added to what you already have.