Bryan and An

Hence my confusion. From your first quoted part: “regardless of how long you lived in that city or country…” He NEVER set foot in Malaysia, let alone lived there, other than being taken from the police boat to the jail and then later released. I guess being in jail may technically count as living somewhere, but not in the common parlance, in my opinion. 
 
And in the second quoted part, it says “if you were convicted of a crime…” He never was convicted. But in another place it just says “arrested.” 
 
Thanks to those who took the time to answer politely. After doing all of my wife’s K1 visa, AOS, ROC, and naturalization paperwork singlehandedly, there have certainly been plenty of times that USCIS instructions have been unclear or contradictory. Thankfully, I’ve gotten many good answers here on many different things. 
 
What rubs me the wrong way is getting a response commenting on how well my wife “clearly does or doesn’t understand” something in her non-native language. My 6th grade students have learned how to speak to each other in a more helpful and respectful fashion than that. Shame. 

You can certify it online or wherever and send. It's the same. 
 
And NO, nobody is gonna ask her for her original NC because once that lands on USCIS/ Consulate, you ain't getting it back. Replacing NC is more than $500. We haven't added the wait times yet and the headache you'll get from USCIS while you wait for it. 

Just scan it and send over. You do know that if they want to verify anything, all they'll need to do is just put her A number in the system. 
 
And there's no difference between scanned copy and and photocopy. They're both copies. 

7 months in prison.  
 
This isn’t even close to being a DIY case.  You need a competent immigration attorney with specific experience.  If you get this wrong I don’t know that you get a second crack at it. 

So, I decided to look up the issue of illegal fishing in Malaysia. 
 
And found several reports and papers.
Most articles report Vietnamese fishermen are being arrested, detained and fined. 
In the article linked above, the crewmen in question pled guilty and were fined RM50,000 (USD $11,000) and  received a sentence of 3 months in prison. 
So, I would clarify what happened to your father-in-law and the fine he had to pay (even if it was paid by the owner of the boat) and why he spent 7 months in prison. 
 
Make sure he is telling the truth. 
This may or may not impact his immigration journey but as the immediate relative of a US citizen he should be given the opportunity to file a waiver if the CO thinks this is a crime involving moral turpitude. 
 
Just be 100% honest in the form. 
 
This report talks about repatriating Vietnamese fishermen. So, again try to figure out if your father-in-law was deported. And the exact nature of his arrest. 
 
This older article from 2019 mentions an increase in fines. But, no mention of detainment or prison sentences... so I'm not sure if your father-in-law understood exactly what happened after his arrest or if he is glossing over the seriousness of the crime. 
 
Hopefully it turns out to be no big deal. But, you definitely don't want to hide any of the details and get hit with misrepresentation. 
 
ETA: These articles were super easy to find. So, a CO could google "illegal fishing Malaysia" find out how serious Malaysia is taking the issue. See the amount crewmen pay these days. And think your father-in-law committed a serious offense and is trying to minimize the event. 
 

Just a thought: if OP has trouble getting records from the Malaysian authorities or from the father's Vietnamese employer, the Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia may be more helpful. It's likely the embassy got involved with an incident involving Vietnamese nationals arrested and then jailed on Malaysian territory.
 

Question is "Have you ever been arrested OR convicted for any offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty, or other similar action?"
 
If someone was arrested for something they did not do and the charges were dropped you would still have to disclose it. 
This question also does not specify the location of the arrest. 
 
There is another question on the DS260 asking:
Have you ever been removed or deported from another country?
 
I would check in with your father-in-law and see if any of his release from prison paperwork states he was removed/deported. 
 
You want to answer the questions as honestly as possible. 
 
 

Thanks - I agree. We're going to answer "yes" and explain exactly what happened and assume they'll let us know if he needs any documentation. Wouldn't need a "Certificate of Good Conduct" I presume since it says that's only available to people who were in Malaysia 12 months or more. 
 
 Good advice, and thank you. Will just err on the side of being as forthcoming as possible on the DS-260 and interview. 

Just be careful when it comes to answering questions. Sometimes I notice when people have a question they need to answer and they want to adopt the "well...technically" defense to avoid answering the question that was asked. You even referred to it as an "arrest" yourself above. 
 
I personally would rather call it what it was, an arrest, and then fill in the details later about what happened than to come off as hiding something by saying he was never arrested.

I believe when you write "Yes" It gives you the option to include more information. So, perhaps write what you wrote here 
"Was arrested/detained for fishing in Malaysian waters with expired/no fishing license."
You can upload a letter to NVC stating Malaysian court records and PCC are unavailable as he was never a legal resident of Malaysia. 
Then when he gets to interview he can explain the situation. 
 

From Visa Reciprocity for Malaysia
Court/Prison Records
Unavailable:  If a police check develops evidence of the existence of a prison record, or if an applicant volunteers such information, the Embassy can obtain relevant particulars by official application to the Director General of Prisons. The name of the applicant, prison number, and the name of the prison where sentence was served are necessary information.
 
Police Certificates
Available/Unavailable :  Available
Fees: RM20:00
Document Name:  CERTIFICATE OF GOOD CONDUCT
Issuing Authority: Consular Division Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Putrajaya/ Sarawak Regional Office Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kuching and Sabah Regional Office Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kota Kinabalu
Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Light brown
Issuing Authority Personnel Title: There is no issuing authority personnel title.
Registration Criteria: Both Malaysians and non-Malaysians who have resided in Malaysia for a period of more than one year may apply for a Malaysian certificate of good conduct. The application form for the Malaysian Certificate of Good Conduct, as well as the addresses and telephone numbers of Malaysian Missions abroad, are available here. Processing time for the certificate is one to two months from the date of submission.
Procedure for Obtaining: Visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia website at this link: kln.gov
Certified Copies Available: Certified copies are not available.
Alternate Documents: There are no alternate documents.
Exceptions:  Not available to applicants on refugee status if their status in Malaysia is not legal or no valid records exist.  Also, Malaysia will not issue police certificates for anyone out of status in Malaysia.
Pre-Condition for Foreigners: Foreigners, who wish to apply for Certificate of Good Conduct, Must have resided in Malaysia for a period of at least 12 consecutive months under long term social visit pass – employment pass, student pass, spouse of Malaysian, expatriate pass  
Either way. Father should indicate "Yes" and be prepared to explain the situation. 

Well, that exact point (location of the arrest) was what was in dispute the whole time, but yes it was the reason for his arrest. 

Question: have you ever been arrested?
answer: yes.
 
to the parts about conviction etc he can answer no. 
 
it was sarcasm, by the way… the fact that your wife clearly chose to ignore a very clearly stated, totally unambiguous  question. Yes, some dos/uscis questions are not clear. This one is,  Sorry you got “rubbed up the wrong way”, you’ll get rubbed up much more if uscis decides there has been deliberate misrepresentation on the forms submitted, 

Hello friends! I think we're finally ready to send in our packet for An's Removal of Conditions - a couple of weeks later than I was hoping, but still plenty early. Just wondered if anyone would mind looking over what we have, including the table of contents, to see what you think. I based the style on CookieCat's excellent submission that's pinned at the top of this forum (although not nearly as thick as hers!) All opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking!
 

Okay, that does make sense. I wasn't aware of the distinction as I never really saw it mentioned anywhere. I don't even know that it would be much of a shortcut to the normal process, as immediate family doesn't have that long of a wait time (at least under normal circumstances). Was just trying to see if one way would be slightly better, not realizing one wouldn't quite be kosher. 
 
It's interesting, though, that according to an immigration law website I was just reading, preconceived intent (or PCI) is NOT illegal or fraudulent in any way; it's only if you lie when questioned by an officer that you get into that territory. That's probably a moot distinction, though, as I can't imagine the question not being asked, and at that point it's either lie about your intent or get denied immediately. The website does mention that "the adverse factor of preconceived intent is overcome by the 'substantial (or significant) equities' present in immediate relative adjustments," which is kind of what I was thinking; since immediate relatives have a green card available without waiting, it wouldn't really make sense to consider it fraudulent. 
 
We'll have to decide what we want to do, as they haven't even indicated for sure that they would want to move here permanently. If they decide they want to, we'll proceed with plan A); if not, we will try to have them come here to visit since my wife misses them. 

An's N-400 was filed online June 23. Interview was December 23, and she passed! Case status shows "Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled," and gives an estimated completion date of August, 2021. However, she has a friend that had an interview earlier in December at the same office (St. Louis), and she has already been notified that her Oath Ceremony will be in January - so hopefully An's won't be far behind.  

Got a biometrics re-use notice maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Just got an online notice today of interview scheduled Dec. 23. Yay!!

Got a biometrics re-use notice maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Just got an online notice today of interview scheduled Dec. 23. Yay!!

Got a biometrics re-use notice maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Just got an online notice today of interview scheduled Dec. 23. Yay!!

Got a biometrics re-use notice maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Just got an online notice today of interview scheduled Dec. 23. Yay!!

Well, looks like we don't have to wait to get the green card to see if it's the corrected 2-year or the 10-year...status updated again today. Yay!!! Now we get to enjoy it for a week before dropping another $725 for the N-400! 🤣🤣🤣

Well, today her status on the ‘old’ case tracker site changed to ‘New Card is Being Produced.’ No idea though if that means the 10 year green card or just the corrected 2 year! Guess we’ll find out soon!

Anywhere from now to a year +. There is no set time frame. It is important to follow the progress of the Service Center that has your case. 

It depends. They can still ask for RFE after this and after you send it, it can still take months. I had my first biometrics in January and did not receive an RFE until July. After that, I did not hear ANYTHING for almost a year, and then I called my congressman. Hopefully this second part will go more quickly.

I have the same in informed delivery, nice to see movement