jury duty

[Rob & Chris 0]

Hi to all,

I have a question to ask, as I have been also reading threads from other forums and found one thread about an application being denied because he had mistakenly registered to vote in their place by accident not knowing that only citizens are allowed to register to vote. He later on asked to be removed from the voting registry and never voted, but his N-400 was denied and he is right now on the steps for an appeal.

I have another question about something similar. A couple of months after getting my working permit, SSN, driver's license, and green card, we have moved to a different state and one in my family gave me a call telling me that I was chosen for jury duty.

And now that I am trying to prepare my papers for N-400, I came across that voting and serving on a jury are citizen's rights. I did not serve on the jury as previously requested since we have moved to a different state at that time and sent a letter to the jury secretary that we moved, and she removed me from the list.

However, my question comes to this, I did not in any way or matter misrepresented that I am a US Citizen. I was even surprised that I was chosen for jury duty. But will this situation affect in any way my N-400 application come the time, and be denied like the other thread that I've read?

I am at a loss as of the moment and do not know what to do. Should I try and start gathering evidence about how they picked me on a jury duty and prove that I did not misrepresent in any way that I am a USC? Should I or should I not tell this on the interview? Or should I just follow the "don't ask, don't tell" policy? I am just worried of applying now and throwing that big amount of money if the application will just be denied, and another set of money for an appeal is totally crazy.

Thank you for all your thoughts in advance.

Chris

[AusCal 3]

However, my question comes to this, I did not in any way or matter misrepresented that I am a US Citizen. I was even surprised that I was chosen for jury duty.

I am at a loss as of the moment and do not know what to do.

Chris, RELAX, this is not a problem. The jury rolls are pulled from Driver License lists - not Electoral rolls. I too received jury duty notices before I was naturalized (actually, twice). On the back of the notice, there is a checklist to see if you are eligible to serve. One of the questions is 'are you a US citizen' - answer that No, and you are immediately disqualifed. From memory, I needed to phone an automated number and answer those questions, then send the form back in.

So, if you had answered that YES, and served on a jury, then you would have right to be concerned. But, just by receiving a jury notice does NOT mean you have represented yourself as a US citizen.

Feel better?

Just FYI, this question never came up during my citizenship process. If it ever had, i would have said, yes, i received a notice, but wasn't eligible and never served.

[Rob & Chris 0]

Thank you so much, AusCal... that clarified the matter.

Whew, that was a relief

I really appreciate your fast reply.

Chris

[mattr 0]

Thank you so much, AusCal... that clarified the matter.

Whew, that was a relief

I really appreciate your fast reply.

Chris

I confirm too, when I was living in DC i received numerous calls for Jury duty and always checked "not a citizen". If you did the same then you're fine.

Oddly I never received any request for Jury duty when I moved to California. I guess the CA DMV was more aware than DC that I was not a citizen!

Mattr.

[sakura888 0]

On my case, we used to live in NYC. During that time, I never felt the need for me to apply for a US driver's license though I have my own driver's license from my country of origin which I cannot use anymore after 60 days of my entry. In NYC, you dont really need to drive to get around, and parking is always a problem. So we only use cars when there is a need, and my husband who has his US driver's license used to drive for us whenever there is a need. But to my surprise, even though I have not applied for a US driver's license at the time, I was still called for a jury duty! So I guess it is not just the DMV's files, maybe they have other sources as well, like the social security or whatever.

[Rob & Chris 0]

I never got any notice though, somebody just forwarded me the message that I was up for jury duty. I just gave them back a call and told them that I already moved to a different state. I was unaware at the time that only USC were eligible for jury duty and I can't remember if I mentioned to them that I was only LPR and not USC.

They asked me for data (i.e. name, juror name, current address) and I emailed it to them and they just e-mailed me back stating that they have removed me from their list. I just wanted to make sure that they weren't misled to any point that I misrepresented being a USC in that matter just in case they do any kind of background check.

I want to make sure that come interview time, if this comes up that I would be in a position to know what to do and what to answer back with the correct words, and that I will be prepared if ever they ask me something about this.

Thank you all again.

[sakura888 0]

You didnt get a notice? In what form of a message did they tell you? Unless it is officially from the right govt agency, I probably wouldnt give out any information about myself. There's a lot of people out there fishing for information that can be used for identity theft. Not that I'm trying to scare you. Normally, you will get a letter from the unified court of your state asking you to report/call back and confirm whether you are qualified for jury selection or not. But I hope everything is in order and goodluck on your interview.

[Rob & Chris 0]

You didnt get a notice? In what form of a message did they tell you? Unless it is officially from the right govt agency, I probably wouldnt give out any information about myself. There's a lot of people out there fishing for information that can be used for identity theft. Not that I'm trying to scare you. Normally, you will get a letter from the unified court of your state asking you to report/call back and confirm whether you are qualified for jury selection or not. But I hope everything is in order and goodluck on your interview.

If I can remember it right, a family member got a phonecall left on their answering machine and they gave me the name and corresponding number to call back. I called the number and there was this machine automated system stating something about the judicial branch of the "name of the state". It was a government agency all right. I really can't confirm if I did get a letter from my previous residence or just a phonecall, it's been like years ago. And that letter could have already been thrown in the trash already since I don't live there anymore.

I did call back as requested and they requested me just plain info that they already have like name and juror number and current address. That's just about it. I still have the corresponding e-mail and the name and number who I talked to just in case.

Thanks for the concern sakura888. I do hope everything will just work out fine like AusCal said. I am just worried about how I replied back that they might mistake that for misrepresenting to be a USC.

[warlord 72]

However, my question comes to this, I did not in any way or matter misrepresented that I am a US Citizen. I was even surprised that I was chosen for jury duty.

I am at a loss as of the moment and do not know what to do.

The jury rolls are pulled from Driver License lists - not Electoral rolls.

Actually to clarify they are pulled from both sources. Voting registeration and drivers licences. I found this out the fun way after getting naturalized and receiving 2 summons. Since I wasn't chosen the for the first one I called up about the second one. I was informed that I used my short form name for my Drivers licence, but my full name when I registered to vote. So I was told the system thought I was 2 seperate people. I had to change my voters registeration name to match the excat name from my Drivers licence...

[motu 5]

It's not a big deal as long as you don't actually present yourself as a citizen. Mu wife got a Jury summons two weeks ago - it has a place to checkoff that you are not a citizen of USA and attach a copy of your greencard. So that was that. I believe her name was pulled off the drivers license file too. Good Luck

[AusCal 3]

Actually to clarify they are pulled from both sources. Voting registration and drivers licences. I found this out the fun way after getting naturalized and receiving 2 summons. Since I wasn't chosen the for the first one I called up about the second one. I was informed that I used my short form name for my Drivers licence, but my full name when I registered to vote. So I was told the system thought I was 2 separate people. I had to change my voters registration name to match the exact name from my Drivers license...

Thanks for the clarification - interesting info, too. I'll make sure, if/when I register to vote, that I use the identical name to that on my DL.

Edited March 19, 2009 by AusCal

[moonhunt 1]

I got a bunch of letters for Jury selection.

As it was mentioned, it is selected from mailing list from DMV, or Post office.

So when you receive it, you can just mark "Non-Citizen", and sent the proof of your ID showing you are NOT US Citizen.

That will be dropped from Jury selection process.

The way it is working from Court House is that they just send same thing to multiple times of the number of jury they needed.

Unless you were pretending US Citizen, you don't have to tell the details to USCIS adjudicator.

Just say "No" to the question.

Edited March 19, 2009 by moonhunt

[moonhunt 1]

On my case, we used to live in NYC. During that time, I never felt the need for me to apply for a US driver's license though I have my own driver's license from my country of origin which I cannot use anymore after 60 days of my entry. In NYC, you dont really need to drive to get around, and parking is always a problem. So we only use cars when there is a need, and my husband who has his US driver's license used to drive for us whenever there is a need. But to my surprise, even though I have not applied for a US driver's license at the time, I was still called for a jury duty! So I guess it is not just the DMV's files, maybe they have other sources as well, like the social security or whatever.

Post Office....