How to answer section D of N-400 application

[hchhon 0]

Hi,

My wife was ticketed for shoplifting and the police told her to go to court the next day.

The judge asked her to pay fine and 16 hours of community service. She did not spent any jail time.

The Judge gave her 180 days probation. After 180 days she was dismissed.

We answered YES on I-751 but not sure how to answer these questions in section D of N-400 when the time comes:

* Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?

* Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer

(including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason?

* Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense?

* Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?

* Have you ever been placed in an alternative sentencing or a rehabilitative program

(for example: diversion, deferred prosecution, withheld adjudication, deferred adjudication)?

* Have you ever received a suspended sentence, been placed on probation or been paroled?

* Have you ever been in jail or prison?

* Have you ever given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official

while applying for any immigration benefit or to prevent deportation, exclusion or removal?

* Have you ever lied to any U.S. government official to gain entry or admission into the

United States?

Thank you!

[James 2]

Hi,

My wife was ticketed for shoplifting and the police told her to go to court the next day.

The judge asked her to pay fine and 16 hours of community service. She did not spent any jail time.

The Judge gave her 180 days probation. After 180 days she was dismissed.

We answered YES on I-751 but not sure how to answer these questions in section D of N-400 when the time comes:

* Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?

* Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer

(including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason?

* Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense?

* Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?

* Have you ever been placed in an alternative sentencing or a rehabilitative program

(for example: diversion, deferred prosecution, withheld adjudication, deferred adjudication)?

* Have you ever received a suspended sentence, been placed on probation or been paroled?

* Have you ever been in jail or prison?

* Have you ever given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official

while applying for any immigration benefit or to prevent deportation, exclusion or removal?

* Have you ever lied to any U.S. government official to gain entry or admission into the

United States?

Thank you!

I would answer "yes" to the first four questions and the seventh question. Your wife committed a crime for which she was not arrested, was cited (given a desk appearance ticket) by a law enforcement officer, was charged with committing a crime, was convicted of that crime, and was placed on probation

On edit: the first question is the only one that might be a no. I'm assuming it refers to situations where one is given a desk appearance ticket instead of being arrested. However, I suppose one could read it as referring to situations where one committed a crime but was never "caught."

Edited April 23, 2008 by James

[MarkNAshley 0]

Hi,

My wife was ticketed for shoplifting and the police told her to go to court the next day.

The judge asked her to pay fine and 16 hours of community service. She did not spent any jail time.

The Judge gave her 180 days probation. After 180 days she was dismissed.

We answered YES on I-751 but not sure how to answer these questions in section D of N-400 when the time comes:

* Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested? [/color]no

* Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer

(including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason? yes (i'm assuming she was questioned by the police)

* Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense?yes

* Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?yes

* Have you ever been placed in an alternative sentencing or a rehabilitative program

(for example: diversion, deferred prosecution, withheld adjudication, deferred adjudication)?no

* Have you ever received a suspended sentence, been placed on probation or been paroled?yes

* Have you ever been in jail or prison?no

* Have you ever given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official

while applying for any immigration benefit or to prevent deportation, exclusion or removal? i'm assuming this would be no

* Have you ever lied to any U.S. government official to gain entry or admission into the

United States?and again, i'm assuming this would be no

Thank you!

Using honesty as the best policy, my thought for answers are in red above. Dismissed or not, she was still charged with a crime.

Edited April 23, 2008 by MarkNAshley

[mawilson 2,133]

Using honesty as the best policy, my thought for answers are in red above. Dismissed or not, she was still charged with a crime.

A fine and 16 hours of community service sounds like a conviction to me, not a dismissal.

[ianletz 0]

conviction is said when you are in jail, isn't it?

[russian_armenian 4]

I would answer the same as bellow. For N-400 anyway they would do name check-so, all records would surface. But I don't think that it should be a problem for N-400. It is not really a crime of moral triptitude, right? And sentensing is less than 2 years (the max sentense for shoplifting has to be less than 2 years, right?

Hi,

My wife was ticketed for shoplifting and the police told her to go to court the next day.

The judge asked her to pay fine and 16 hours of community service. She did not spent any jail time.

The Judge gave her 180 days probation. After 180 days she was dismissed.

We answered YES on I-751 but not sure how to answer these questions in section D of N-400 when the time comes:

* Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested? [/color]no

* Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer

(including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason? yes (i'm assuming she was questioned by the police)

* Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense?yes

* Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense?yes

* Have you ever been placed in an alternative sentencing or a rehabilitative program

(for example: diversion, deferred prosecution, withheld adjudication, deferred adjudication)?no

* Have you ever received a suspended sentence, been placed on probation or been paroled?yes

* Have you ever been in jail or prison?no

* Have you ever given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official

while applying for any immigration benefit or to prevent deportation, exclusion or removal? i'm assuming this would be no

* Have you ever lied to any U.S. government official to gain entry or admission into the

United States?and again, i'm assuming this would be no

Thank you!

Using honesty as the best policy, my thought for answers are in red above. Dismissed or not, she was still charged with a crime.

[mawilson 2,133]

conviction is said when you are in jail, isn't it?

Not really - conviction is the state of being convicted or pronounced guilty of an offence.

The punishment (such as being sentenced to imprisonment) is a different aspect of it.

[hchhon 0]

conviction is said when you are in jail, isn't it?

Not really - conviction is the state of being convicted or pronounced guilty of an offence.

The punishment (such as being sentenced to imprisonment) is a different aspect of it.

Thank you, everyone!

After the I-751 is approved when can she files for N-400?

I have heard that she has to wait for 5 years because of her shoplifting incident.

[hchhon 0]

I am a little confused with these two questions:

17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? YES

18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? YES or NO?

My wife was charged but she was not convicted of her offense. Would it be more correct to answer NO?

[Staashi 371]

I am a little confused with these two questions:

17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? YES

18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? YES or NO?

My wife was charged but she was not convicted of her offense. Would it be more correct to answer NO?

It sounds like your wife was charged and convicted. Even if she didn't serve "time" so to speak, she served something, she had to recompense the community of her infraction. That will typically show up when they do a background check. This is the definition of conviction from Wikipedia.org:

In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime. If your wife was not guilty, she would not have served community service.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (i.e. "not guilty").

After a defendant is convicted, the court determines the appropriate sentence as a punishment. I.E. your wife's community service.

An accused's history of convictions are called antecedents, known colloquially as "previous") in the UK and "priors" in the United States and Australia.

Sorry to say it, but as of now, your wife's moral turpitude is questionable. Although the infraction is very small, if your wife files now for citizenship, an Immigration Officer does have the authority to deny her application - if they deem it necessary.

I would thoroughly review the USCIS' "A Guide to Naturalization" at: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

On page 25 it states: Examples of Things That Might Demonstrate a Lack of Good Moral Character

• Any crime against property or the Government that involves “fraud†or evil intent...which is what shoplifting is.

Good luck! The best piece of advice is to consult an Immigration Officer through an Infopass appointment or an Immigration Attorney.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Staashi

[mawilson 2,133]

I have heard that she has to wait for 5 years because of her shoplifting incident.

She can have the criminal record expunged after 5 years. If an expungement is granted

by a judge, she can treat the event as if it never happened. In fact, she can even deny

that it ever happened under oath and won't be committing perjury in doing so.

Unfortunately, the USCIS is an exception to this rule -- if she decides to naturalize, she will

absolutely have to divulge all arrests and convictions, even after they have been expunged.

Her criminal history might also show up in an FBI check. The FBI are governed by federal

law, not state law, and as such, they are not required to honor expungement orders from

a state court.

[mawilson 2,133]

I am a little confused with these two questions:

17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? YES

18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? YES or NO?

My wife was charged but she was not convicted of her offense. Would it be more correct to answer NO?

Did she enter a guilty plea and/or agree to a plea bargain? If she did, it was an admission

of the charges against her and essentially the same as a conviction.

[James 2]

I am a little confused with these two questions:

17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? YES

18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? YES or NO?

My wife was charged but she was not convicted of her offense. Would it be more correct to answer NO?

Your wife received a fine and probation, which means she was convicted. One doesn't receive a fine and probation if the court withholds adjudication or if the prosecutor nolle prosses (dismisses) the case. Also, in lieu of being arrested and booked for shoplifting, she was given a desk appearance ticket for shoplifting. So she was still charged with committing a crime.

[hchhon 0]

The final disposition letter says that she was charged. It didn't say that she was convicted.

The clerk told me was not convicted.

Here is her final disposition letter of her case:

=============================================================

MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendant

The People of the State of Colorado move to dismiss the charge(s) of 10.24.080 Theft, as alleged in the Summons and Complaint in this case for the following reason(s):

Completed terms of deferred sentence.

The Court grants the preceding motion to dismiss the charge(s) identified above.

=============================================================

[mawilson 2,133]

Sounds like she was charged with multiple offenses, convicted and completed the terms of

sentence for one of them, and had the other charge (Theft) dismissed.