I-864 Criminal Background when it comes to Juvenile Deliquency

[vitoralves 4]

Hello guys. I've been reading all over the internet trying to find cases that can relate to mine, and I got no luck so far. As most of you guys, I came with a visa, in my case J1 (with no 2 year requirement), met someone, fell in love and got married. I am now out of status. Ok, so it came the time of filling the i-130 and i-485. I went to an attorney to see if everything was fine.

Everything was going fine, until we got to the question on part 3 of the i-485: "Have you ever, in or outside the United States been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance, excluding traffic violations?"

So here is the deal: when I was 14, in Brazil (my home country) I had trouble with the law for, as written on the legal translation , "Illegal Wall Painting". What happened is that I had to appear in a juvenile court and I got a "remission" of the accusation in exchange of doing community service for 3 months.

I am aware that I have to answer yes to that question and provide all the documents related to the case, as listed on i-485 instructions.

But here is the tricky part: when I applied for my visa, I answered NO to the following question on ds-160: "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any offense or crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty, or other similar action?"

After that, the Lawyer said that I was in deep trouble, as I could be accused of "misrepresentation" and could be banner for life.

But here comes the plot twist:

Why did I answer "no"? First, because in Brazil (as it is in the USA) juvenile deliquency is not considered a criminal offense. Second: I was never arrested neither convicted. The concept of "arrest" is a nebulous thing, but I was never taken into custody for that matter, so therefore I was never arrested. About the conviction, some of you may think "well, you were convicted to 3 months of community service, so the answers was supposed to be yes". And that was exactly the attorney's thought.

But, on the policy manual by USCIS, where they cover 'definition of conviction for immigration purposes" they state very clearly that "In general, a guilty verdict, ruling, or judgment in a juvenile court does not constitute a conviction for immigration purposes. A conviction for a person who is under 18 years of age and who was charged as an adult constitutes a conviction for immigration purposes."

So basically, I was never convicted under USCIS parameters. And even though they would consider Juvenile Deliquency as a conviction, I'm sure I can explain that I answered "no" on the ds-160 with my pure belief that the "remission" didn't mean a conviction.

July 2nd I have a meeting with my attorney, the first one after she said I was ineligible. Ah, by the way, all this information about conviction and juvenile deliquency I gathered by myself. The only thing the attorney did was scare my wife and make her cry the ###### out of her afraid of me being deported.

After this meeting on July 2nd, we will send the i-130 + i-485 package and I'm looking forward to share my experience here. In case of someone seraching on the internet, I hope my post serves as a reference.

If possible, I want the opinion of you guys in this whole matter.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

Edited June 19, 2014 by vitoralves

[her25 2]

On my opinion since you have already said no because , you still have to said not because if there could found that information before then you will never get visa before, lawyer tried to scare you so that he can get more money from you if i was you i will just said thank to that lawyer and tried to apply by myselft.

Thnak and good luck

[vitoralves 4]

If I say "no" again to the question it would be misrepresentation, because I was indeed cited.

I agree that the attorney just wanted to make me scared to make more money. But I'll stick with them if USCIS try to make the process harder.

Thank you for your opinion tho

[vitoralves 4]

I'm sorry for double posting, but I made a mistake on the title. I was refering to i-485, not i-864. Too much numbers. Thanks

[christophec 16]

Can they really find out that particular and very small information/case ? Only if the brazil agency reported it to an international agency or whoever the FBI works with.. I'm not sure...

Edited June 19, 2014 by christophec

[vitoralves 4]

Can they really find out that particular and very small information/case ? Only if the brazil agency reported it to an international agency or whoever the FBI works with.. I'm not sure...

Lying to the USCIS on this process is something that I don't wanna do, specially with the naturalization in mind on the future.

I don't think they would find out about that case, because it is totally illegal to disclose a juvenile case that was expunged, either in Brazil and here on the US.

But let's say they do. I would be screwed.

And with all those NSA things that happened last couple of years, they probably know everything about everybody.

Thanks