Does arrest by Israelis affect Interview result?

[Life is short 8]

Hi all,

 

Please your help if you know any similar stories, your help is appreciated.

 

As a Palestinian living in the West Bank, I was exposed to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which I was arrested by Israelis for less than 6 months, that was more than a decade ago (late 2000's)  . In fact, Thousands of Palestinians are arrested from their homes every year by Israeli military forces, so it is not only me, after being arrested I was then sent to an Israeli court in which they decided I was a member of a Palestinian political organization and being involved in political activities that were judged by the Israeli court to be against the Israeli law (activities were pro-Palestine activities). 

 

Following to my release date I never been arrested again for any political or civil subject and have clean records since that time. I got an approval from the USCIS and currently waiting for the NVC to receive my application in which I will file the DS-260 form which I will mention my arrest because the form has questions about previous arrests and belonging to any organizations. 

 

My question is if any of you guys have been in this situation and got an approval in their immigrant visa interview, or at least had known similar cases? 

Would that arrest affect the decision by the Consulate Officer in the interview for visa approval/denial? Any expected outcomes after the interview? 

 

Me and my spouse are waiting for several weeks, I was not arrested after being released, that is around a decade of years.

 

Any help would be appreciated 

[f f 725]

bring evidence to show the charges were politically motivated and you should be fine. they have an exemption for people who are persecuted for thier religious and political views as well as a few other areas. below is an excerpt from the uscis rule book. and personally I would think that those Israeli courts would fall under this exemption since you were found guilty of membership in a group and not an actual crime.

 

9 FAM 302.3-2(B)(9)  (U) Political Offenses

(CT:VISA-352;   04-24-2017)

a. (U) 22 CFR 40.21(a) states that the term political offenses includes “offenses that resulted in convictions obviously based on fabricated charges or predicated upon repressive measures against racial, religious, or political minorities.”  This regulation incorporates language from the legislative history of the 1952 Act, and therefore reflects to some extent the original Congressional intent in adopting the political offense exemption.  Based on this regulation, most political offense exemptions will involve cases where you determined that the alien was not guilty of the charges but was wrongly prosecuted because of political repression against racial, religious, or political minorities.

[Life is short 8]

43 minutes ago, f f said:

bring evidence to show the charges were politically motivated and you should be fine. they have an exemption for people who are persecuted for thier religious and political views as well as a few other areas. below is an excerpt from the uscis rule book. and personally I would think that those Israeli courts would fall under this exemption since you were found guilty of membership in a group and not an actual crime.

 

9 FAM 302.3-2(B)(9)  (U) Political Offenses

(CT:VISA-352;   04-24-2017)

a. (U) 22 CFR 40.21(a) states that the term political offenses includes “offenses that resulted in convictions obviously based on fabricated charges or predicated upon repressive measures against racial, religious, or political minorities.”  This regulation incorporates language from the legislative history of the 1952 Act, and therefore reflects to some extent the original Congressional intent in adopting the political offense exemption.  Based on this regulation, most political offense exemptions will involve cases where you determined that the alien was not guilty of the charges but was wrongly prosecuted because of political repression against racial, religious, or political minorities.

That is helpful  

f f , I appreciate your help regarding this topic, does belonging to organizations that are considered by USA as illegal groups such as : Hezbollah , Hamas, Fatah, ..etc falls under the exemption you just mentioned? and kindly do you know in person people who had this situation before? 

 

I am worried as this topic (as some of my friends thought) may lead to denial of visa, while in fact I didn't have any recent activity with any group since few years. Any help is appreciated.

 

 

 

[lacolinab13 86]

From what you wrote, it sounds like you were convicted and did six months in jail for certain political activities and you belonged to one of the three groups mentioned above? Hezbollah and Hamas are considered by the US State Department to be terrorist organizations, but Fatah, as far as I know, is not. Given the details you posted, I certainly wouldn't try claiming the exemption above. I'll defer to others on this forum who may have experience/specific knowledge on this subject to say how hurtful this could be to your application, but I fear for you that this may be a very big issue. 

Edited August 19, 2017 by lacolinab13

[Life is short 8]

8 minutes ago, lacolinab13 said:

From what you wrote, it sounds like you were convicted and did six months in jail for certain political activities and you belonged to one of the three groups mentioned above? Hezbollah and Hamas are considered by the US State Department to be terrorist organizations, but Fatah, as far as I know, is not. Given the details you posted, I certainly wouldn't try claiming the exemption above. I'll defer to others on this forum who may have experience/specific knowledge on this subject to say how hurtful this could be to your application, but I fear for you that this may be a very big issue. 

Thank you lacolinab13, yes this is exactly what I meant, it was one of the three groups, I agree with you, the exemption may work for people who were "wrongly" considered political based on their religion or race but not those with previous activities to some groups. 

I want to be honest with the consulate so I am mentioning it but may need to consult an immigration lawyer.

Hopefully someone gone through this and can give a hand to help.