Denied because of Adam Walsh

[acidrain 325]

I was curious about what the Adam Walsh Act is and found this quote online "A felony conviction is not necessary, as a misdemeanor sexual abuse conviction is sufficient for finding of an aggravated felony under the Immigration law".

 

If your spouse's charge had anything to do with a sexual offence against a minor than there is your answer.

 

Did the ex ever make any allegations against your husband for abuse or anyone else in the past? 

[bakphx1 789]

I think he is withholding information from you.  If something was expunged, I think it was serious.  Or more so than he lets on.  Though expungements are not total erasures. 

[JFH 12,190]

29 minutes ago, bakphx1@aol.com said:

I think he is withholding information from you.  If something was expunged, I think it was serious.  Or more so than he lets on.  Though expungements are not total erasures. 

Agree. And keeping secrets is not healthy in any relationship.

[bakphx1 789]

30 minutes ago, JFH said:

Agree. And keeping secrets is not healthy in any relationship.

Especially criminal things.  This isn't a youthful shoplifting charge. 

 

[TNJ17 1,329]

What’s an Adam Walsh denial?

[usmsbow 801]

44 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

What’s an Adam Walsh denial?

 If you're guilty of a certain (sex) crime, you cannot sponsor a relative for a visa, and will be denied if you try to do so. Here is a good 2-page summary IMO:

 

https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/n.13-adam_walsh_act.pdf

 

 

[dentsflogged 352]

36 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

What’s an Adam Walsh denial?

An Act to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime, to prevent child abuse and child pornography, to promote internet safety, and to honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other child crime victims. (from the main Google results - I read further into it, but that said it better than I could in less words) 

Basically, it's an act which will deny anyone with any kind of charge/citation/conviction which covers crimes against children to bar them from having access to Immigration Benefits (If I'm reading it wrong, someone please tell me). I'd assume it's not so much to protect the spouse (who by legal definition should be an adult) but I'd expect to protect any minor children that they'd bring with them. 

OP it sounds to me like your hubby isn't being totally honest. 

If you got an RFE there's no reason to get a lawyer unless he knew that there would be an issue and was trying to get ahead of it.

What was the charge that was expunged with no conviction?  It's entirely possible that's the clue. From what I can tell with AWA even an arrest for a crime may be enough of a red flag with background checks to cause a denial - and cops rarely arrest someone without enough evidence to do that. Its possible the evidence wouldn't hold up in court or he made a deal with the relevant parties to give up information in return for no conviction and having the record expunged - it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as TV would have you believe but for serious crimes they'd rather get the big fish at the expense of the little guys.

[TNJ17 1,329]

2 minutes ago, usmsbow said:

 If you're guilty of a certain (sex) crime, you cannot sponsor a relative for a visa, and will be denied if you try to do so. Here is a good 2-page summary IMO:

 

https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/n.13-adam_walsh_act.pdf

 

 

Yep, just googled it. Thanks. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

Yeah, I agree with others if they told you it was a denial due to an AWA, your husband isn’t being honest with you. They wouldn’t have given you a denial based with that reason attached to it if they hadn’t found something related to it. 

[caliliving 606]

7 hours ago, Midwesterner said:

Yes it was transferred to Vermont after sitting from the first service center for about 10 months. We did diy when we filed our papers. When we received an rfe that's the time we contacted a lawyer to pull his court record of a case that was expunged with no conviction. That was his only other court case. The other one was when he won the child custody case against his ex-fiance. Other than that, there really is nothing that we could think of. He's not in any sex offender databases nor did he establish any sexual relation with a minor.

 

What was expunged? Do you know the nature of that? 

 

Us immigration looks at expunged records. So even if something is "off" your record it is never gone from immigration 

[dentsflogged 352]

4 minutes ago, caliliving said:

 

What was expunged? Do you know the nature of that? 

 

Us immigration looks at expunged records. So even if something is "off" your record it is never gone from immigration 

And if it was a denial on AWA basis, then it's aboslutely something OPs wife should have been told about before they married.  As a poster above pointed out, AWA denial isn't done frivolously and without a LOT of checks, it's because of a serious red flag in someone's past - the sort of thing which modern society (quite rightly!) deems bad enough that the person denied should lose the right to petition for their family to join them - that's not an unpaid parking ticket. 

[usmsbow 801]

10 hours ago, Midwesterner said:

Yes it was transferred to Vermont after sitting from the first service center for about 10 months. We did diy when we filed our papers. When we received an rfe that's the time we contacted a lawyer to pull his court record of a case that was expunged with no conviction. That was his only other court case. The other one was when he won the child custody case against his ex-fiance. Other than that, there really is nothing that we could think of. He's not in any sex offender databases nor did he establish any sexual relation with a minor.

 

Upfront caveat: I'm not an attorney, I just work with about 100 of them...

 

1. How can you have something expunged if you're not convicted of something? Isn't the whole purpose of expungement? To "erase" a conviction? What else would there be to expunge? An arrest? That wouldn't be enough for an AWA denial... 

 

2. Regardless, USCIS will find out about any crime or misdemeanor one has been convicted of. Might be expunged from public record, but not from law enforcement or immigration. 

 

3. Did he acknowledge it in the I-130 petition? If not, then that's another problem you will have. 

 

A few links on USCIS and expungement: 

 

https://jgoldlaw.com/green-card/thinking-of-sealing-or-expunging-criminal-record-boston-immigration-lawyer-says-think-again/

 

https://uponfurtherreview.philadelphiabar.org/page/Article?articleID=68913a51-1d16-4dfd-bdf5-0532bfa091bd

 

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-do-you-do-when-your-record-is-expunged-and-us-1600876.html

 

http://www.hummelaw.com/Blog/2015/February/Sealing-and-Expunging-Criminal-History-Records-f.aspx

 

 

[Jawaree 717]

AWA is hard to ovecome even with a great atty, If you have a minor child or is at an age that you can become pegnant USCIS will never approve you, only about 20 cases after much struggles & an experienced atty got approved.

 

examples L Boy (petitioner) 22 yra ld having CONSENSUAL sex aith a 16 yr old G/F but age of consent in his state is 17, parents reports it he's arested..........

somethin like that may fly, if its a small kid forget it

What was he accused of ?.. you have to know the complete back story IF you do get to the stage of interview, lots of therapy & refs would be needed

Edited February 25, 2018 by Jawaree
correction

[caliliving 606]

1 hour ago, Jawaree said:

AWA is hard to ovecome even with a great atty, If you have a minor child or is at an age that you can become pegnant USCIS will never approve you, only about 20 cases after much struggles & an experienced atty got approved.

 

examples L Boy (petitioner) 22 yra ld having CONSENSUAL sex aith a 16 yr old G/F but age of consent in his state is 17, parents reports it he's arested..........

somethin like that may fly, if its a small kid forget it

What was he accused of ?.. you have to know the complete back story IF you do get to the stage of interview, lots of therapy & refs would be needed

I agree! 

Also, and I hate to be blunt, but immigration takes the awa more serious then anything else! It's a sad situation but you need to discuss your options with your husband. If he can't move to you, and you can't move to him - you need to discuss other options because you won't overcome the awa. 

 

I had no idea about the awa before immigration but that was the first thing the lawyer asked my husband - if he was ever charged with assault/battery/crimes against women. 

 

 

[dentsflogged 352]

1 hour ago, Jawaree said:

AWA is hard to ovecome even with a great atty, If you have a minor child or is at an age that you can become pegnant USCIS will never approve you, only about 20 cases after much struggles & an experienced atty got approved.

 

examples L Boy (petitioner) 22 yra ld having CONSENSUAL sex aith a 16 yr old G/F but age of consent in his state is 17, parents reports it he's arested..........

somethin like that may fly, if its a small kid forget it

What was he accused of ?.. you have to know the complete back story IF you do get to the stage of interview, lots of therapy & refs would be needed

I know it'll come off as judgey, but ... good. 

 

There's absolutely some crimes that I think shouldn't follow you around for life - people change, after all.  Someone may steal something or drink too much one time when they're young and that shouldn't affect you forever if you've had an otherwise clean record since.  But anything that's going to net you a denial under AWA... well, that's life destroying for someone else, so it should be for the person that did it, too.