Juvenile Arrests

[Kaleigh & Dan 5]

My fiance was arrested twice as a juvenile.

Arrest 1 - Arrested, Charged, NOT convicted 

Arrest 2 - Arrested, NOT charged and NOT convicted

 

We are waiting for his Police Certificate but we're worried for 2 reasons.

 

1. When we completed the VWP documents and the I-129f, we said no to the criminal history questions (because he was a juvenile and not convicted).

 

Come to find out, these DO count.

I've told him that honesty is the best policy and we should answer yes on the DS-160.

We honestly didn't know when we answered previously that these juvenile arrests counted.

Anyone have advice/experience? Will it come up in the interview? How does he handle?

 

2. We ordered an SAR as well as the Police Certificate. 

Do we need court records for the first arrest?

Will we need some kind of police report for the second (since there was no court involvement)?

 

Thanks!

[Boiler 45,486]

How can you be arrested and not charged?

 

What for?

[Kaleigh & Dan 5]

5 minutes ago, Boiler said:

How can you be arrested and not charged?

 

What for?

You are arrested and questioned but they decide you didn't do it and don't charge you. 

[Boiler 45,486]

He was arrested for something.

[Lil bear 4,201]

17 minutes ago, Boiler said:

How can you be arrested and not charged?

 

What for?

Arrest - An arrest means only that you were taken into police custody andtemporarily held by the police. An arrest is not a finding that you areguilty of a crime – or that you have done anything wrong at all. ... You may never be charged with a crime. You may be charged but the charges may later be dropped or dismissed.

 

 

[JFH 12,190]

Arrested for what? 

[JFH 12,190]

And did he declare them on the ESTA application? 

[Kaleigh & Dan 5]

Just now, JFH said:

And did he declare them on the ESTA application? 

No, we didn't know they counted

[Kaleigh & Dan 5]

3 minutes ago, JFH said:

Arrested for what? 

Arrest 1 - Arson (a buddy did it, and bragged about it at school the next day)

Arrest 2 - Rape (false accusation in retaliation to a break-up)

[thatguyuknow 147]

Do a SAR on the Acro website. If his cert comes back with no live trace they will ask for the SAR anyway. If the SAR come back with nothing, happy days. 

 

As far as 'lying' to get an ESTA I wouldn't worry about it. @Pooley man traveled on an ESTA after having some dealings with the law and they got their K1. 

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

Those arrests definitely will show on his ACRO, so he absolutely must answer ‘YES’ on his DS-160 (if not, he’d clearly be lying, which I assume may be enough to get his visa denied straight away).

 

I seem to recall that @Pooley‘s fiancé did get a bit of a grilling re his arrests at the interview, so this is something your fiancé needs to be ready for...

[JFH 12,190]

6 hours ago, Kaleigh & Dan said:

No, we didn't know they counted

But that’s the problem. It’s not for the applicant to decide what counts and what doesn’t. On the ESTA application it asks if you’ve ever been arrested for a crime that involves serious damage to property. That would be arson. 

 

I don’t think the arrests will be an issue for a K-1 approval. My biggest concern would be when the CO then realizes that he answered “no” to the “have you ever been arrested” question in the past. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

12 hours ago, Kaleigh & Dan said:

We honestly didn't know when we answered previously that these juvenile arrests counted.

Anyone have advice/experience? Will it come up in the interview? How does he handle?

I have 10-11 years experience in this UK forum and am aware of dozens who have done the same thing on ESTA and it never came up for discussion at the interview. The SAR will be all you need. (In more recent years, the police certificate has had the same info as the SAR, but good that you got SAR anyway). It will give the official version of what happened and whether he was charged/ convicted  or not. Then fill out the DS-160 accordingly. Don't rush this process if you have doubts and possible criminal things on your file. Get the records first.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Wuozopo

[EnglishLove 112]

On 7/26/2019 at 8:18 PM, Kaleigh & Dan said:

My fiance was arrested twice as a juvenile.

Arrest 1 - Arrested, Charged, NOT convicted 

Arrest 2 - Arrested, NOT charged and NOT convicted

 

We are waiting for his Police Certificate but we're worried for 2 reasons.

 

1. When we completed the VWP documents and the I-129f, we said no to the criminal history questions (because he was a juvenile and not convicted).

 

Come to find out, these DO count.

I've told him that honesty is the best policy and we should answer yes on the DS-160.

We honestly didn't know when we answered previously that these juvenile arrests counted.

Anyone have advice/experience? Will it come up in the interview? How does he handle?

 

2. We ordered an SAR as well as the Police Certificate. 

Do we need court records for the first arrest?

Will we need some kind of police report for the second (since there was no court involvement)?

 

Thanks!

Definitely see if anything shows on his SAR. My fiance had one juvenile charge that was spent and then a few cautions. Before we found this site and started the k-1, he came to visit me and wasn't sure on the cautions (as most was from when he was 14 as a juvenile) and he recently applied for a job that required a police certificate. Until he filled out his ESTA, we waited for that to come in and it said NONE in "any arrests, cautions, warning, and convictions" so we thought we were in the clear. He came here twice on that. When we applied for k-1 and got the police certificate for immigration (we had no idea there was different ones), it showed everything. At the interview, they did grill him hard for this and still asked for the SAR (even though his ARCO showed the same exact thing as the SAR). We were issued the k-1 but I made sure that he never traveled on the ESTA once we found this out. Definitely do not lie about those as immigration will have all this information and see if you're lying about it. Be truthful 100%! I know that wording 'Arrests' seems to get people on the ESTA as most people are just thinking charges.

 

Also, the only time you need court records is if he was charged or went to court on it to show it was dismissed or anything like that. Simple arrests wont  have any court records and a SAR along with the police certificate will be enough. Hope this helps and feel free to ask me more if you have any questions. 

[Kaleigh & Dan 5]

Thanks @Pooley for providing this info.

Did he have any problems when coming to the US after he had his visa?

My fiance is very worried that this will cause problems. 

 

My honey cannot re-enter the US until he has his K1 as they have marked him down with a warning last visit. He is unemployed so this raises flags, even though I make enough to support us both with no problem. (likely due to the reduced ties to the UK)

 

Again, thanks so much for your reply! It is very helpful to know what has happened with others.