Help with I-129 Criminal History Hangups 3x

[HulkySun 4]

Hey yall,  I'm petitioner in the states citizen in upper 40's. My fiance in Philippines. I am preparing this form and have long ago 3 x arrests. Can please help me with each one?  So far I did this:

 

1. DWI  around 1992 : I called the police station records depart and she says all records up to 2002 are lost in a fire. I call Court records and they will send me a Certified Disposition for the court part of it. I asked the lady for the police part if she would send me a certified letter stating no records exist because of fire and she gave a really hard time and said no especially because certified. Is the court one here good enough?

 

2. 1994 Philadelphia  was 19  at a major concert (parking lot) was arrested with another group for mmj possession, lsd possession with distribution I believe. It was all really nonsense, lab tests came back negative for no drugs and the charges were expunged in court. I called Philadelphia 'Office of Judicial Records'  and she says your records don't exist ...  arrest or otherwise. And that for $10 she will send me Certified Letter saying no criminal history in Philadelphia.  Was so long ago I don't even remember what police station it was at, I lived in NJ. She says no records exist. Is this good enough?

 

2. 1999 DWI currently they are looking for my court records and getting back to me. Do I need both court records Disposition AND Police report?

 

Thank you for your time! I used to do band stuff back then.. so the night scene was bad for me. but I have 20 years now without an arrest, so that should help right?

 

Hulk

[SorrowL 138]

Disclose to them what you have, fill in part 3 accordingly in the I-129f. Get all the records you can get, including information that records were destroyed in a fire. 
 

I don’t believe what you have would make the case any more difficult, especially considering major elapsed time since the charges.
 

you have to include things even if they were expunged, so try to remember which court dealt with your expungement and get information on that case.

 

you can read more into detail here https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-129finstr.pdf

 

on Page 6

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by SorrowL

[HulkySun 4]

1 hour ago, SorrowL said:

Disclose to them what you have, fill in part 3 accordingly in the I-129f. Get all the records you can get, including information that records were destroyed in a fire. 
 

I don’t believe what you have would make the case any more difficult, especially considering major elapsed time since the charges.
 

you have to include things even if they were expunged, so try to remember which court dealt with your expungement and get information on that case.

 

you can read more into detail here https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-129finstr.pdf

 

on Page 6

 

Yea I hear you,  So Philadelphia court has no record of it and will send me a certified no history of criminal activity.  So now I called the Police. Talked to several people, they say my files are destroyed, they know nothing about them from 1994. He said for light cases such as mine they don't even keep records past 5 years.  Even with their online request a record search they say not to if over 5 years ago.  I'm dead in the water here with Philly.  Any ideas??

[SorrowL 138]

1 minute ago, HulkySun said:

Yea I hear you,  So Philadelphia court has no record of it and will send me a certified no history of criminal activity.  So now I called the Police. Talked to several people, they say my files are destroyed, they know nothing about them from 1994. He said for light cases such as mine they don't even keep records past 5 years.  Even with their online request a record search they say not to if over 5 years ago.  I'm dead in the water here with Philly.  Any ideas??

Get the certified documents proving that the records are lost, and just write a personal statement about what you did. Should be sufficient if all places have no record.

Edited January 15, 2020 by SorrowL

[HulkySun 4]

2 hours ago, SorrowL said:

Get the certified documents proving that the records are lost, and just write a personal statement about what you did. Should be sufficient if all places have no record.

I can write about what happened in the account at time of arrest and outcome is that what you mean?

 

For certified documents, how can they do that if they have zero reference point? I even called the State Police Expungement unit...  they say I have a clean record and they have zero files on me. The computer system says I did have an expungement some time in my life, but they don't know when or what for or any other information... they just know all files were expunged from their system in 2002 for something. I can bother them again to see if they will certify something simply stating I had an expungement sometime in life and they have no info on it 😕 . but that says nothing no?

[SorrowL 138]

11 minutes ago, HulkySun said:

I can write about what happened in the account at time of arrest and outcome is that what you mean?

 

For certified documents, how can they do that if they have zero reference point? I even called the State Police Expungement unit...  they say I have a clean record and they have zero files on me. The computer system says I did have an expungement some time in my life, but they don't know when or what for or any other information... they just know all files were expunged from their system in 2002 for something. I can bother them again to see if they will certify something simply stating I had an expungement sometime in life and they have no info on it 😕 . but that says nothing no?

If they could supply that you did get expunged at some point, it could help. I mean just write up a personal account and outcome of what happened, and add that you can’t verify your claims due to lost records, and add on evidence that the records are lost. To me it seems the best way to certify you aren’t keeping any secrets. You could make it a personal affidavit, affirm its to the best of your knowledge of what happened and sign it accordingly, birthday, place and name. As long as you have proof the records are gone, and some kind of expungement happened, there could be enough trace evidence to support your affidavit. 
 

honestly people tend to cover up incidents, so explaining the situation and your past incidents and adding the evidence shouldn’t give you any problems. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by SorrowL

[HulkySun 4]

21 minutes ago, SorrowL said:

If they could supply that you did get expunged at some point, it could help. I mean just write up a personal account and outcome of what happened, and add that you can’t verify your claims due to lost records, and add on evidence that the records are lost. To me it seems the best way to certify you aren’t keeping any secrets. You could make it a personal affidavit, affirm its to the best of your knowledge of what happened and sign it accordingly, birthday, place and name. As long as you have proof the records are gone, and some kind of expungement happened, there could be enough trace evidence to support your affidavit. 
 

honestly people tend to cover up incidents, so explaining the situation and your past incidents and adding the evidence shouldn’t give you any problems. 

Will do my best, ok SorrowL - Thank u for today! 

[HulkySun 4]

Actually from reading the instructions for the link you gave me, I do fulfill requirement

 

Quote

Item Number 4.b. Criminal History Documents. If you indicated “Yes” in Item Number 4.a., provide information that explains the circumstances, places, dates, and outcomes for each incident of arrest, citation, charge, indictment, conviction, fine, or imprisonment. You must submit court certified copies of the arrest record and/or disposition for each incident unless you submit a certified statement from the court indicating that no record exists of your arrest, citation, charge, indictment, conviction, fine, or imprisonment.

So I already stated that the court will send me a certified letter stating I have no criminal history on record. So that does what it says

[Sarahbmalvin 49]

Is there any update on this? Did you get approved? I got an RFE for missing court docs (from an underage drinking ticket I got like 11 years ago) and all I got back was a certified letter from the court stating there is no record of it. Wondering/hoping that will be enough. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Sarahbmalvin

[HulkySun 4]

21 hours ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

Is there any update on this? Did you get approved? I got an RFE for missing court docs (from an underage drinking ticket I got like 11 years ago) and all I got back was a certified letter from the court stating there is no record of it. Wondering/hoping that will be enough. 

No Update, I live out of state and getting records is not easy over the phone and most cases have to mail letters for requests. I'm still mailing letters. 

 

Not really sure I am the one to give advice. You had to appear in court for this ticket?  Is this something they found or did you declare the arrest or not on 129? Thanks

oh this happened in the UK?

Edited January 23, 2020 by HulkySun

[Sarahbmalvin 49]

33 minutes ago, HulkySun said:

No Update, I live out of state and getting records is not easy over the phone and most cases have to mail letters for requests. I'm still mailing letters. 

 

Not really sure I am the one to give advice. You had to appear in court for this ticket?  Is this something they found or did you declare the arrest or not on 129? Thanks

oh this happened in the UK?

So I called the courts (there was one underage drinking and one open container ticket, from two separate courts). I also live out of state from where I received the tickets since they were while I was in college and I’m now 30, so I mailed the letters, requests, fees, etc. and they sent me back a certified letter saying there was no record. 
 

I did declare these on my 129 because of the finnicky language about being cited or fined, I figured it was best to disclose,  but didn’t include the documents so my RFE was for incomplete questions for 4a and I was not arrested or having to appear in front of a judge or anything, they were just tickets and I paid the fine and that was that. 

[Sarahbmalvin 49]

16 minutes ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

So I called the courts (there was one underage drinking and one open container ticket, from two separate courts). I also live out of state from where I received the tickets since they were while I was in college and I’m now 30, so I mailed the letters, requests, fees, etc. and they sent me back a certified letter saying there was no record. 
 

I did declare these on my 129 because of the finnicky language about being cited or fined, I figured it was best to disclose,  but didn’t include the documents so my RFE was for incomplete questions for 4a and I was not arrested or having to appear in front of a judge or anything, they were just tickets and I paid the fine and that was that. 
 

I just saw your last comment, this took place in the US, my fiancé is from the UK. Looks like we are actually in similar situations, I live in NJ and my tickets were in PA and the underage drinking one was in concert parking lot.

 

[HulkySun 4]

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up!  no arrest or court wow and just a ticket...  I guess because you mentioned it got to back it up.   Yea mine are so old .... that is the issue as we got to track down dates etc. 

[Sarahbmalvin 49]

1 hour ago, HulkySun said:

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up!  no arrest or court wow and just a ticket...  I guess because you mentioned it got to back it up.   Yea mine are so old .... that is the issue as we got to track down dates etc. 

yeah pretty ridiculous, but reading the rules about the certified court statement that there is no record seems like it would be enough. If no one else can find it, I doubt they will either especially since it’s so minor and it was back in 2009. 
 

Anyway, good luck! 

[Sarahbmalvin 49]

On 1/23/2020 at 5:08 PM, HulkySun said:

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up!  no arrest or court wow and just a ticket...  I guess because you mentioned it got to back it up.   Yea mine are so old .... that is the issue as we got to track down dates etc. 

hi! I got approved two days ago. I know we were in similar situations so for your reference I sent in the court certified letters, my original letters to the courts, my receipts from the courts that I paid for the record searches as well as the envelopes the courts sent the documents back to me in with the courts address on them. Hope this helps!