Finding court documents and police reports for expunged misdemeanors on form I-129F

[MyK1Journey 2]

Hello all, I am filling out form I-129F to bring my foreign gf here to get married and have some questions about section 4.a. This section asks us, the petitioners, to disclose ANY time I was EVER arrested, fined, charged, etc and then to provide the official court disposition/police report with the associated incident. Well my question is - how in the hell is somebody supposed to do this with very light misdemeanors that have happened well over a decade ago? About 15 years ago I had a few run ins with the law, as I'm sure so many young people do, and I have no idea how I would ever be able to provide court documents for them. Here are the details of my run-ins:

 

- First, I got caught for possession of weed at the age of 15. I did 6 months of probation and then got the case expunged.

-Then, I hopped over a NYC subway turnstile and to my surprise found myself right in front of a group of undercover police, who arrested me and took me to their police station, fingerprinted me, and then just straight up let me go (was so long ago I don't even remember if I even went to court or anything at all after they released me).

- A few years later, was drinking outside in public with my friends, the cop handcuffed all of us, put us in the back of his car, wrote us all tickets to pay a measly $25 fine, and then let us go. A week later, I went to the court and paid the fine. 

 

These are such small run-ins that I can't imagine they would pose significant threat to my K1 process. However, the massive headache is that the form requires you to actually FIND the court documents and/or police reports associated with them, get them notarized, and then include them in the form. I don't even remember which courts handled my cases for christs sake. Does anyone know how to best go about this?

 

Thanks so much for any replies

[powerpuff 6,712]

USCIS/DOS takes these questions very seriously. If you don’t disclose and they find out (which is very much possible considering they run a thorough background check on the petitioner), you will jeopardize your petition/visa. We have a member here who did not disclose a misdemeanor from decades ago because of bad advice, consulate found out and denied the visa. They had to start over with spousal visa. Bottom line is you’ll need to put in the work and find these records. 

 

Here’s the post:

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by powerpuff

[Crazy Cat 41,894]

52 minutes ago, MyK1Journey said:

Hello all, I am filling out form I-129F to bring my foreign gf here to get married and have some questions about section 4.a. This section asks us, the petitioners, to disclose ANY time I was EVER arrested, fined, charged, etc and then to provide the official court disposition/police report with the associated incident. Well my question is - how in the hell is somebody supposed to do this with very light misdemeanors that have happened well over a decade ago? About 15 years ago I had a few run ins with the law, as I'm sure so many young people do, and I have no idea how I would ever be able to provide court documents for them. Here are the details of my run-ins:

 

- First, I got caught for possession of weed at the age of 15. I did 6 months of probation and then got the case expunged.

-Then, I hopped over a NYC subway turnstile and to my surprise found myself right in front of a group of undercover police, who arrested me and took me to their police station, fingerprinted me, and then just straight up let me go (was so long ago I don't even remember if I even went to court or anything at all after they released me).

- A few years later, was drinking outside in public with my friends, the cop handcuffed all of us, put us in the back of his car, wrote us all tickets to pay a measly $25 fine, and then let us go. A week later, I went to the court and paid the fine. 

 

These are such small run-ins that I can't imagine they would pose significant threat to my K1 process. However, the massive headache is that the form requires you to actually FIND the court documents and/or police reports associated with them, get them notarized, and then include them in the form. I don't even remember which courts handled my cases for christs sake. Does anyone know how to best go about this?

 

Thanks so much for any replies

Either disclose and provide the required documentation for ALL your arrests or you will face an RFE and subsequent denial.  That is the process.  

[Mike E 11,739]

OP didn’t say OP intended to hide these in the I-129F nor could I infer that.  
 

OP is asking how to document something for which neither the government (because it is expunged) nor OP has a record of.   

[Crazy Cat 41,894]

1 minute ago, Mike E said:

OP didn’t say OP intended to hide these in the I-129F nor could I infer that.  
 

OP is asking how to document something for which neither the government (because it is expunged) nor OP has a record of.   

Questions always arise concerning the requirement to disclose expunged records.  That is why I said that all arrests and convictions must be explained.  I assume one must provide the disposition or a letter from the court authority of "no records available".

[Ontarkie 14,229]

You will have to call the court house involved. Ask them how to find them, some will say once they are discharged or what ever they are gone forever. That is usually only true if something happened to them. Like flood or fire for instance. If that is the case the courts will give you an official letter stating that. They get sent to a storage facility, so they don't have them on hand and will need to request them.

Many times the clerk just doesn't want to manually search the archive books. Not everything form years ago will be in the computer. Get the dates to the best of your knowledge and have them look. Once they send a request for them they will dig them out for you. 

 

For others who will go on and on about they are destroyed. Just remember all the court case you here about where the person had a rap sheet but it was sealed. Things get sealed form the general public not the real high up guys FBI, USCIS, and a few others. 

[kmk813 11]

I have filed for 2 fiance visas. First one in 2013 I didn't send paperwork and was approved but my sons father was banned from the US so he wasn't approved at the embassy level. The second one in 2020 and didn't send them but got a rfe. I wasn't able to get court disposition because it was 22 years old and destroyed. I did have the arrest record. It was a trespass arrest so minor. I made a statement and got it notarized stating that it was no longer available. I was approved. Call the police stations where you were arrested  and they will be able to direct you to where you need to go. Good luck take all the advice and move forward.