Arrested, but never charged....

[mox 298]

Also, I'm not a lawyer but I'd stop admitting to anything to border agents, police, or whatever. If you are charged with a crime, you should immediately ask for a lawyer before answering any other questions. If you're not being charged with a crime (i.e., a border agent is questioning you) then the worst thing you can do is admit to any kind of drug use. I admire your honesty, but nothing good can come of incriminating yourself. Quite frankly I feel like those kinds of questions amount to entrapment, but then nobody asked me.

As far as what's on your police report, as others have said, get a copy of your police report and see for yourself.

Best of luck to you!

[Krikit 1,164]

Absolutely. I think a number of the responses you've seen are severe over-reactions. Now had you told the US authorities you still use marijuana, perhaps it might come up in the immigration process but since it was the Canadian Border authorities, I'm pretty sure the incident at your last border crossing would only be an issue if it shows up on the police report. I'd go ahead and get the same report you'll need at the time of any visa interview. If it's clean, you have no issue, at least based on the information you provided. Getting the police report now will mean you may well need to go to the trouble and expense again later but at least you'll know what you're dealing with.

There are a couple of VJ members here who are border protection agents so hopefully they'll be along to confirm this but.... I'm pretty sure that the Canadian and US borders have a reciprocal information-sharing agreement.

[Fandango 1,439]

I don't think it's as simple as 'don't worry about the Canadian Border Agents'. Whether you have a criminal record is one hurdle...the Border issue is another...but there's also the interview, where questions might be asked....and NO ONE here....absolutely NO ONE...should be telling you to lie, omit, evade, etc.

So, while I do think there's enough reason for concern...not panic...I feel your best plan to be proactive is to consult an atty and deal with this one step at a time. The visa process can seem overwhelming at the best of times....panic won't help you, nor will sticking your head in the sand ignoring things because a few ppl on a messageboard told you to 'not worry'. It's your life, not theirs...

I really wish you the best of luck!

[Caladan 19]

A consult with an attorney is probably not a bad idea.

A couple of thoughts:

On one of the forms (DS-156K), they ask whether you've been arrested or convicted of any crime or offense. You were arrested; the fact that you weren't convicted surely counts in your favor, but I don't see an honest way to answer that question that isn't 'yes.' I don't think 'pretend it never happened' is an option here, but an attorney can help here.

Some who is a drug abuser can be inadmissible, but how exactly they make that determination is unclear. (It seems sometimes to come up during the medical exam.)

[maxident213 0]

Thanks once again everyone, I am a bit more relaxed now and I owe that to you. I am going to see about obtaining my police report in the very near future.

Edited September 25, 2007 by maxident213

[pushbrk 12,892]

A consult with an attorney is probably not a bad idea.

A couple of thoughts:

On one of the forms (DS-156K), they ask whether you've been arrested or convicted of any crime or offense. You were arrested; the fact that you weren't convicted surely counts in your favor, but I don't see an honest way to answer that question that isn't 'yes.' I don't think 'pretend it never happened' is an option here, but an attorney can help here.

Some who is a drug abuser can be inadmissible, but how exactly they make that determination is unclear. (It seems sometimes to come up during the medical exam.)

I would get the police report as a first step. You say you were arrested but were you really? It may have felt like an arrest and a police officer may even have said you were arrested but it is also possible that you were not actually arrested. An "arrest" should show on the police report.

The tricky part comes with the sworn statement on the DS 230 part II and may also appear elsewhere.

Take a look at question B in part two. The wording is "convicted of or admits to having committed a crime involving moral turpitude or violation of any law relating to a controlled substance...."

That's where it appears a truthful answer is YES. Now, where things go from there is a matter for which I would strongly advise you to get competent legal advice. Perhaps those in this waivers forum will know far more about this than I do. I've not dealt with these issues except to assist in filling out my wife and daughter's forms. However, for K visas the DS 230 part II is not used until AOS, if I have that right. Still a problem.

Usually, I would tell a person to make sure they understand the literal meaning of the question and answer directly and accurately. This may seem like a straight forward question but I would get a competent legal opinion about the "admits to" portion of the question because it may only seem straight forward.

Edited September 25, 2007 by pushbrk

[rebeccajo 14]

The amount of the substance in question has a great bearing on whether or not the offense is even waiverable.

[maxident213 0]

The amount of the substance in question has a great bearing on whether or not the offense is even waiverable.

The amount was less than half of one joint, between two people. Basically, the cop brought us in to scare us. He did say "I am placing you under arrest," but we weren't fingerprinted, just heavily questioned and our ID cards photocopied and filed. I think he was trying to get us to rat out the person we got it from.

I've had a day to think on all this and I'm not so freaked out now. I'm pretty sure I've accidentally bought myself three more years in Canada - that is, three years until I can truthfully say I haven't used an illegal substance in the past three years. I have to assume that what I said to the border agents was recorded and noted, and I have to assume that if I were to begin the K1 process earlier than that, that they would have access to this information and would know if I was lying. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it's three more years for me. I do plan to obtain my police report, and I am going to speak with a lawyer and see what he or she has to say, but at this point I'm just trying to think positively; I have three more years to be close to family & friends, three more years to save money, three more years to enjoy the company of my pets. As I said before, my gf & I have just recently begun discussing the K1 approach - for all I know, it may have been three years until we got it underway anyway. I'm the impatient type and was holding out hope that it would be sooner rather than later, but I guess it's going to be later. At least I have a time frame to work with.

It's heartbreaking but I have to look at it positively.

Thanks once again to everyone who has responded, I really appreciate it.

[trailmix 77]

The amount of the substance in question has a great bearing on whether or not the offense is even waiverable.

The amount was less than half of one joint, between two people. Basically, the cop brought us in to scare us. He did say "I am placing you under arrest," but we weren't fingerprinted, just heavily questioned and our ID cards photocopied and filed. I think he was trying to get us to rat out the person we got it from.

I've had a day to think on all this and I'm not so freaked out now. I'm pretty sure I've accidentally bought myself three more years in Canada - that is, three years until I can truthfully say I haven't used an illegal substance in the past three years. I have to assume that what I said to the border agents was recorded and noted, and I have to assume that if I were to begin the K1 process earlier than that, that they would have access to this information and would know if I was lying. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it's three more years for me. I do plan to obtain my police report, and I am going to speak with a lawyer and see what he or she has to say, but at this point I'm just trying to think positively; I have three more years to be close to family & friends, three more years to save money, three more years to enjoy the company of my pets. As I said before, my gf & I have just recently begun discussing the K1 approach - for all I know, it may have been three years until we got it underway anyway. I'm the impatient type and was holding out hope that it would be sooner rather than later, but I guess it's going to be later. At least I have a time frame to work with.

It's heartbreaking but I have to look at it positively.

Thanks once again to everyone who has responded, I really appreciate it.

You have a really good attitude Max!

[rebeccajo 14]

Once you speak with an attorney familiar with US immigration policy, you will have the answers you need.

Good luck to you.

[maxident213 0]

When the time comes and we begin the K1 process, am I going to need a waiver? Assuming several years have passed?

[blueblue 0]

1) If you were arrested but were never convicted of anything then you answer Yes to the relevant question on the forms asking if you were arrested. An arrest doesn't make you inadmissible, but a conviction (or lying on a form, etc.) has that consequence. You should not be denied a visa based on only this arrest nor have to file a waiver for it and doesn't matter what amount they said you had. Without a conviction or admission of guilt, it is irrelevant as far as admissibility is concerned.

2) As to your recent admission that in the last month you smoked, I wouldn't offer any more admissions like that. Since it was a Canadian agent, I doubt that the US embassy would get a note about it. But, if it comes up in an interview and they asked about it, then you would have to deal with it at that time. If it didn't come up, I wouldn't bring it up.

If the embassy decides you are a drug abuser this is an inadmissibility subject to 212(a)(1)(A)(iv) and there is no waiver. It requires that you be 'clean' for 3 years. This usually comes up if in the medical if they do a drug test or the physician asks about drug use. Most of the cases I've seen where this occurred was in Mexico or Caribbean. You can read this part of the FAM on the subject: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86936.pdf

Definitely have a consult with a good immigration attorney before you put any statements in writing or make any further admissions. Here's a list to consider: http://immigrate2us.net/forum/showthread.php?t=889

[Caladan 19]

When the time comes and we begin the K1 process, am I going to need a waiver? Assuming several years have passed?

Maybe? This is beyond the advice of anyone here to say concretely, because so much with drug law depends on the fine details. You haven't been convicted of anything, which is a good thing, but if I were you, I'd want to talk to a lawyer about how to handle the medical for the K-1 (where they may ask about drug use) and habitual use.

Theoretically, with a clean record and a clean medical years down the road you should be fine, but it's very hard to say partially because it's hard to say (even after reading blueblue's links) how they count 'abuse' or 'addiction.' 'Experimentation' isn't supposed to be a bar to admission, but from reading around VJ it seems that consulates have a lot of latitude on how they construe 'experimentation', and they're not always consistent. One use? Two uses? Do you need to demonstrate rehabilitation?

I have no idea. That's why God invented attorneys.

blueblue's links are a good place to start.

[Carlawarla 1]

I'm glad you've kept coming back to this thread to vent as well as to make enquiries about your situation. I too agree that a good immigration attorney is what's needed. In my opinion, I doubt very much that anything about when you last used marijuana was written down anywhere by border officials. My concern for you, should you choose NOT to get an immigration attorney, is that your police record will come back as not having any criminal record, and then at some point you'll go to your medical. Being from Canada myself, I know that the doctor asked, and it is on the medical..."are you currently using any non-prescription drugs, or have you in the past...". At this point, it will come up, and you'll have to answer truthfully. Again, seeing a lawyer, and finding out what is needed to address this area (besides stopping your usage), is what you need to do.

I wish you the best of luck and hope after consulting an attorney, you'll come back here to tell us your findings so it can help others with similar circumstances.

Carla

[maxident213 0]

Thank you for the kind words & good wishes, and most of all for the advice. I am definitely going to speak with an attorney in the future and I will certainly post up my findings here. In the meantime I am considering a move to Ontario, it's as close to my girlfriend as I can get while staying on this side of the line. (I'm from BC, she's from CT). It would at least cut the number of flights required to see her from 4 down to 2.

One thing I am wondering about now, I understand that a person must be "clean" for at least three years to be eligible for a visa. How would this best be demonstrated? As much as I hate the idea of going to rehab for something I wasn't even a regular user of, is that the kind of evidence they would want to see? Should I be collecting letters from employers, landlords, etc., stating that they've never known me to have a drug problem? What sort of evidence should I be gathering over the next few years so that I'm properly prepared when the time comes? I would think that going to rehab and having documentation of that type could even work against me, ie, "well if he went to rehab then he MUST have had a serious problem."

I guess these are all questions for an attorney, but if anyone has any input or related experience, I'd love to hear it. Also if anyone has a recommendation for a particular attorney who specializes in my particular scenario, please PM it to me if you wouldn't mind. Thanks once again.