Mountain Man

Hello everyone, I will apologise in advance for the length, but I have a few troubling issues.

My USC fiancee and I are about to set the ball rolling for the K1 Visa process, but a number of issues have been thrown up. I've searched the entire forum and cannot find a similar scenario to ours, so I figured that I'd sign up and ask a few questions, just to put my mind at ease.

Several years ago (between 2002-2004), when I was much younger and stupider, I managed to get a criminal record - not something that I am particularly proud of - for various driving (not DUI) and fraud (possible CoMT?) offences, none of them were drugs-related. I was given community service/fines which were dealt with as quickly as I could.

Fast-forward to the present day and I have not had any criminal convictions since then and have been a good citizen. However, now that my fiancee and I are talking of marriage, I'm worried that my past will come back to haunt me during the process.

I have travelled to the US many times in the past few years on the VWP (mistakenly, as I thought the 'spent' rule applied and I didn't have to declare them) and have never been stopped at the PoE at several airports.

Since we are going to be applying for the K1, I'm worried that the VWP error and my criminal record will have a negative effect on the application. Thankfully my USC fiancee is submitting the application and has a squeaky-clean record, although there are two sides to every story (me being the other side) she does know about my past and is happy that I've managed to turn my life around after those silly mistakes. Will the immigration people have the same opinion though?

Also, one of her parents is Mexican, who jumped the border and had kids with a USC then married them - would this have any effect on our application given that it was about 30 years ago and they are now classed as a USC? As they once told me "Just get married and you'll be fine." Somehow I don't think the process is so easy nowadays!

We want to do this ourselves without the assistance of an immigration lawyer. I'd be grateful for any advice on this one, as I do want to move to the US to be with my fiancee.

slummymummy

Your fiancee's mexican parent having been an illegal immigrant will not affect your application! However I wouldn't neccessarily listen to his/her advice with regards to immigration...

Using VWP with a CIMT is not great but as it was a mistake you will have to say so if it comes up.

Were you under 18 when you were convicted? Not drugs related is a positive. I'm not good at the criminal stuff but no doubt someone will be along who is.

Good luck!

Mountain Man

Unfortunately I wasn't under 18, I was 19/20 when convicted. And don't worry, I had no intention to listening to their advice!

slummymummy

Good! (That you don't listen to their advice.)

jeffreyhy

In my opinion, a criminal record - minor traffic violations not included - should always call for a consultation with a US immigration attorney. You may not need to go further and retain an attorney, or you may, but in any case having an attorney review the details of you situation will give you a much better feeling for where you stand than you'll get from giving superficial information to an internet forum.

Regards, JEff