Moving to California
 

Hi,

I'm thinking about moving to California maybe to stay for good. My girlfriend is American, we met in South Korea and have been dating about 1 and a half years and are planning to get married in about a years time. I have family living in San Francisco and they are going to do all they can to help me get a green card. I have 2 degrees and a masters degree in e-learning but the only thing is about 9 or 10 years ago i got arrested for drunk and disorderly and was fined. How will this affect things, this was my only ever run in with the police. Will this prove a big problem?

Cheers
Any help would be so great.

Re: Moving to California
 

The only thing I would suggest is to come clean about it. Should you not declare it and they find out it will cause huge problems...
As far as it hurting you chances... A fine is much less serious than a prison term.... I am not sure on this but they may not penalise you for a fine. It wasn't a violent or dishonest act either....
Just be honest.....

I hope everything goes well for you..... :D

Surely if you are marrying soon, and she is American you can take that route for entry.......

Re: Moving to California
 

What was the charge? D&D or Public Order or Other

Re: Moving to California
 

It was D&D but im hoping that because it was such a long time ago it wont matter so much.






Cheers....

Re: Moving to California
 

Hi

I am not a lawyer but in my personal experience unless the USCIS can class the incident as a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude CIMT you should be OK.

If you look at this document the list on page 5
(This is part of what the USCIS used to establish these things)

http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0940021aN.pdf

You relly need to get going on obtaining your Police certifiacte and court Memorandums Of Conviction. If you know the date and place of conviction write a letter to the court giving them all the details and take it in, I have found that in most cases they are fairly helpful and once you have the Memorandum Of Conviction you will know exactly what is listed. The Police Certificate will take a lot longer. Depending on how long ago the offence was it may not show on your Police certificate (Normally 10 years without further offence 20 years if further offences ) I have heard of people not declaring stuff that does not show up on the Police Certificate, I certainly dont recomend that you do this but it is said if you don't tell and it don't show they will never know.

I don't beleive that you should take this route as it is not the way to begin your new life in the US. I had stuff I thought far worse than a D&D declared them all and was fine, got asked only a couple of questions at the interview but that was all.

Hope this helps and I am sorry you will worry about this until the day you walk away from the embassy with your visa.

Good Luck

Re: Moving to California
 

Hi, my comments are similar to the advice you have above.

My husband had a drink drive conviction about 4 years old when we started the process to come over here 2 years ago. We asked about whether we should declare it or not. Our lawyer said that it was not a sever crime of moral terpitude so should delcare it (with supporting court documents and police report as recommended above).

The advice she gave was this - the crime alone should not restict our access to the US (as again, not a sever case of moral terpitude) but if for some reason they did uncover that my husband was trying to hide it - the hiding of it would be considered morally deficit and can cause them to not allow you entrance - that is, if you are hiding that, what else could you be hiding?

My husband declared it with all supporting documents and we got an L1 visa nearly 2 years ago and we are part was through the Green Card application.

Re: Moving to California
 

Said by whom? The voices in your head?

Re: Moving to California
 

If you read the various posts on the subject you will see numerous post debating wether to disclose stuff not on Police Certificates. I never personally said that you should not disclose I just pointed out that others had considered it, if you can't make constructive posts to help or contribute don't bother posting.

Re: Moving to California
 

And if you read further back on the immigration board you will find that the checks are very stringent and the consequences dire. The point of my post was to draw attention to the fact that to suggest that this may even be an option is stupid and misleading.

Before you get your knickers in a twist and start telling people what they can and can't post, I suggest that you read further back through the board. Folynskinla, resident attorney, has something to say on this.

Oh, and I also suggest that if you are going to get on your high horse about comments made about your posts then it's a good idea NOT to go back and edit those comments. If you notice you will find that the post shows as having been edited and also the original wording is still quoted in my post.

Seems like you have a lot to learn, go easy on the advice you are doling out in the meantime.

Re: Moving to California
 

Try posting in the marriage based immigration forum. You'll likely find more people there who are experienced or knowledgable enough to help you with your problem. Also try a search on 'waiver/s' or 'convictions'.

But if in doubt...

Re: Moving to California
 

Even done a little looking for you.

This should help...

Re: Moving to California
 

I would recommend not moving to california

Re: Moving to California
 

Hey pedro, I've got your alter-ego here. Aww! How sweet that you should save his/her first post just to troll me. Not nice to hijack threads though.

Re: Moving to California
 

Explain Please ?

Re: Moving to California
 

It means take over a thread with a topic that is nothing to do with the subject of the original post.