I had INS citizenship interview at the end of January. Between filing the N-400 application and the interview I was charged as "assult and battery to his wife" and trial date is at end of this month, Feb. I told the INS officer about the case. At the end the officer still give me a sheet showing "congratulations! recommanded for approval. Final decision will be made within 120 days." There is another case happened 5 years ago but all charged are dismissed and expunged. I provided all the documentation to INS.

Since then I havn't heard from INS. My questions are:

1. Will INS reverse the decision of approval? Usually how long INS send out the Oath notice after interview?
2. Will INS wait for the outcome of court trial and then make final decision?
3. Does the crime count for deportation grounds?
4. What kind of court trial result will lead to deportation action from INS? say court finds guilty but order a marriage consultation. Does this state "assult and batter" equal to INS "dometic voilence"?

Thanks a lot!

Dear Anonymous:

INS will not grant your application for naturalization if you have a criminal charge pending. What you received was a letter notifying you that you had passed the interview portion of the application but, as you indicated, a final decision has not yet been made.

If you are convicted of assault and battery on your spouse, this would constitute a ground of removal, and you not only would not receive naturalization, but removal proceedings against you could be commenced.

For this reason, we strongly suggest that you take a copy of the arrest report, and speak with an immigration law attorney as soon as possible.

Dear ImmigrationHelp,

Thanks for your answer. What will happen that if I am found guity and I am in the process of filing appeal to district court? Will INS think that is the final decision for removal preceeding?

Another question is that Does INS have to make decision within 120 days? What happens I am in the process of appealing beyond 120 days? How does INS check court results?

Thanks again for your response.

Dear ImmigrationHelp,

Just a follow-up, I received a letter for Oath ceremony today. INS did ignore the fact of the pending case for court trial. On the back of the form I need to check several question marks but it clearly states that only incident that happens after your first N-400 interview needs to be checked.

Does it mean I don't have to include or reveal the incident before the interview on the form? Can INS invoke the citizenship later on if they find it was a mistake by INS itself if they grant the citizenship and I am convicted? My laywer and I did tell the INS officer about the pending case during the interview.

Dear Anonymous:

As long as you have a valid appeal pending, there is not a final conviction, so it cannot be used against you in removal proceedings.

As for the oath ceremony letter, you have to answer the questions that are asked. If it only asks for matters after the interview, then you do not have to disclose any other matters.

If INS later finds that your citizenship was granted in error, it can seek to rescind your citizenship. The problem we see in your case is that there is no evidence that you disclosed the fact of your pending case, unless the INS officer made a note in the file. Absent such evidence, how will you be able to prove that you did in fact disclose the current pending case?

Dear ImmigrationHelp,

This is an interesting case if it brings up in the future, I think.

During the interview, my lawyer and I told the INS officer there is a case pending and the case is about the domestic assult to his wife. My lawyer also describe the nature that happened. But my laywer say the case could be dismissed in the court. The INS officer seemed totally on my side. I don't know if she took a note or not but she said I just ran the FBI report and show you are a good person. She said not to mess that case up with the this application. She also took an example for such kind case happened that a wife called a police to file charge against her husband to intend to prevent the husband to become citizen. Actually my laywer and I were surprised she gave me the approval recommandation in the end.

What do you comment on this? Even I get my citizen do I still live in the risk of revoking citizenship? What happened if the case was dismmised or found guilty after oath?

Dear Anonymous:

As long as the case is ultimately dismissed, or you are found not guilty, then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you are found guilty, and INS finds out that the arrest took place before you were granted citizenship, they could seek to rescind your naturalization. Since we do not know what you or your lawyer told INS, or what INS has in its file, we cannot comment with any specificity on that issue. Good luck.

Just as a follow up. The judge/DA dismissed (not proscute) the case so I am safe now? Thanks for your help.

Dear Anonymous:

Thanks for the follow-up, and good luck in the future.

i am kahi patel. my file# A44614393. i passed my citizenship on sep 16th,03, but i have"t received oath ceremony. so my questions is when will (date and month) be my oath? so please reply soon.
thanxs
kahi patel.

Dean ImmigrationHelp,

My wife just received a court date from INS for removal preceedings. What happened was that 8 years ago, she committed petty theft and was put on probation and served community service for the offense. However, she didn't not understand what being on probation meant and committed a similar crime during the probation period. And again, the judge sentenced her to community services. From then on, she has not committed any crimes. We took a trip and at Custom at LAX, they kept her for four hours. We are worried. Can she be removal? Should we get a lawyer? Please advice.

Addition to above....

How probable is it that my wife will be deported? If she has to leave this country, what can she and/or I do to gain her re-entry as a resident? What can we do to help her chances in stay here in the United States?

Dear ImmigrationHelp:

We have our citizenship interview coming up in the next few months. Right after the interview we are planning to go for a two week trip to Asia. Is it possible to use our non-US Passports and GreenCards to leave the country and come back? Usually how long it takes to get a date for the Oath Ceremony after the interview? Can I request the officer to give me a date so it won't conflict with my trip dates?

Most importantly after the interview can I leave the country and come back in???

Hi,

I have a squeaky clean record and my naturalization application is pretty straightforward. My wife is a US citizen and I'm applying after three years of residency.

During my immigration interview on April 1, 2004, I did the English and Civics test perfectly, but I was unable to give the exact birth-date of my wife's grown up daughter from her previous marriage with whom I don't have much of a relationship. I may also have recalled some other dates (like exactly when we moved from one apartment to another) imprecisely.

At one point the interviewer asked me to sign a paper acknowledging that there were 21 corrections in my application (which I thought seemed like too many, since I'm a detail oriented person). Nevertheless, I was a little nervous and I signed without giving it much thought.

Also, I think the huge age difference between my wife me made the interviewer sceptical about the genuineness of our marriage. Add to that the fact that while I was being interviewed, my wife was visiting her mother for several weeks. So she asked me to submit copies of our 2003 joint tax returns and some other recent documents, which I submitted promptly.

My questions are -

1. Should I be concerned about having signed a document without reviewing it carefully?

2. Is there any way I can review the document now?

3. There is no valid reason for my application to be rejected but what is the worst delay that can occur?

Thank you very much for your help.

SqueakyCLeanWorrier

Hi,

My friend has been an permanent resident in the US for 10 years, and is scheduled for a Naturalization interview in a few weeks. But she was indicted for Theft by Deception in the 3rd degree, only 3 years of being in the US. She received a pretrial intervention, and received 4 years probation. She was not convicted, and her case was expunged. This is her only offense, and she is a good person who always pays her taxes. Is this grounds for deportation? If so, can she just stop from going to the interview and contact INS to retain her permanent residence status instead?...or is it too late, because she has an interview and INS already has all her information??? Please help!! Thank you!

Hi,
I was approved for my citizenship after a Denial Appeal. After the appeal my citizenship was approved. Now Im just waiting for the ceremonial oath. But that was over three months ago and my understanding was that it only takes a month after the approval the take the oath. Can anybody help me with this questio please????

Hi.

I was approved at the INS interview today for naturalization. I was told that the next swearing in and oath ceremony would be July/August and that I would receive a letter in the mail about 3 weeks beforehand.... My mom just recieved her letter today(June 9) for swearing in on July 1. Is there a way I can contact INS and be at the same ceremony? Thank you so much!

Hi:
I had my interview yesterday. I passed the Civics Test and answered all the questions about my application. At the end the INS officer told me "my name has to be cleared and when that info is cleared i will get a letter from the INS telling me about my ceremony". She gave me the paper saying I passed the test, but she marked the line that said "the applications is not approved yet" or something like that. It did not say it was rejected, but the line that said "Congratulations! etc" was not marked either. I thought the interview went well, and she did not ask me for any additional documents at all, so i thought i was all set, but then why did not she mark the "Congratulations!" line? It left me in the limbo...
Have you heard of anything like that?
Thanks,

Dear INS ,
Is there any way one can delay his interview date
of removel of conditins on a green card?

Hi, I would like to know how long after I become a citizen do I have to wait before petitioning for my mother. Thanks