H1B stamping with a dismissed misdemeanor

[chackraj]

Hi,

       Last November, me and my wife given a citation for Misdemeanor Child Abuse by the police. The charge against us was that we had left our  children home alone for a period of 25 mins. We hired an attorney and as per his recommendation we attended 25 hours of diversionary sessions. After completing the diversionary sessions the case was dismissed by the DA. We have applied for expungement of the record. The entire incident happened in the state of NC.

     I will have to go back to India now. My questions are

• Will this incident make me and my wife inadmissible to the US if we move out of US and try coming back?
• We were only provided a citation and no fingerprints were taken. What should I say in the DS-160 for the question, 'Were you ever arrested or convicted of an offense?' Is the citation equivalent of an arrest?
• Will the period between the provision of citation and the dismissal, be considered as a probationary period?
• I am pretty sure my stamping will go for further administrative processing and 221g will be given. What will be the documents I will have to provide for the 221g? Will the certificate of disposition of the case be sufficient? Will I also have to take a letter from my lawyer? Will we also need to apply for a rap sheet from the FBI?
• Any idea of the time taken for stamping in such cases

 

 

[natan111]

I'm gonna number those points in the same order:

1) A misdemeanor like this will most likely NOT make you guys inadmissible. It is not a CIMT.

2) "Arrest" can be interpreted in many ways. The conservative approach would be to answer "yes" and explain. It shouldn't be a big deal. 

3)  No, that period will NOT be considered a probation. You were not convicted of anything. 

4) Depending on the state where you got cited you may either get a police report or a letter from the DA stating that the case was not filed in court. If you can't get those (California) then just try to get a certified copy of the citation ticket and any notice from the DA regarding the pre-trial diversion and/or a certificate of completion of your diversionary sessions.  

5) May be delayed.

I'm assuming you didn't plea guilty nor agreed to take the sessions in exchange for any kind of punishment (DA filing the case in court is NOT punishment, so that's fine). If my assumptions are correct, you are not in any kind of trouble. Now learn the law (local and federal) and remain this way! Good luck. 

[chackraj]

Thanks Natan.

 With regard to your assumption, my attorney said that he had an informal agreement with the DA, which is permitted in the courts of NC. My disposition does not say that we pleaded guilty nor the opposite. 

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks