Domestic Violence Arrest and dismissed case b4 trial

[Master Class]

Hi Guys,

I was arrested in April 2016 for a domestic violence charge (my first and only arrest till date). I requested a trial against the false charges and the case was dismissed 1 week before trial date by the DA in Jan 2017. I did not accept any responsibility of charges, didn't get a PTD or PTI program, or plead guilty or any probation time to get the case dismissed. The records have been expunged as of 2018 june. I plan to visit India this December and will need Visa stamping done to re-enter US. As per forum, I understand there will be delays and problems getting stamped as well as at the POE.

My questions:

1) Has recently anyone been in same situation, got the visa stamped and was able to re-enter US?

       a) how much was the delay in getting the visa stamped? what was the total time line (# of days/weeks) for getting the passport back with visa stamped?

       b) what was your experience at the POE?

2) What documents were requested from you by the visa officer?

3) Did you get the FBI report, your criminal laywer explanation of case dismissal paper, case dismissal and expungement record.

Appreciate any/all responses.

[xTDx]

22 hours ago, Master Class said:

Hi Guys,

I was arrested in April 2016 for a domestic violence charge (my first and only arrest till date). I requested a trial against the false charges and the case was dismissed 1 week before trial date by the DA in Jan 2017. I did not accept any responsibility of charges, didn't get a PTD or PTI program, or plead guilty or any probation time to get the case dismissed. The records have been expunged as of 2018 june. I plan to visit India this December and will need Visa stamping done to re-enter US. As per forum, I understand there will be delays and problems getting stamped as well as at the POE.

My questions:

1) Has recently anyone been in same situation, got the visa stamped and was able to re-enter US?

       a) how much was the delay in getting the visa stamped? what was the total time line (# of days/weeks) for getting the passport back with visa stamped?

       b) what was your experience at the POE?

2) What documents were requested from you by the visa officer?

3) Did you get the FBI report, your criminal laywer explanation of case dismissal paper, case dismissal and expungement record.

Appreciate any/all responses.

1- No one can tell you approximate time. In general for criminal cases,  It will take about 2 weeks to any number of weeks for DOS/consulate to issue you a visa if the case was truely dismissed and no admission of guilt was ever recorded(in police reports or anywhere) . It is of paramount importance that you consult your case through a good immigration lawyer. A dismissed case in itself pose no threat beside delaying the issuance process for you. If granted a visa POE is not going to be an issue beside another delay of 10 mins to a couple of hours at secondary inspection. They are short staffed for early hours so you might have to wait out in secondary inspection area. POE in general will not be an issue if visa is granted.

2- Consulate can ask you a variety of documents along with a medical panel for cases and arrests in last 5 years. General documents requested are final disposition(case dismissed letter signed by judge in your case), initial charge, police report and court transcript. In general they will ask you final court disposition letter which supersedes everything. As yours is a dismissed case , a final disposition will be the only thing they will ask most probably. If they see any discrepancies they will ask you to provide police report  and/or initial charge and/or court transcripts (what happened on what date). However, you must carry notarized copies of all docs that you have pertaining to your criminal case.

3- You do not need a FBI report. The day you submit your fingerprints , DOS/consulate have your FBI records in a matter of seconds and attached to your DS160 file number. The next day when you are there for an interview, VO already knows and has your FBI file. They have direct access to FBI records. Call FBI the evening of your fingerprints or later after your interview and ask if somebody requested your ID records. They will tell you that DOS asked for it and they returned your ID records back to DOS in 6ish seconds. Getting a FBI record for US immigration is useless, all  immigration agencies already have it for you, if there are discrepancies, they will give you 221g and work on it themselves. FBI report provided by you doesn't matter to them. I would suggest to focus energy on positive things and be confident and stay truthful. That's the law, and everything else will fall in line if it has to 🙂 .

 

[Master Class]

Hi xTDX,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I replied earlier to your reply, but didn't get posted.

Since my case was expunged, I couldn't get a final disposition letter from court, but I have requested it again as an attempt to get it. But I ran my criminal history report for the purpose of immigration which are certified documents. The report has my case shown as dismissed and for"Final Pleading" section it reports as "unreported/or unknown", which I assume is a straight dismissal, since I didn't enter any plea bargain or program or a probation period.

I will take this report as my final disposition document.

Has any one recently done successful Visa stamping. I have my in Jan. Hoping will get Visa stamped without much delay.

Thanks.

[rssk]

On 12/3/2018 at 3:10 PM, Master Class said:

Hi xTDX,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I replied earlier to your reply, but didn't get posted.

Since my case was expunged, I couldn't get a final disposition letter from court, but I have requested it again as an attempt to get it. But I ran my criminal history report for the purpose of immigration which are certified documents. The report has my case shown as dismissed and for"Final Pleading" section it reports as "unreported/or unknown", which I assume is a straight dismissal, since I didn't enter any plea bargain or program or a probation period.

I will take this report as my final disposition document.

Has any one recently done successful Visa stamping. I have my in Jan. Hoping will get Visa stamped without much delay.

Thanks.

Do you have any update on your Visa stamping? If so can you elaborate on your experiences

[rssk]

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