My experience in getting my H1B stamped with a dismissed misdemeanor charge

[chackraj]

On November 2017 my wife and me charged by the local police for misdemeanor child abuse for leaving our children home alone for 25 minutes. What started off triggered a fusillade of events. We decided to consult a criminal lawyer for the case. He recommended a 30 hour pre-trial diversion and after completion will try to dismiss the case. We completed the course by end of March 2018 and the case was dismissed a week later. The record was expunged by July 2018.

                By then I had planned for going to India . The one lingering question on our minds was whether our H1-B visa would be stamped at the US consulate for us to come back to the US. We decided to consult a local immigration lawyer. Unfortunately the lawyer was still learning his trade and was not able to answer my questions completely. The only good piece of advice he gave was that I should carry all documents of the case for my stamping. The issue was getting more complicated because an immigration lawyer usually does not deal with criminal cases and vice versa.

                I spent at least a couple of hours on internet each day to see what is to be  done. Finally ,I decided to consult Murthy via phone to get a second advice. The lawyer from Murthy advised me that while there is a fair chance that my visa might get rejected, the presence of a criminal record alone in my case should not be a cause for rejection at least for this time.

At this point of time after two consulting sessions, I must say that the cost of each consult was expensive, but I had no choice but to spend money after having such a misfortune as a criminal case over my head.

I went to India in Mar 2019 and finally the d-day arrived. I went to the consulate along with my family. The officer had a few simple questions on the nature of job and the position and the type  of work that I was doing. When he moved to the page of DS-160 where my criminal records were mentioned, he started questioning me on the facts of the case. He asked me a specific question on my brush up with law enforcement.

I said the following “Sir, me and wife were charged with misdemeanor child abuse for leaving our children home alone for 25 minutes. We did  a pretrial diversion and the case was dismissed. The record was also expunged.”. On hearing this the officer gave me a blue slip saying asking for more information. I provided the information via email given. The officer retained our passports.

I saw from some websites that the blue slip processing could take upto 6 weeks. So settled for the wait, however was pleasantly surprised when an email asking for passports to be collected came in 2 weeks. I was still apprehensive of the result, but was elated after my wife confirmed that the visa sticker was on the passports.

                I have been wanting to pen this for a couple of months now, however was procrastinating due a variety of factors. I also know that this is not the happily ever after ending for my story, but the start of a series of tiring and intensive challenges if I want to continue to stay in the US. Hopefully this gives some light for people who never willfully committed a crime, but were charged due to lack of knowledge of the law and who are in this country on a visa.

[sharmaa12]

Hi Chackraj,

Thanks a lot for sharing your post. I was wondering if kindly you would share what documents you were required to email them? I am in a similar situation going for stamping soon, this would really help me.

Thanks 

[Kr2019]

Thanks for your post

[rkakani8j378b]

On 9/5/2019 at 7:06 AM, chackraj said:

On November 2017 my wife and me charged by the local police for misdemeanor child abuse for leaving our children home alone for 25 minutes. What started off triggered a fusillade of events. We decided to consult a criminal lawyer for the case. He recommended a 30 hour pre-trial diversion and after completion will try to dismiss the case. We completed the course by end of March 2018 and the case was dismissed a week later. The record was expunged by July 2018.

 

                By then I had planned for going to India . The one lingering question on our minds was whether our H1-B visa would be stamped at the US consulate for us to come back to the US. We decided to consult a local immigration lawyer. Unfortunately the lawyer was still learning his trade and was not able to answer my questions completely. The only good piece of advice he gave was that I should carry all documents of the case for my stamping. The issue was getting more complicated because an immigration lawyer usually does not deal with criminal cases and vice versa.

 

                I spent at least a couple of hours on internet each day to see what is to be  done. Finally ,I decided to consult Murthy via phone to get a second advice. The lawyer from Murthy advised me that while there is a fair chance that my visa might get rejected, the presence of a criminal record alone in my case should not be a cause for rejection at least for this time.

 

At this point of time after two consulting sessions, I must say that the cost of each consult was expensive, but I had no choice but to spend money after having such a misfortune as a criminal case over my head.

 

I went to India in Mar 2019 and finally the d-day arrived. I went to the consulate along with my family. The officer had a few simple questions on the nature of job and the position and the type  of work that I was doing. When he moved to the page of DS-160 where my criminal records were mentioned, he started questioning me on the facts of the case. He asked me a specific question on my brush up with law enforcement.

 

I said the following “Sir, me and wife were charged with misdemeanor child abuse for leaving our children home alone for 25 minutes. We did  a pretrial diversion and the case was dismissed. The record was also expunged.”. On hearing this the officer gave me a blue slip saying asking for more information. I provided the information via email given. The officer retained our passports.

 

I saw from some websites that the blue slip processing could take upto 6 weeks. So settled for the wait, however was pleasantly surprised when an email asking for passports to be collected came in 2 weeks. I was still apprehensive of the result, but was elated after my wife confirmed that the visa sticker was on the passports.

                I have been wanting to pen this for a couple of months now, however was procrastinating due a variety of factors. I also know that this is not the happily ever after ending for my story, but the start of a series of tiring and intensive challenges if I want to continue to stay in the US. Hopefully this gives some light for people who never willfully committed a crime, but were charged due to lack of knowledge of the law and who are in this country on a visa.

 

Chakraj, Thank you for sharing your experience. We are currently in the similar situation, working with our criminal attorney to get the case dismissed. Your experience gave me so much hope and relief, so I truly appreciate for sharing this. Can you please let me know, what documents you provided for 221(g)? And what other issues have you faced so far in your immigration journey. For example: Port of Entry? I-485 petition? etc.

Edited January 11, 2021 by rkakani8j378b
spell mistake.