YES or NO on DS160 on quesn "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any crime, even though subject of a pardon, amnesty?" on an expunged case?

[mahabs]

Hi,

I pleaded GUILTY to a C CLass MisDemeanor in 2005. The actual charge was a A class Misdemeanor of Poss of a gambling device which was reduced to acC Class MisDmnr. I pleaded guilty because my lawyer told me that C Class MisDemnr has no impact and is like a parking ticket. However I got this case opened again in 2011 and got all the charges dismissed and the record expunged in the state of TEXAS in 2012. Recently, Feb 20013 I got back ground checks(sent finger prints) done on myself by FBI, State Of Texas and State of Virginia(live here) and they all came back stating that NO ARREST RECORD was found. My question is since the BK checks came all Negative, can I say NO to the question on DS-160.

By saying YES, am I not shooting myself in foot cause I have to explain to the visa officer what happened?

The whole point of expungement was to avoid the embarrassing question/answer session that follow when you say you are arrested. Isn't it? Expungement legally means that a person can deny that they were ever arrested? Isn't it? Then why should I say that I was ever arrested when there is no record of it.

I called up the state of texas DPS and FBI and they said the same thing, there are absolutely no records of any arrest.

So my question is, why should I say YES in DS-160 when I am legally entitled to say NO every where else? Please advise.

Thanks.

[test_litmus]

Its tricky here.Since you were fingerprinted and you were an allien,your case would hav been communicated to the DHS(offline) to validate if your presense in the country is legal,in which case DHS can possibly know your case.

But the thing is class c misdemnor is punifhable by fine only in tx,hence this gives the relif

email me we can discuss furthur on this.

[test_litmus]

general saying is expungement does not work for immigration

[t75]

Expungement does not apply to immigration. Do not lie about it. You MUST say yes. Lie and be found out and you will face a possible lifetime ban.

[t75]

Furthermore, you should tell the truth because it is the morally right thing to do.

[Attorney_23]

This is actually very simple. Have you ever been arrested? I am assuming the answer is yes. Even if you were not actually arrested, you pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Either way, the answer to the question on the DS160 is clearly yes.

[ncheaib]

What did you end up answering and how did it go ?

[z1c5]

Hi,

I pleaded GUILTY to a C CLass MisDemeanor in 2005. The actual charge was a A class Misdemeanor of Poss of a gambling device which was reduced to acC Class MisDmnr. I pleaded guilty because my lawyer told me that C Class MisDemnr has no impact and is like a parking ticket. However I got this case opened again in 2011 and got all the charges dismissed and the record expunged in the state of TEXAS in 2012. Recently, Feb 20013 I got back ground checks(sent finger prints) done on myself by FBI, State Of Texas and State of Virginia(live here) and they all came back stating that NO ARREST RECORD was found. My question is since the BK checks came all Negative, can I say NO to the question on DS-160.

By saying YES, am I not shooting myself in foot cause I have to explain to the visa officer what happened?

The whole point of expungement was to avoid the embarrassing question/answer session that follow when you say you are arrested. Isn't it? Expungement legally means that a person can deny that they were ever arrested? Isn't it? Then why should I say that I was ever arrested when there is no record of it.

I called up the state of texas DPS and FBI and they said the same thing, there are absolutely no records of any arrest.

So my question is, why should I say YES in DS-160 when I am legally entitled to say NO every where else? Please advise.

Thanks.

So what did u end up doing?