Citizenship App: I Have Misdemeanor Arrests, but FBI Rap Sheet Shows No Record
I've been a permanent resident alien almost all my life and I want to apply for citizenship. I live in Kansas with a good job and a family. However, I have a handful of arrests behind me, all more than 5 years ago, nothing more serious than misdemeanors, and nothing involving spousal abuse or habitual drinking. One of them resulted in a short city jail stay for "shock time".
Wanting to know what INS/Homeland Security would know before I applied, I got fingerprinted at my city police station and submitted the form and cover letter to the FBI to obtain my official "rap sheet".
To my surprise, it just came back completely clean, no arrests on record. I've never had anything expunged, although the most recent conviction is undergoing the process of being expunged.
My question is, is this the same criminal background check INS/Homeland Security uses? Will I come back "clean" as far as they're concerned? I'd rather not list out arrests on my application because most of them are over 10 years old and a couple of them are rather difficult for me to discuss in detail, but I don't want to get hosed for witholding information.
Guidance is much appreciated.
Re: Citizenship App: I Have Misdemeanor Arrests, but FBI Rap Sheet Shows No Record
If you lie about your criminal history and are caught, you had best have your bags packed.