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  1. #1

    Default Applying for US Citizenship

    In November 2004, I was arrested and issued a citation. The charge was retail theft, concealing merchandise with the intent of depriving the merchandise, which was wrong. I did not agree with the charge, so plead not guilty. The officer took my finger print and released me. I received a notice of trial summary case from district court in a week. I went to court on the scheduled date, nobody from the store showed up. The officer advised that store dropped the charge. The judge ruled as NOT GUILTY.
    I am preparing for citizenship application. I got a certified letter and disposition result from the district judge, they are in a sealed envelop. I can see from my own copy that it lists the description of the charge and disposition result (NG) , etc.

    My question is if this is enough, do I need to include other supporting documentation together with my application form?

    Will this incident play any negative impact on my citizenship application?

    I also need to answer question "Why were you arrested, cited, detained or charged", there are only a couple of lines of space on the application form, is it sufficient to just say that "I was stopped on my way to the registar and was accused of concealing the merchandise with intention of depriving it."

    Thank you for your information!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Applying for US Citizenship (Pennsylvania)

    Any encounter with the police can cast a shadow over an immigration application. A finding of "not guilty", though, removes a lot of that shadow. As you have documentation confirming your "not guilty" verdict, I don't know of any reason why you shouldn't submit a copy with your immigration forms where you have to describe police encounters.

    I don't want to tell you what to say on a form other than "the truth", as I don't know enough about the situation to advise you. If it were me, though, I would put a bare minimum amount of information to answer the question. So if I were picked upon a charge of concealing retail merchandise with intent to deprive, I would probably indicate, "Suspicion of concealing retail merchandise with intent to deprive".

  3. #3

    Default Re: Applying for US Citizenship (Pennsylvania)

    Thanks!
    Other than the judge letter and non-guilty disposition result form, do I need to include any other supporting documentation? I still have the citation from the officer, not certified, do I need to include a copy of that?

    Here is the situation, maybe others can learn a lesson from this
    I was at my lunch break. I went to a nearby grocery store to buy salad. Usually there are plenty of shopping baskets at the entrance. The store ran out of baskets on that day and I did not feel like getting a big cart for my lunch. I went in without a basket. I first got my salad, then went to pick up my soup which is on the other side of the store. So I was holding my salad box, soup. I picked up a small box of blueberry. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I saw boxes of chocolate on a stand next to the fruit stand, I though I could get one and put it on our office table to share with others because it was close to holiday season(Thanksgiving was a couple of days away). People at work always take turns to share candies or cookies by leaving them on the coffee table. So I put my salad box, soup, blueberry down on the candy stand, picked up the chocolate box I liked. I then realized that I had difficulties holding them all. So I plucked the chocolate box in my tiny little purse with a big portion of the box exposed outside. I then started to walk towards the registar to check out. I was stopped halfway by a girl, she asked me to follow her to the office and at that time I did not realize that she was about to accuse me of having the intention of stealing. Anyway, I stopped visiting that store after this because I really resented the way I was treated. For other stores, I always get myself a cart and leave everything on the cart. This is the lesson I learned.

    I guess there is no need for me to iterate this whole long incidence on my application form, correct?

    I surely hope the immigration officer won't misunderstand the situation and make a reasonable judgement on my case.

    Thanks again for your information

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Applying for US Citizenship (Pennsylvania)

    If you browse the forum you will see a number of highly similar scenarios by people who were stealing, and who felt that their actions (e.g., having the box stick out of a bag, purse or pocket) would give them plausible deniability. Pretty much any innocent excuse for something that might be mistaken for shoplifting has been exploited by shoplifters to the point that the initial reaction is likely to be disbelief.

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