Citizenship - Arrest questions

[cougar]

I had received a citation for not renewing tags and I forgot to attend court (no real excuse, just forgot).

Couple of months later I was arrested for not attending the court. My wife paid the bail (essentially money covering fine and court costs) and got me out in less than 2 hours.

Here are the questions I need help answering c:
23. Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer.
Answer: YES

28. A. Have you EVER been in jail or Prison?
I guess YES, based on above answer
28. B. How long were you in jail or prison. It has only fields corresponding to Years, Months and Days.
I spend less than 2 hours. What should I answer?

16, Were you EVER a worker, volunteer, or soldier, or did you otherwise EVER serve in (A) Prison or Jail.
Should I answer YES

Regarding Outcome of the arrest, I pleaded guilty and paid all the fines. What is the appropriate answer for "Outcome or disposition of arrest"?

[SuperSanta]

I'm pretty sure you're misreading question 16. It asks if you were ever a prison or jail GUARD. Those questions are designed to establish if you were ever in a situation which could have resulted in human rights violations or abuses. So unless you have been employed by a jail or prison, NO for 16.

I'd likely say:

23: YES
24: YES
25: YES
26: Depends on the punishment. Fines only likely NO.
27: Depends on the punishment. Fines only likely NO.
28: YES. 1 day.
29: Likely want to list two "crimes" (the original citation and the failure to appear). Outcome should be the amount you had to pay on each one (e.g. "FINE ($300)" would likely be acceptable). The 2 hours in jail isn't a punishment in and of itself, since it wasn't handed down by a judge, unless you received "time served" in which case it is effectively (but in a confusing backwards way).

Keep in mind that if this happened in the last 3 or 5 years (for US spouse/non-US spouse respectively) you could fail the Good Moral Character test. It will be up to the individual interviewing officer to make that determination. Nobody can tell you what they will likely determine as some interviewing officers are far more strict than others. But if that occurs you'd only lose your application fee, you could re-apply after the 5 years since the arrest had elapsed.

You'll almost certainly need to provide either the original documents detailing your arrest OR court-certified copies, which most courts charge for. If you fail to provide these it could delay your application.

You should review USCIS's manual on Good Moral Character here:

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartF.html

[cougar]

I'm pretty sure you're misreading question 16. It asks if you were ever a prison or jail GUARD. Those questions are designed to establish if you were ever in a situation which could have resulted in human rights violations or abuses. So unless you have been employed by a jail or prison, NO for 16.

...

Thank you very much for your insightful response.

[suziq38]

Super santa,
I am interested as I have a student with a similar problem.

Does the 5 year time limit apply to the word "ever" in the question?
I thought "ever" meant "ever in your life."

My student has had an arrest 15 years ago and was in jail for a couple of hours due to a fight. All charges were dismissed, and he was cleared.

A lawyer would charge over $1000.00, so my student wants to apply and take his chances without one.

What do you think?
Thank you!

[inadmissible]

On the form, EVER means EVER

Naturalization applicants don't need the assistance of an attorney if they can completely answer all the questions on their own

[suziq38]

Thank you, inadmissible!