I live in Washington, DC but years ago (around 1990) I was involved in a little fracas in Boston, MA and although I was never arrested I was charged with Assault and Battery, charges that were eventually dropped by the court. Now USCIS is asking, as part of my N-400 application for Naturalization, for a letter from either the police department or the court regarding the disposition. The following is the actual text from the USCIS request: "Furnish certified copy of arrest reports and court dispositions for all arrests. *If the arrest report and/or court disposition are listed as No Record, you must provide a Certified letter from the issuing authority (police department and/or court) stating so; this letter must also indicate that a misdemeanor and felony records search were both conducted.** Your arrest(s) are listed as follows: Assault and Battery, approx. 8/5/1990, Boston, Massachusetts." How do I go about obtaining such document? I need advice from a Boston, MA immigration lawyer. Thanks.
Your best option is to contact the court yourself or to find an immigration or criminal defense attorney in Boston that can get it on your behalf to send to you to provide to USCIS.
Good luck!
You should engage the services of a criminal defense attorney in your area. The lawyer can guide you through the process. However, if you know the court where the case was heard, you can call the clerk at that court and ask how you can get access to court records. Good luck.
While an attorney licensed in any jurisdiction can represent you with regards to an N-400, you should seek a local attorney who can help you obtain these documents. Attorneys on cannot solicit clients over the internet. What you can do is contact the Massachusetts State Bar and they can either refer you or send you to a local county bar association to obain an attorney.
Alexander Joseph SegalImmigration AttorneyNew York, NYNY licensed ·
Immigration attorney are not jurisdiction specific since it is a federal branch of the law. However, if you need an immigration attorney located in Boston, please use the Find a Lawyer feature above, limit your search to Boston and immigration and give a call to several attorneys. Pay for the consultation and have a chat. You can also use the ailalawyer.org search provided by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
You can get an advice from any experienced immigration attorney. What I would strongly suggest is going for an actual consult with an attorney. An attorney would need to know whether you were forthcoming with information about your criminal record or not. If you were not you truly need the help of an attorney before proceeding further
Obtaining the record is a matter of physically going to the court. But giving that the charges were dropped and the date, it's possible that the arrest and indictment might not be available.So call first. If that turns out to be the case than you should ask the clerk to issue you a certified letter stating so. The clerk phone numbers are all online. Additionally, N-400s are tricky and I do not recommend going through the process without the assistance of an immigration attorney.
