Korean Job Discussion Forums

[akcrono]

Long story short, I was arrested in 2003 for something my friend did (a bunch of us were arrested together). My friend admitted to it, and the case was dismissed on my end. I have seen plenty of discussion about arrests preventing people from renewing an E-2 visa (which I am currently on).

I'm with an amazing girl right now and want to stick around to see if we work out. I'm wondering what legal means I can use to stay in the country.

1) Would an arrest with no conviction prevent me from getting that new point system visa (F-5 I believe it is)?
2) Would an arrest with no conviction prevent me from getting an F-2 visa if we got married.
3) Would an arrest with no conviction prevent me from getting employment assuming I do get a visa?
4) Would an immigration lawyer help in any way?


I feel like I'm guilty until proven innocent here (the dismissal basically says "innocent" already). I feel I'm a strong teacher and it's not good for anyone I'm denied a visa for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[nathanrutledge]

What does your FBI check say? How did you get here in the first place if your state CBC had this on it? Did you actually get entered into the system?

First, FBI reports ONLY contain whatever information local authorities forward to them. So if you got busted for cow tipping or smashing mailboxes, it probably wouldn't even get forwarded. By law (or actually by bribery and inducement by the feds), the only crimes that are required to be reported to the FBI are the eight Part 1 offenses - murder/negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, arson, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft, and auto theft. If it wasn't one of those crimes, then the odds of it getting reported go down dramatically.

Of course, this does depend on jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions report everything, and it all goes on there. Some only report those particular ones. The rest are somewhere in the middle. If you're from a right-leaning state, you've got a better chance of not having anything there. If you're from California, game over son.

Second, even if something is there, if it's only an arrest as you say it is, you can have that removed from the record. It takes a bit of work, but it's doable.

Long story short, if you haven't been convicted, you should be fine. You MAY have some legwork to do to get everything squared away, but you can do it.

[akcrono]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Bascially if any arrests show up on your CBC, you are likely to be denied a visa.

[akcrono]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[r122925]

First, have you actually obtained an FBI check yet? Does the arrest actually show up? The arrest may be there, but as others have said, there's also a very good chance that it won't. Get the check done first before you freak out.

The FBI check is only required for the E-2 visa. If it does show up you won't be able to get an E-2 visa.

For the F-2, currently no background check is required. You can have an arrest record a mile long and immigration will never know about it. However, it appears that new rules are being put into place by the ministry of education to require F visa holders to submit an FBI record check in order to teach. As an F-2 holder you may not be able to teach if this arrest shows up on your record. But you would still likely be able to do just about any other job. Also, these rules are brand new and no one really knows how it's going to work yet. They may be smart enough to look past an arrest that did not lead to a conviction, they might not.

In the long run if you ever apply for an F-5 or to become a naturalized Korean citizen a background check is preformed. However, you don't submit this yourself. Immigration will forward your information to the Korean consulate in your home country who will try to dig up whatever information they can about you. It's unclear exactly what sort of check is done, and it likely varies by country. This arrest may or may not show up at that time, and may or may not cause problems for you if it does.

[jeronimoski]

[T-J]

Previous post is full of wrong information.

Background checks are performed for an F-2 visa. There are no "new" MOE rules. The recent legislation simply holds employers responsible for verifying current requirements.

Dave's. Nuff said...

[jeronimoski]

Which post? Mine? I don't think so.

And yes, there is a rumor going around that F-2 and F-5 visa holders may be required to submit CBC and diplomas from their country of origin to the MOE. Check the other threads on this. While it's still a rumor, it may become law.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[jeronimoski]

Of course you do. Check my post. They may now be required for the MOE. That stands for Ministry of Education if you didn't know clearly enough. So no, it does not affect your residency. It affects your ability to work in a teaching job....if they change the law and require F series holders to submit apostilled CRC and university diploma TO the MOE.

[hagwonnewbie]

contact an attorney from the state in which you were arrested. Ask them about having the arrest expunged.

You can probably get it expunged by petitioning the court yourself. Then your FBI CBC would be cleared. Every state is different.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Dodge7]