The Supreme Court will issue its decision on President Obama’s executive action for immigrants within the next 13 days. Whether you think you qualify for DACA+ or DAPA, here is something you should do if you had certain problems with the police.
If you have ever been arrested, even if the charges against you were later dropped, you’ll need to obtain a certificate of disposition for your case. This will tell the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) what you were arrested for and what happened in the case. It will say if you were convicted, if the charges were reduced, or if you were found “not guilty.” The application will not be processed by DHS if you have been arrested and don’t submit the certificate of disposition.
In New York, these certificates are relatively simple forms that you can obtain from the court that had jurisdiction over your case. Don’t mix them up with a “police good conduct letter.” Only the courts issue these certificates.
Be sure to obtain a certificate of disposition for each time that you were arrested or summoned to court. The certificate will indicate when you were arrested, when you went to court, whether you were convicted or not, what you were charged with and/or convicted of, and what your punishment was, if any. You can get the certificate of disposition by going to the court and paying a fee, which in New York State is $10.
For information on how to get a Certificate of Disposition clickHERE.
If you were arrested outside of New York State you will need to consult the court where your case was heard to find out how to obtain the certificate.
Sometimes people may lie about their name when they get arrested. They think they are safe from discovery, but when they apply for an immigration benefit they are fingerprinted and that lie will come back to haunt them. That is why it is important to obtain a certificate of disposition before you apply for any immigration benefit.
Because these are cheap to obtain, they are good for you to pick up even before the Supreme Court makes its decision.
