My wife is a temporary perminant resident from China, and in October 2005 she was arrested for shoplifting (it was a felony, because the store claimed the value was over 300 USD).
She had a pre-trial intervention, did 40 hours of community service and spent 6 months on probation. After that, the charges were dropped.
The time has come to file the I-751. We know we have to admit to the arrest but our questions are:
1) what should we say in the explination? (Should we indicate that there was a pre-trial intervention, or should we just say that the charges were dropped?)
2) What kind of delays or further trouble is this likely to create?
Disappointed: With all due respect, you are entirely incorrect. I am not an expert on this particular subject, but I know that USCIS views the issue very seriously. The fact that your wife was on probation suggests that she either plead guilty or was found guilty.
In that event it is my understanding that USCIS will not take into account that the "charges were dropped." It is my opinion that your wife will - rightly - have a very difficult time in becoming a permanent resident.
Your wife will be fine as it is a new law on immigration. If her probation was more than 6 months it would have been a kind of problem. You even might ask an immigration attorney for this. I am pretty sure that you are not going to have any problem at all. I remember a case who had deferred probation for three months and got later her green card .
If she was given community hrs service and put on probation then the charges where not dropped. She was charged with something and it was a felony crime. Unfortunately, she is going to have a hard time with paperwork in addition to deportation. If it was a misdeamenor it would be different. Best of luck with everything.
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