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I'm an F1 student visa. I was arrested in 2012 for a misdemeanor (soliciting a prostitute) when I was completing my MA. This incident, which I still regret it very much to this moment, has been dropped by the court after I did 40 hours of community services in 2013. Note, after that incident, I returned back to my country for a vacation and returned back to the U.S. in Washington airport. The US Customs at that time transferred me to a secluded big hall. And another officer, after waiting two hours, asked me about this incident. And I answered him truthfully. He allowed me to check in the US border. This was after I finished my community services and before the case was dropped.

When I applied for another F1 visa for my PhD studies I was refused (under 214b section) at first, but after a long battle with embassy consulate officer I finally convinced them and I got approved.

My concern is I got married and my wife has no idea about this incident and I'm afraid that an officer might ask me the same question in front of her about this incident cause I love my wife so much and I don't want to lose her.

Do you think I'm going to be asked this question if I come to the US? And if yes, can anyone suggest something so I can protect my marriage?

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    @Flimzy it's more about the us border questions as a traveller, not sure the type of visa matters - it's more if they're going to ask him about his misdemeanor
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 13:39
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    I assume you meant “soliciting a prostitute”. @Flimzy Basically the OP isn't really concerned about being able to enter, expatriation or anything like that but about the whole incident being revealed to his wife during routine questioning at the US border.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 13:53
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    This question is much more about marital counselling than it is about travel.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 14:01
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    I don't think we do relationship advice here, but I'd probably just tell her what happened. It'll be less embarrassing.
    – jamessug
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 15:14
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    What jamessug said. Also, does your wife use the internet? Might she Google your name?
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Oct 2, 2015 at 16:15

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This may be difficult. Your record is probably flagged by immigration and likely to pop up when the first level immigration officer scans your visa. It's in the discretion of the office how to proceed but it's not unlikely that she/he will ask you about it or, even worse, send you to secondary inspection.

I used to go to secondary inspection a lot because I was on a status that was called "Advanced Parole" (not kidding). It is not a nice place. I have seen some fairly disturbing things there and the word "discreet" does not rank very highly in the vocabulary of the officers working there.

The chances that you can get into the US without this coming up are fairly low.

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