- This is immigration attorney Parviz Malakouti
and in this video,
I wanna talk about a really common issue that comes up.
It came up again for me last week in an inquiry
and that was from a gentleman who had a green card
and unfortunately got a criminal conviction
several years ago.
He called me wanting to know if he could naturalize,
if he could apply for citizenship,
and he scheduled a consultation,
we spoke about that,
but I brought up another issue
which is as important, if not more important,
and that is basically whether the conviction,
first and foremost, makes him removable.
So let me back up for a second, okay?
So somebody who has a green card wants, of course, normally,
to progress to naturalization, become a citizen,
and not have to deal with any immigration issues again.
Totally understand that that's important
and we deal with that,
but it's always, always important
to remember that when we're thinking
about how to play offense
by getting that naturalization,
first we have to make sure that we're playing defense
and we don't submit an application
or come on the radar of immigration in such a way
that we lose what we already have,
in this case, a green card, okay?
So if you are somebody that has a green card
and you had a conviction before,
the first step before thinking about
whether you're gonna qualify for naturalization
is to make sure that you're not removable first, okay?
Removability is addressed
in the Immigration and Nationality Act in Section 237
and Section 237 lists all the different grounds
for which somebody can be removable,
which means for which they can be subject to deportation,
aka removal from the United States.
So when somebody comes to us who has a green card,
wants to apply for naturalization,
we have to do a several part analysis, okay?
And you should be doing this as well,
at least on your own,
before you consult with an immigration attorney
just to try to get a little bit of an idea
of what's going on, okay?
So the first part is we want to see whether this conviction
makes the person ineligible for naturalization.
A lot of people know
that one of the requirements for naturalization
is that you have to have shown good moral character
within the last five years.
A lot of people think that that means
that if the conviction is outside of the five years
that it cannot be considered at all by Immigration
when you submit a naturalization application.
That is false, okay?
So our first step is, A, what are the chances
that this person is eligible for naturalization?
B, does the conviction make the person removable, okay?
This is super, super critical.
It's usually not something
that can be answered quickly on the telephone.
It usually requires a more in-depth analysis
by an attorney who's familiar
with what's called crimmigration,
which is basically a combination
of immigration law and criminal law.
So the second analysis is,
does that conviction make the person removable?
The third analysis is,
is there any type of post-conviction relief available
for a person that has that conviction?
What do I mean by post-conviction relief?
I mean basically some sort of relief from the court
which erases or undos,
excuse me, undoes, not undos,
that previous conviction.
Usually what people think about
when they think of post-conviction relief is expungement,
and expungement has a little bit
of a different meaning in different states,
depending on which state you're in.
Here in California,
usually an expungement is not going to assist
for immigration purposes, okay?
It's usually gonna take something more than an expungement,
like, for example, a vacatur,
what we call a vacatur,
a dismissal based on the merits
of the criminal process you went through,
not just an expungement,
which is usually something that is accessible
when somebody shows that they've been doing good
since the conviction, okay?
So these are the three analyses that need to be done, okay?
First, are you eligible for naturalization?
Two, does the criminal conviction make you removable?
And three, especially if the conviction makes you removable,
is there any post-conviction relief available
so that you can ameliorate the effects of that conviction
and hopefully be able to progress to naturalization, okay?
The fourth analysis, actually,
is if you take the risk and apply for naturalization
and if you end up in removal proceedings,
which is not something that we want,
but if you do,
what remedies are available to you, okay?
Some people are gonna have a higher likelihood
of having certain remedies available to them
if they end up in removal proceedings
and some are not, okay?
And it's really important to know that fourth part
because that will inform
whether you feel it's worth it for you
to take that risk to apply for naturalization, right?
Obviously somebody who might have to risk
being put in removal proceedings,
but if they have a ground of,
excuse me, a ground of relief in removal proceedings,
it's more likely that person's
gonna feel comfortable going forward
and taking with the chance with a naturalization application
versus somebody who might find out
that they don't really have a strong ground of relief
if they get put in removal proceedings, okay?
So that's it for this video.
If you have a green card
and you're thinking about applying for naturalization
with a previous criminal conviction,
do not go at it alone, okay?
You need to have at least a consultation
with a qualified immigration attorney,
if not actually being represented
by an immigration attorney.
So that's my advice for today.
Hope it goes well for you. Stay safe.