Legal Question in Immigration Law in California

This is the deal: if your boyfriend entered the U.S. without inspection (illegally), then even if he marries you (a U.S. citizen) he will be required to return to his country and consular process -- that means he must return to his country, and enter after an interview at the U.S. Embassy in his country, and inspection when he enters at a port of entry. He cannot get his "green card" here in the United States even if he marries a citizen. At least not at this time. So, before he can become a U.S. Citizen he must be a lawful permanent resident; and the only way, at this time, is if he consular processes. If you need more help, just give my office a call and we can explain the entire process. Take care and good luck!

The hit and run is generally a crime of moral turpitude and makes him inadmissible, however, he might qualify for the petty offense exception in the case where the maximum penalty possible for the crime doesn't exceed imprisonment for a year and he was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment more than six months. . It is possible that the conviction is a "wobbler", meaning that it could have been either a misdameanor or felony and this could be determined by looking at the record. Also, if the statute he was convicted under is "divisible" including aspects that involve moral turpitude and those that don't, then he would not have been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude. He will have to overcome inadmissibility based on conviction ion of a crime of moral turpitude in some fashion and without looking at the record carefully, it's not possible to yet know. Finally, he is not deportable due to one moral turpitude conviction (he'd have to have two for that), but he would be for entry without inspection.

Additionally, assuming he has been in the U.S. illegally for more than 180 days, he will have to qualify for a waiver of inadmissibility for "unlawful presence," which by definition occurred after his illegal entry passed by 180 days. If he has been here since his unlawful entry for less than a year, then he is inadmissible for three years. If he has been here since his unlawful entry for a year or more, then he is inadmissible for 10 years. This too can be overlooked ("waived") by a showing of extreme hardship to you and/or his U.S. citizen or permanent resident parents. If you have children, that adds to your hardship in the event he were forced to live apart from you or you and your children were forced to move to his home country in order to remain together.

Please feel free to contact me for more information at 818 609 1953 or [email protected]. The above is for your information and doesn't form an attorney client relationship. I look forward to the opportunity of doing so.

Sincerely,