Legal Question in Immigration Law in Florida

Re: misdemeanor charge -effect on immigration

You should do everything possible to get the charges in Florida dropped. Your attention should be focused on winning that charge in Florida. It is a serious mistake to worry about how to "get around" a misdemeanor conviction. You need to put all of your energy and effort (and even money) into WINNING on that misdemeanor charge. This is NOT the time to skimp.

If your wife is convicted of a misdemeanor of stealing, which is what the INS (CIS) calls "moral turpitude," this CAN be a serious problem in her eventual green card, if you receive your green card. It may not totally stop her immigration status, but it can be a problem.

So it would not be smart to do little in Florida and then spend a lot of work trying to "fix" it later. FIX IT NOW. Get a not-guilty or the charges dropped. If that means your wife traveling to Florida to fight it, you should do that.

However, most of the time, prosecutors will want to "cut a deal" in which you plead GUILTY but don't have any penalty or very little penalty. However, this is still a GUILTY plea to a misdeanor charge of stealing. Therefore, the easy way of resolving most charges (cutting a deal) could be very harmful for her immigration status.

Sometimes you can get a suspended sentence, which means that if she does not have another violation in (for example) one year, the charges are dropped.

Re: misdemeanor charge -effect on immigration

One can never render such advice over the Internet as all is case specific and I would need to see the disposition, statute, etc. There is a small chance your wife is inadmissible to this country, but probably not deportable. That means she could not leave and try to reenter. Email if you need to hire an immigration attorney: [email protected].