关于arrest/conviction history对绿卡申请影响的个人理解 – 仅针对我老公家暴的案例

来源: 换个马甲说伤心事 于 2010-07-28 07:54:08 [] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 阅读数 : (6092 bytes)

关于arrest/conviction history对绿卡申请影响的个人理解 – 仅针对我老公家暴的案例

去年春天老公对我动手，因为不是第一次，且以前我已经警告过他，这次我义无反顾地拨了911，之后的发展就超出了我的控制范围。警察逮补了我老公，随后指控他一级assault，因为我当时有六个月身孕的关系。说真话，我是觉得没有这次历险他将来一定会再动手，但是也只是希望他得个教训而不至于真得要去坐牢。所以一听罪名严重有坐牢五到七年的可能也吓坏了。后来请了律师，其中又历经了颇多曲折，最后终于遇到了一个好法官，把这个案子dismiss了。但是由于2007年7月我们交上了485申请，所以这其中之后又有不少移民局这边的麻烦，我详细说说目前为止我收集的信息及我的理解，只谈相关的情况，其他多次犯案或者案情不同的就不说了。

根据INA 212 (a) (2)，Criminal and related grounds.-


(A) Conviction of certain crimes.-


(i) In general.-Except as provided in clause (ii), any alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of-


(I) a crime involving moral turpitude (other than a purely political offense or an attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime), or


(II) a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.


(ii) Exception.-Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if-


(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or


(II) the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted (or which the alien admits having committed or of which the acts that the alien admits having committed constituted the essential elements) did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed).


所以如果有conviction，并且罪名是有关moral turpitude，那就要看能不能用exception – 如果犯案是在18岁之前并且已过去5年了，或者被控罪名的最高刑罚不超过一年牢狱之灾，并且实际坐牢时间不超过半年，就应该不会影响绿卡。

但是什么是conviction? 大家在上面212条例也看到了，不光是convicted of, 还可以是admits having committed， 或者 admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of 这种crime。所以也吓了我们一跳。那我老公跟警察承认动手推过我，算不算呢？再查。定义是，The term "conviction" means, with respect to an alien, a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld, where--
(i) a judge or jury has found the alien guilty or the alien has entered a plea of
guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding
of guilt, and
(ii) the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on
the alien's liberty to be imposed.

看到这里，还是很害怕，我老公算不算has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt呢？又查，好像不算。那个也是法律专用的正式行为，也要有法官念一堆包括对immigration有影响的warning，也要正式公开的明确地承认犯了sufficient facts。

再看下去，A police report cannot be used by INS to prove removability。我老公唯一承认动手推我的时候就是在警察报告里，在法庭上从没人提过问过。所以应该不算。

最后，什么算moral turpitude， 这个好像比较难办，要具体事件具体分析。我只找到这些 –

The term "crime involving moral turpitude" is not defined by statute, but has been developed in the case law. A CIMT:
refers generally to conduct which is inherently base, vile, or depraved, and
contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed between
persons or to society in general . . . Moral turpitude has been defined as an
act which is per se morally reprehensible and intrinsically wrong, or
malum in se so it is the nature of the act itself and not the statutory

wikipedia上有一个详细的列表，不知道准确度怎样。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude

因为我老公没有conviction，我就没有细细研究moral turpitude这个定义了，但是基本上domestic violence应该都算有moral turpitude的问题，所以要没有conviction或者符合exception那两条中的一条才可以松口气吧。

题外话再说说有pending criminal case的情况下出入海关的问题。我老公去国外出差比较多，当时不得已也用H1b travel了几次，幸好前几次都只是在扫完指纹后被叫到小屋里去做secondary inspection，最后也都给放进来了，只是最后有一次被人拦住扣了护照，给了deferred inspection通知，要等案件了解才能去deferred inspection 申请拿回护照。现在回想，其实前几次都是侥幸，因为根据移民法212 条例，当时pending的案件结果如有不同可能会导致他inadmissible，所以才需要deferred inspection，一旦案情发展不利，得个conviction，deferred inspection会认为他inadmissible从而会开始remove他的process。 幸好最后拿了法庭的final disposition去顺利拿回了护照。现在想到也是后怕得很。

不太明白的就是，当时如果拿了AP离境再入境会不会不查指纹从而避免deferred inspection呢？我老公的移民律师认为用H1B更好，但也说不出理由，通过最近这两年打交道，我觉得这个律师基本什么都不懂。也许用AP会更好也说不定。

现在拿了7月底重打指纹和8月底去485面试的通知，查了一下排期快到了，也许是好事吧。我认为去年案子结束之后deferred inspection已经确认了他是admissible的，但是他的移民律师认为被据风险很大，正像去年收到移民局RFE案件材料的时候也被她吓得半死一样，最后把RFE的材料寄回去就没事了。希望这次也能顺利通过。

题外话最后一句，在一个印度人的面试里他说移民官提到不用害怕，如果你符合被抵解出境的条件我们不会等到现在还没行动的。。。希望等到了面试，就意味着符合被留下的条件，只要面试时候顺利。等面试好我会再上来写一下经过，除非面试不顺利，那我就得忙着卖房子离开美国，就不一定有空来写了。。。祝有伤心往事的人都有一个重新开始的机会！

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