關於arrest/conviction history對綠卡申請影響的個人理解 – 僅針對我老公家暴的案例
去年春天老公對我動手，因為不是第一次，且以前我已經警告過他，這次我義無反顧地撥了911，之後的發展就超出了我的控製範圍。警察逮補了我老公，隨後指控他一級assault，因為我當時有六個月身孕的關係。說真話，我是覺得沒有這次曆險他將來一定會再動手，但是也隻是希望他得個教訓而不至於真得要去坐牢。所以一聽罪名嚴重有坐牢五到七年的可能也嚇壞了。後來請了律師，其中又曆經了頗多曲折，最後終於遇到了一個好法官，把這個案子dismiss了。但是由於2007年7月我們交上了485申請，所以這其中之後又有不少移民局這邊的麻煩，我詳細說說目前為止我收集的信息及我的理解，隻談相關的情況，其他多次犯案或者案情不同的就不說了。
根據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，並且罪名是有關moral turpitude，那就要看能不能用exception – 如果犯案是在18歲之前並且已過去5年了，或者被控罪名的最高刑罰不超過一年牢獄之災，並且實際坐牢時間不超過半年，就應該不會影響綠卡。
但是什麽是conviction? 大家在上麵212條例也看到了，不光是convicted of, 還可以是admits having committed， 或者 admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of 這種crime。所以也嚇了我們一跳。那我老公跟警察承認動手推過我，算不算呢？再查。定義是，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.
看到這裏，還是很害怕，我老公算不算has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt呢？又查，好像不算。那個也是法律專用的正式行為，也要有法官念一堆包括對immigration有影響的warning，也要正式公開的明確地承認犯了sufficient facts。
再看下去，A police report cannot be used by INS to prove removability。我老公唯一承認動手推我的時候就是在警察報告裏，在法庭上從沒人提過問過。所以應該不算。
最後，什麽算moral turpitude， 這個好像比較難辦，要具體事件具體分析。我隻找到這些 –
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上有一個詳細的列表，不知道準確度怎樣。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude
因為我老公沒有conviction，我就沒有細細研究moral turpitude這個定義了，但是基本上domestic violence應該都算有moral turpitude的問題，所以要沒有conviction或者符合exception那兩條中的一條才可以鬆口氣吧。
題外話再說說有pending criminal case的情況下出入海關的問題。我老公去國外出差比較多，當時不得已也用H1b travel了幾次，幸好前幾次都隻是在掃完指紋後被叫到小屋裏去做secondary inspection，最後也都給放進來了，隻是最後有一次被人攔住扣了護照，給了deferred inspection通知，要等案件了解才能去deferred inspection 申請拿回護照。現在回想，其實前幾次都是僥幸，因為根據移民法212 條例，當時pending的案件結果如有不同可能會導致他inadmissible，所以才需要deferred inspection，一旦案情發展不利，得個conviction，deferred inspection會認為他inadmissible從而會開始remove他的process。 幸好最後拿了法庭的final disposition去順利拿回了護照。現在想到也是後怕得很。
不太明白的就是，當時如果拿了AP離境再入境會不會不查指紋從而避免deferred inspection呢？我老公的移民律師認為用H1B更好，但也說不出理由，通過最近這兩年打交道，我覺得這個律師基本什麽都不懂。也許用AP會更好也說不定。
現在拿了7月底重打指紋和8月底去485麵試的通知，查了一下排期快到了，也許是好事吧。我認為去年案子結束之後deferred inspection已經確認了他是admissible的，但是他的移民律師認為被據風險很大，正像去年收到移民局RFE案件材料的時候也被她嚇得半死一樣，最後把RFE的材料寄回去就沒事了。希望這次也能順利通過。
題外話最後一句，在一個印度人的麵試裏他說移民官提到不用害怕，如果你符合被抵解出境的條件我們不會等到現在還沒行動的。。。希望等到了麵試，就意味著符合被留下的條件，隻要麵試時候順利。等麵試好我會再上來寫一下經過，除非麵試不順利，那我就得忙著賣房子離開美國，就不一定有空來寫了。。。祝有傷心往事的人都有一個重新開始的機會！
去年春天老公對我動手，因為不是第一次，且以前我已經警告過他，這次我義無反顧地撥了911，之後的發展就超出了我的控製範圍。警察逮補了我老公，隨後指控他一級assault，因為我當時有六個月身孕的關係。說真話，我是覺得沒有這次曆險他將來一定會再動手，但是也隻是希望他得個教訓而不至於真得要去坐牢。所以一聽罪名嚴重有坐牢五到七年的可能也嚇壞了。後來請了律師，其中又曆經了頗多曲折，最後終於遇到了一個好法官，把這個案子dismiss了。但是由於2007年7月我們交上了485申請，所以這其中之後又有不少移民局這邊的麻煩，我詳細說說目前為止我收集的信息及我的理解，隻談相關的情況，其他多次犯案或者案情不同的就不說了。
根據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，並且罪名是有關moral turpitude，那就要看能不能用exception – 如果犯案是在18歲之前並且已過去5年了，或者被控罪名的最高刑罰不超過一年牢獄之災，並且實際坐牢時間不超過半年，就應該不會影響綠卡。
但是什麽是conviction? 大家在上麵212條例也看到了，不光是convicted of, 還可以是admits having committed， 或者 admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of 這種crime。所以也嚇了我們一跳。那我老公跟警察承認動手推過我，算不算呢？再查。定義是，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.
看到這裏，還是很害怕，我老公算不算has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt呢？又查，好像不算。那個也是法律專用的正式行為，也要有法官念一堆包括對immigration有影響的warning，也要正式公開的明確地承認犯了sufficient facts。
再看下去，A police report cannot be used by INS to prove removability。我老公唯一承認動手推我的時候就是在警察報告裏，在法庭上從沒人提過問過。所以應該不算。
最後，什麽算moral turpitude， 這個好像比較難辦，要具體事件具體分析。我隻找到這些 –
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上有一個詳細的列表，不知道準確度怎樣。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude
因為我老公沒有conviction，我就沒有細細研究moral turpitude這個定義了，但是基本上domestic violence應該都算有moral turpitude的問題，所以要沒有conviction或者符合exception那兩條中的一條才可以鬆口氣吧。
題外話再說說有pending criminal case的情況下出入海關的問題。我老公去國外出差比較多，當時不得已也用H1b travel了幾次，幸好前幾次都隻是在掃完指紋後被叫到小屋裏去做secondary inspection，最後也都給放進來了，隻是最後有一次被人攔住扣了護照，給了deferred inspection通知，要等案件了解才能去deferred inspection 申請拿回護照。現在回想，其實前幾次都是僥幸，因為根據移民法212 條例，當時pending的案件結果如有不同可能會導致他inadmissible，所以才需要deferred inspection，一旦案情發展不利，得個conviction，deferred inspection會認為他inadmissible從而會開始remove他的process。 幸好最後拿了法庭的final disposition去順利拿回了護照。現在想到也是後怕得很。
不太明白的就是，當時如果拿了AP離境再入境會不會不查指紋從而避免deferred inspection呢？我老公的移民律師認為用H1B更好，但也說不出理由，通過最近這兩年打交道，我覺得這個律師基本什麽都不懂。也許用AP會更好也說不定。
現在拿了7月底重打指紋和8月底去485麵試的通知，查了一下排期快到了，也許是好事吧。我認為去年案子結束之後deferred inspection已經確認了他是admissible的，但是他的移民律師認為被據風險很大，正像去年收到移民局RFE案件材料的時候也被她嚇得半死一樣，最後把RFE的材料寄回去就沒事了。希望這次也能順利通過。
題外話最後一句，在一個印度人的麵試裏他說移民官提到不用害怕，如果你符合被抵解出境的條件我們不會等到現在還沒行動的。。。希望等到了麵試，就意味著符合被留下的條件，隻要麵試時候順利。等麵試好我會再上來寫一下經過，除非麵試不順利，那我就得忙著賣房子離開美國，就不一定有空來寫了。。。祝有傷心往事的人都有一個重新開始的機會！
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