If you are interested in immigrating to the United States, you are not alone. Thousands have made the physical trek to the United States and some have become fully naturalized citizens. There are a few factors that could stand in a person’s way of becoming a U.S. citizen. In terms of criminal law, a barrier could be felony accusations or even a felony conviction.
While visiting the U.S., whether on a green card or a visa, or whether you are here undocumented, a criminal accusation could impact your immigration status proceedings. Even so, an accused crime could be an issue of ‘moral turpitude’ and not a felony legally. Crimes of moral turpitude aren’t strictly defined, but they could include acts of perjury, tax evasion, child abuse and even wire fraud.
Really there isn’t any particular list of acts that are included and/or excluded from this list. This means, if you or a loved one is facing charges related to a crime of moral turpitude, this could mess with their process of immigration and becoming a naturalized citizen. That’s why it’s important to build a quality criminal defense against such allegations.
An unfavorable criminal conviction could mean deportation, regardless of where the person’s application for citizenship is at. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the alleged crimes and a person’s current status in terms of naturalization, the citizenship process can be affected from being convicted of a crime or for even facing these allegations before it moves to a conviction or an acquittal.
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