Previous Conditional Resident with a Petty Theft Charge Applying for a B1 Visa

[olga_firefly]

In 2009 , I was arrested for shoplifting , went to court , pled no contest to a charge of Petty Theft, received 3 years of informal probation, no jail time and a fine of $300 plus penalty assessments which totals $1330.00. This is inclusive of all court fees. I was on conditional status residency at that time and , I left the country (at my own will - I was not deported -, the uscis did not contact me at all) before I get my permanent residency which was to be issued a couple weeks later ,without filing for removal of conditional status , because at the time , I wished no longer to stay. I paid my fine to the court. Now I want to travel to the states back and issue a tourist visa, but I my criminal defense lawyer told me that I would face a probable denial , and that I should hire an immigration attorney. But I wouldn't want to spend a huge amount of money in an attorney, if there's no way to get my visa to travel. My probation ends in Nov 2012. What do you advise me to do ?

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can consider filing form I-407 to formally surrender permanent residency.

Any time you choose to commit a crime while a guest in another country, you run the risk that your criminal act will jeopardize both your continued presence in the nation and possible future reentry. That goes for any country. The crime you're describing probably falls under the petty theft exception to crimes involving moral turpitude, but you haven't made clear if you in fact completed your sentence. You also didn't follow the instruction to identify the involved state, or identify the statute under which you were convicted, so I can only assume that the conviction was a petty offense under immigration law by virtue of its being petty theft (that's usually a @90 day misdemeanor, but laws vary by state). If you chose to become a fugitive rather than completing your sentence, there is likely a bench warrant for your arrest.

Whether or not you have an immigration lawyer, you're in the position of applying for the visa and seeing what happens.