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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default Retail Theft and Green Card Renewal

    My current immigration status:
    - 2-year conditional permanent resident based on marriage to a US citizen
    - still married to the same person
    - Due for renewal/removal of conditional status on April 2013

    Run-in with the law:
    - former employee at a department store in IL
    - made a stupid mistake - switched a ticket on a item and purchased it for lower value
    - next day attempted to return a item from the store using the receipt from the previous day
    - loss prevention people called me, interviewed me, and i admitted and paid restitution
    - called police
    - arrested, finger printed, photographed and charged with two crimes
    1. Retail theft $90 - Illinois Chapter 720 Act 5 Subsection 16A-3(d)
    2. Theft $35- Illinois Chapter 720 Act 5 Subsection 16-1(a)(2)(A)

    - received two separate chargesheets for the charges above: incident dates are different but the case number and court date & time on both are the same.
    - i have no previous arrests or convictions
    - college grad

    I have consulted both a criminal and immigration lawyers.

    According to the criminal lawyer:
    - this will be a misdemeanor charge
    - suggested various outcomes in the order of decreasing likelihood:
    1. get the state attorney to dismiss the case after completion of theft school program and then expunge
    2. get Illinois deferred prosecution program and after one year (pending successful completion) the charges will be dismissed
    3. get convicted but get a probation since its my first time

    According to the immigration laywer:
    - conviction of any theft crime counts as a crime of moral terpitude but I could qualify for a petty crime exception
    - however, lawyer is very concerned because:
    1. Since there are two charges, INS might interpret them as two separate crimes and will not apply petty violation exception to both of them
    2. INS has a loose definition of guilty, and if I follow criminal lawyers advice to do deferred prosecution or theft school, I may not be legally convicted, but my court paper might include something that can be considered as admission of guilt by INS


    I understand I made a big mistake; and I will regret this for the rest of my life. I am and will continue to lose sleep and sanity over embarrassment and pain I have caused to my family. I am committed to never do something remotely similar ever again in my life and want to move forward in life and try to do some damage control.

    Can someone please offer some advise on what the best course of action for me should be?

    My priorities are:
    1. Be able to renew my greencard in April 2013 (ABSOLUTE PRIORITY - do not want to have to leave country and family for a stupid mistake)
    2. After I am able to do 1, have minimize impact on my records so I am able to secure employment in future
    3. Be able to travel out of country in December 2012 and come back (I made plans prior to this whole incident, and if possible, would like to keep them)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Retail Theft and Green Card Renewal

    You need to follow the advice of your immigration lawyer who, from what you have told us so far, is correctly describing the law.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Retail Theft and Green Card Renewal

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    You need to follow the advice of your immigration lawyer who, from what you have told us so far, is correctly describing the law.
    I will expand on that. Your immigration attorney needs to be working with your criminal attorney to try to achieve the best outcome for you. This is going to be an expensive mistake.

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