Consultations for Non U.S. Citizen Criminal Defendants Facing Criminal Charges
If you are not a citizen of the United States, you should immediately seek advice from an highly qualified immigration attorney upon being arrested or charged with a crime. Even some misdemeanor offenses with little or no jail time may result in removal (deportation) proceedings, mandatory detention during those proceedings, loss of permanent resident status, and inadmissibility to return to the U.S. for life. Other crimes do not carry such severe consequences, but may result in denial of naturalization to U.S. citizenship.
US Immigration Attorney Suzanne E. Vazquez and Maaud Poudat are both Board Certified by the Florida Bar and practice in this area of law some have called “crimmigration.” In this type of scenario, we work with criminal defense attorneys to minimize the immigration consequences of criminal plea. In addition, Suzanne can review existing criminal convictions to determine whether U.S. Citizenship is still available. In some cases relief will have to be granted before proceeding with naturalization. For older convictions that are even quite serious, an affirmative 212 (c) waiver may be sought. This means relief maybe granted outside of removal proceedings.
Our services include a thorough review of the defendant’s criminal immigration histories, consultation with the criminal defense attorney if the evaluation occurs before conviction, and a confidential opinion letter that explains her advice and the steps to take to minimize the immigration consequences of your criminal case.