Naturalization, Citizenship Canadian citizen traveling to the US with a retail theft charge

[traveler22]

I am a canadian citizen who would like to find out about the consequences when travelling to the US in the future. 4 years ago I was down in PA on a golf trip with friends and was charged for removing a beer bottle from a bar (the charge was retail theft). Rather than going through the lengthy legal process when I returned to Canada I paid the $200 dollar US fine.

My question is that if I want to travel to the US in the future will this charge prevent me from crossing the border and if so what are my options if I do have to travel there?

Thanks.

 

[NYClex]

It depends on the Pennsylvania law. Most classes of criminal aliens are inadmissible and would not be allowed to enter the country or receive a visa.

Theft is a crime of moral turpitude. The law makes one exception to the inadmissibility rule, that is if the alien has only one conviction with a penalty of less than 6 months in jail on a charge that could have not carried more than a year in jail. Since you only had to pay a fine you would need to find out the maximum penalty on that charge. If it is lower than a year, which it probably is, and this is your only criminal record anywhere, then you are in the clear.

 

[traveler22]

Information on PA law re retail theft

Thanks.

How can I find out what the PA law states and should my best bet be to contact the District Justice of the township? I do have the phone number on the "Non-traffic Citation Summons" that was issued to me.

 

[NYClex]

It looks pretty good for you. If this was your first and only conviction and it was only about the bottle of beer, it was what Pennsylvania calls a "summary offense" and therefore you would not have any problems on the immigration front.

http://members.aol.com/StatutesP3/18PA3929.html