Criminal Law Legal records

[sandradeusa]

My husband is trying to apply for a green card.
He is from Belgium, I 'm american citizen.
But he has a legal record in Belgium were he has a drug charge on it.
(The Drug charge was 13 years ago.)
We heard that there is NO WAIVER for that?
What can we do???
We contact the legal system in Belgium and you can have your legal records clean up after 10 years. But we also heard that you still have to tell if you go for you intervieuw for your green card? So, is there any HOPE?
Sandradeusa

 

[mafioso]

What matters is what kind of charge was he accused of?
What was the maximum sentence ?
What did he get as his sentence?
Is that his only record?
Where is he?
Have you filed for him? Where did you file?
You could qualify for a green card depending on the type of offense.

 

[sandradeusa]

First I want to thank you for answering my question!

The charge was dealing (selling)drugs in a dance club. On his record it translate to: (Psycho tropical substances : possession : trade)
Sentence: punish 7 months (jail) With delay 3 years (?)
He spend 3 weeks in jail before his hearing, and didn't surve the rest of the time because he had moved to Germany when the hearing sentence him for the 7 months. After 6 years he return to Belgium and the time of the sentence had expired and he had the do no more time.
The rest of his record is from Germany for 1.) swindle (?) and 2.) bring traffic in danger (traffic violence).
He is in the United States. He has past his 90 days visiting visa. He did come in the country LEGAL! I spoke to immigration and she said he need to stay in the USA till he gets his papers. Otherwise he could not come back for 10 years. SO, he is been here now for 16 months. We been married for 6 months.
I have NOT filed for him yet. If I could file I would file in Philadelphia and the papers would go To US citizenship and immigration services in Chicago.
(I-130, I-485, G-325A,I-854P, I-765)
I have had all forms ready to go but on form I-485 page 3 Question 1 it ask for: Have you ever in or outside the united states knowling commited any crime of moral turpitude OR a drug related offense for which you have been arrested? That stop me and been asking around. My mom's immigration lawyer said there is NO WAIVER for that.
SO, here I am with my husband. Married and can't get him status to legal immigraten.
No social security card, no driving license. Can't get a job.
What can we do? What could happen?
If you could please let me know.
Again, Thank you so much already for answering my question of 09/19/2007.
Sandradeusa

 

[sandradeusa]

I was trying to correct some of the things above... Didn't know you could edit after you post it. It is all correct above.
Sandracausa

 

[mafioso]

I think you missed one question which is very important.....

-What was the maximum possible sentence he should have got? I know he got seven months, but what is the maximum under Belgian law?

-For the charges in Germany, I need to know the sentences he got, and the maximum possible sentence under the law?

Each detail could make a difference in your case............ I can't comment on if you would succeed without these answers.

 

[sandradeusa]

Maximum possible sentence 5 years for the drugs.

The charges in Germany he was fined to pay 1500 German marks each.
No other charges. We don't know what the maximum possible sentence are for the ones in Germany.
Sandradeusa

 

[mafioso]

USA immigration has what is known as a petty crime exception. For cases like your husband, they would see how long his sentence was in Belgium and what he was sentence too……….Same will be done in Germany. They would check Belgian law and German law to see the statute and maximum sentence. Given the maximum sentence was five years and he was sentenced to 7 months for a crime of moral turpitude, he is not eligible to benefit from his marriage to you. If the max sentence was six months for a crime with max sentence of a year, he would have been okay. His chances of getting permanent residency are zero if immigration learns of his priors. He is above the limit which the USA immigration considers acceptable "Petty offenses".


continue from next post.........Limit to number of character per post......

 

[mafioso]

Cont of first post........

There is really not much you can do…………. You mentioned a lawyer told you he does not qualify for a waiver. It is true, the crime was not committed here, he ran away instead of serving his time, two other offences in Germany, and he has not lived in the USA long enough before a crime happened……his record would hurt him. If the crimes happened here after he has been living here for more than seven years, he would have had a shot. Filling I-485 would require he reveals all this…………..If he does not, he might get lucky since it did not happen in the US….they may not notice……some have succeeded against my advice on always telling the truth. But if he lies and is caught he would be deported. To make this short, once they know he has such a rap sheet, they would initiate removal proceedings……….I know it must be hard on you, but I hate to give false hope. I hope you guys get lucky and find a way out. Get an immigration lawyer specialized with waivers to review you case before deciding on what to do. Some would give you false hope to get fees…….so, do a free initial consultation and see what other option they might have. I don't see any, who knows, the law changes every day. I don't have a lot of experience on waivers and pardons law changes…..Some court rulings sometimes create a room for exceptions even under such circumstances.

 

[sandradeusa]

We are working with a lawyer in Belgium to get his record cleaned up and have the drug charges removed to possession instead of dealing. But this could take up to year.
Do you think that would help him? Or are we wasting money on that? The lawyer in Belgium ask for a flate rate of 2500 euros ($3175.00).
I just can't believe there is nothing we can do. He was young and made a mistake.
Living here in the US with no papers is no solution. What happens if we have a child? ( which we were planning but also put on hold)
Will they still deport him?
Sandradeusa

 

[mafioso]

How old was your husband when the different offenses took place?
When was the last offense?
If your lawyer in Belgium is working on it, whatever they change should be in line with immigration guidelines on petty offenses…..He should not have been convicted of a crime with a maximum sentence of more than a year. He should not have been sentenced to more than six months in jail. If you guys have children, it would require a waiver which you guys can't get here since the crimes did not happen here……and other reasons in my previous post. Is your lawyer looking at pardons in Belgium too? The EU has centralized it systems so much that, I fear the charges in Germany could hurt him too. Honestly, waivers here don't have a fixed rule…….the authorities look about how it would affect the family if the person is sent back home, they evaluate a lot of stuff….like persecuting of people if they return due to their beliefs….. You could get lucky……..there always exceptions and the immigration board can review each case individually and decide. Get a free initial consultations with an immigration lawyer here to physically review the whole file.., and get another opinion of any loop holes…………If I were you, I would not pay the lawyer in Belgium, without getting some lawyer here review the whole file and tell you if it would work. The info, here is not enough………..You need to consult a local lawyer to evaluate any options.

 

[sandradeusa]

Thank you so much for all your info! We have NOT paid any lawyers yet. My mom's immigration lawyer here in the US is a family friend. He is been pretty straight forward. He got advice and a second opinion from an other immigration lawyer. He saided in one of his emails: "An expongement of his record will not do any good unless the expongement is for the purpose of saying that he did not commit the crime not just to clear his record. If he receives a pardon from the Belgium government (like Bush gave Scooter Libby a pardon for lying to the grand jury) this probably would work." But I am not sure if that's even possible? Anyway....
I will keep you update if I get any more news. I am not going to give up. I love this country and would love to stay here with my husband. I know he screw up big time in his past. It is a long story but we know each other sins we were 16 years old, dated for 6 years, then apart for 13 years and that is when all this stuff happend. We will have to deal with.
Thanks again.
Talk to you soon.
Sandradeusa

 

[mafioso]

He is right........That is why I said in one of my post that his changes are close to zero..........I did not mean to be blunt but hate raising false hope......Well keep searching and asking.....you could get lucky. Some people get lucky with the cracks in the system. If the Bush amnesty passed, or if an amnesty thing passes after Nov 08 elections, the procedures ignore past charges out of USA.....like the 1986 amnesty. …hope the rule stays the same.Keep us posted.....good luck!