Criminal Law Misdeameanor and Green Card question, please help...

[cuatrdiez]

Hi, i was arrested like a month and a half ago for Solicitation of Prostitution in Washington DC, the police was taking the men who asked an undercover officer who was on the street pretending being a prostitute. I was in jail for about 14 hours where they took my info, finger printing , etc.
My wife is an american citizen and we got married a year ago, but we started the process of immigration like 3 months ago. I got in to the country with a tourist visa but i overstayed.
When i went to Court the attorney told me that if I took a course they would drop the charges, so i signed up for the course already, but that's not going to happen in 2 months from now beacuse they were all full until that time. My question is: how is this going to affect my situation, are they going to deny my petition? am i going to be deported? do i have to wait until the case is closed? What should i do?
I have no past criminal record and i know this is qualified as a misdeameanor crime. Also i already received the citation from the inmigration department to get my fingerprints before they issue the employment authorization. Please let me know so i konw what to do. Thank you so much.

 

[mafioso]

What is the maximum penalty for your soliciting charge in your state?
I need to know to give you more advice...............

 

[cuatrdiez]

Max penalty

For what i know and read the maximun penalty in Wahington DC is no more than 90 days in prison........ I dont know if this make any diference but i live in Virginia.....
Thank you...

 

[mafioso]

You would not face problems with immigration due to the petty crime exception. The maximum sentence for your crime is less than a year. It is your first offense of CIMT so you would be okay. You have just one exception which you just used. So, be very careful now. Immigration would be aware of your crime when they do you a background check. But you fall under the one time exception so your petition would not be denied for this reason.

 

[cuatrdiez]

thank you

Well, it's so good to know that, thank you so much... just one last thing, do i have to claim the exeption or that is automatic? Thanks again mafioso....

 

[mafioso]

You just have to declare it on all your forms when asked about arrest...convictions….etc. Any plea deal still makes you guilty in the eyes of immigration. So even thought your county would tell you, you were not convicted, in immigration law you were. So say yes on immigration forms…………it is a different type of law. They would review the state's law where it happened and let it pass based on the petty crime exception. But get an immigration lawyer with you when dealing with them since your record is not clean.

 

[mafioso]

Oh...........I go over so many post and could have missed this detail. The exception applies only if you have lived in the US for at least five years. If not, you would need a waiver under section 212.