3 misdemeanors living in US

I am Canadian and work in the U.S. and recently have been arrested on three charges.

Disorderly, obstructing, and failure to obey lawful order.

What are the rules on misdemeanors with regards to work Visas. My current visa will finish at the end of June. Will I be allowed back in the country?

My court date isn't set until the beginning of June and I'm planning on going to England for a week this month. Will I be allowed back into the U.S?

Your misdemeanors do not make you inadmissible to the US. However, when you are obtaining a new TN at the border, do not lie to the officer if he/she asks about your criminal record.

They may ask if you've been arrested and unfortunately you'll have to say yes. Given that you haven't been convicted yet and the offences do not make you inadmissible, then you should be able to get back in but bring a book because you'll probably be sat in secondary inspection for awhile.

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know what government agency website I should go to in order to find the list of crimes that will in fact make you inadmissible.

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know what government agency website I should go to in order to find the list of crimes that will in fact make you inadmissible.

If you commit any of these violations you could be inadmissible on criminal grounds:
- Crimes involving moral turpitude
- A controlled substance violation
- Two or more criminal convictions when the total sentence was five years or more
- Prostitution and commercialized vice
- A serious criminal activity for which immunity from prosecution has been received

See here for more information: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/ineli ... _1364.html

If you fall into those categories you can get a waiver, but they are costly and time-consuming to obtain.

Were these charges at one time or separately?
If they were separate charges, then the immigrations officer will certainly refuse entry because you are a repeat offender.

You should find out if you can leave the country as you have been arrested and there may be some special conditions you have to adhere to. You don't want to make it look like you're trying to jump ship with your arrest.

Immigrations at the POE will certainly know about any arrests and will definitely give you a hard time about it, but it's at their discretion whether to allow you to enter the U.S. or not.

I have a friend who had a DUI (it was his only arrest and he is a good person) who tried to reapply his TN visa. His application was denied after a long scolding about his DUI, but was still allowed to enter (his current visa at the time hasn't yet expired). He was warned that any future arrests will prevent him from entering the country.
He later hired an immigrations lawyer to get a new TN with no issues.

Getting off-track: In these hard economic times, when I reapplied for my own visa recently I included a resume of my extensive charity work and involvement in various organization, and my volunteer work to show how I made a huge contribution to their community (more than the typical American citizen) and not being a burden to the country. This luckily worked in my favor this past year, as the immigrations officer was questioning my application and giving me a hard time about returning and living off their country. Unfortunately he didn't read all of the documentation I provided, so I told him to refer to my resume which he was holding which I then recited word for word to make my point. He reluctantly accepted my application.

So you should definitely exploit any good deeds you have done, it would only help your situation.
Since you are not reapplying for a visa, you probably won't have an issue, but be sure to be honest when answering any of their questions.

So why is it up to the guy with the 2 year Law and Security certificate from the county college get to make policy decisions at the POE? Decisions should be made on policy not opinion. So that kind of throws your good deed theory out the window. I have experienced some difficulty with "Joe the border guard” myself about a young offender record that I stupidly admitted to when I was 20 and naive and I am now 34. They have denied me entry a few times now upon questioning, but looking at the rules on the website, they shouldn’t have been able to do that. Does anyone know what I can do about that? I was told that if I bring my young offender record to the border with me I will get across no problem. Why should they get to look at my young offender record when the RCMP isn’t allowed to? I mean it was real petty charges like theft under $1000 and mischief I never served one day of time in jail and served my community service and probation on all convictions by the time I was 18. Looking at the rules here:

2) Criminal and related grounds.-

(A) Conviction of certain crimes.-

(i) In general.-Except as provided in clause (ii), any alien convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of-

(I) a crime involving moral turpitude (other than a purely political offense or an attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime), or

(II) a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.

(ii) Exception.-Clause (i)(I) shall not apply to an alien who committed only one crime if-

(I) the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed (and the alien released from any confinement to a prison or correctional institution imposed for the crime) more than 5 years before the date of application for a visa or other documentation and the date of application for admission to the United States, or

(II) the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted (or which the alien admits having committed or of which the acts that the alien admits having committed constituted the essential elements) did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed).

(B) Multiple criminal convictions.-Any alien convicted of 2 or more offenses (other than purely political offenses), regardless of whether the conviction was in a single trial or whether the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct and regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude, for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were 5 years or more is inadmissible.

This is totally what my case is. They should not have denied me entry on these rules because it has been more than 14 years since the crime was committed (do they go by arrest date or conviction date because that would make it 13 yrs instead).

Same reason Canadian border guards banned my husband from entering Canada. Power trip. He's got a juvenile conviction for car theft, they won't let him in anymore because some beeyotch at the border was PMSing one day and banned him.

Unless you've actually been documented as banned, you should be able to enter the US, a juvenile record should not hinder that. If however the CBP guard entered into the system that he/she considered you a menace, then you will likely have to apply for a waiver, and for that you will have to make an appointment at your closest US consulate.

Same reason Canadian border guards banned my husband from entering Canada. Power trip. He's got a juvenile conviction for car theft, they won't let him in anymore because some beeyotch at the border was PMSing one day and banned him.

Unless you've actually been documented as banned, you should be able to enter the US, a juvenile record should not hinder that. If however the CBP guard entered into the system that he/she considered you a menace, then you will likely have to apply for a waiver, and for that you will have to make an appointment at your closest US consulate.

They were actually pretty good with me as I am a former Canadian Forces member and now work for Canada Post. They figured I wasn’t likely an adult offender due to these facts and I have a valid passport (unable to do all these things with an adult criminal record). They just couldn’t prove it was young offender with their access to ours (CPIC) or their files (NCIC).They said they had nothing on me and tried to good cop/bad cop me to try to get me to admit to things that I have not done. I assume with a few phone calls and some documents everything should work itself out. At least I hope it does because I have family down in San Francisco. Sorry to hear about your husbands problems and hope it works out.

I always think this whole subject is silly because if you've been convicted of criminal offenses, is lying to a CBP officer really going to scare you that much? Either way you tell the truth and get banned or you lie and they look in their system you get banned, what's the difference?

I did actually say this to a CBP officer and she said: "yeah, but we have to ask."

If you say yes then I suppose you get credibility for telling the truth but either way you're not going to say: "and by the way, this is a serious offence that makes me inadmissible under section 217 of the INA" are you?

Either way they're going to check NCIC and CPIC whatever you say.

The thing that really gets up my nose about it is when they ask if you've ever been arrested and they can actually deny your entry for a prior arrest. Being arrested means nothing, and being "arrested" in say, China is a very different thing than being arrested in the US. If you have charges pending, ok maybe I can see the point but you can be formally arrested in some countries for littering.