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Drug charge

R

randolph85

New Member
Hello, first time on the forum but I find it very informative.
My question is I was charged 4.5years ago for possession of a controlled substance. My DV interview is coming up and I have all the necessary paperwork prepared for when I go to the interview regarding the situation. I've read plenty online re: 5 year bans from date of offence to exclusions for minor offence etc. quite a messy situation. Basically just trying to get some information from all the good people in hear with reference to my chances of being approved for the green card. Or Am I better of trying again once the 5 years has elapsed, so next year? Thank you
 
randolph85 said:
Hello, first time on the forum but I find it very informative.
My question is I was charged 4.5years ago for possession of a controlled substance. My DV interview is coming up and I have all the necessary paperwork prepared for when I go to the interview regarding the situation. I've read plenty online re: 5 year bans from date of offence to exclusions for minor offence etc. quite a messy situation. Basically just trying to get some information from all the good people in hear with reference to my chances of being approved for the green card. Or Am I better of trying again once the 5 years has elapsed, so next year? Thank you
Click to expand...

One of the forum big guns will give you a better answer however : "The mere possession or use of a controlled substance is not a crime involving moral turpitude." according to this.
 
After more reading, there appears to be a section of the law denying immigration to people with controlled substance convictions unless they were less than 18 and it was 5 years ago or the maximum penalty is less than a year.
 
My reading of some various things accords with Gulkan's second post, that this could be a problem. Seems any violation of a drug law is a problem for visas. Other than being under 18 years old I don't see anything about being ok after 5 years - Randolph, were you under 18 at the time? From what I know there is no flexibility on these kinds of rules so if you were, if it's not before 5 years you're out of luck. While there is a process to get waivers, even if it is applicable to you you wouldn't have time to do it before the end of DV2015.

Again, all the above is just my impression of reading various lawyer pages. In this case it may be worth your while going on avvo.com and asking them, as this is a general immigrant visa question and not DV specific (the latter is where they tend to be quite bad at advice).
 
guestgulkan said:
After more reading, there appears to be a section of the law denying immigration to people with controlled substance convictions unless they were less than 18 and it was 5 years ago or the maximum penalty is less than a year.
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No unfortunately I was 20 at the time, I did also read however the exemption if it was a first time offence and the maximum penalty was no more than one year in prison which this is the case. SuzieQQQ I will go onto avvo.com
Thank ou for your advice :)
 
randolph85 said:
No unfortunately I was 20 at the time, I did also read however the exemption if it was a first time offence and the maximum penalty was no more than one year in prison which this is the case. SuzieQQQ I will go onto avvo.com
Thank ou for your advice :)
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Can you link to that exemption? I don't think I saw that. But if any of these exemptions require a waiver it's probably a moot point I'm afraid, as at this stage you probably don't have time for that.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Can you link to that exemption? I don't think I saw that. But if any of these exemptions require a waiver it's probably a moot point I'm afraid, as at this stage you probably don't have time for that.
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It's not letting me add a link. But if you add
www to the following lol

state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf
Page 20. Yes so basically even though I could eventually be found to be ok. Based on the limited time frame I wouldn't make it if.
 
randolph85 said:
It's not letting me add a link. But if you add
www to the following lol

state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf
Page 20. Yes so basically even though I could eventually be found to be ok. Based on the limited time frame I wouldn't make it if.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I'm being dense/lazy but can you reference a clause or page number in that document ? Thanks
 
Hi Suzie this looks like a good source, see "section (2) Criminal and related grounds."

Can you help me with something?

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

I read that as, the exception only applies to "(i)(I)" ie the Moral Turpitude paragraph and there are no exceptions to "(i)(II)" the controlled substances paragraph.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Other than being under 18 years old I don't see anything about being ok after 5 years - Randolph, were you under 18 at the time? From what I know there is no flexibility on these kinds of rules so if you were, if it's not before 5 years you're out of luck.
Click to expand...

With regards 5 years, I believe it only applies to <18 offenders, ie they need to be at least 23 years old now.

Same link: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/general/ineligibilities.html
"the crime was committed when the alien was under 18 years of age, and the crime was committed... more than 5 years before the date of application.."
 
So therefore there's no minimum time limit required for me. But I should still be exempt because of clause to regarding the maximum penalty being under the 1 year. I think I'll seek out a immigration lawyer also
 
In my reading, the 1 year sentence thing relates only to a crime committed while a minor. That is what the top of p20 refers to.

There is a 15 year time after which you can apply for a waiver but you are clearly a long way away from that.

Also, the current processing time for filing for waivers will blow you out the water. The last update I saw related to May 2015 so it's a couple of months old, but they were only processing the forms received in January 2014. This implies that even if someone gets an interview right on the first day of the fiscal year, they'd never be able to get a waiver processed before the end of the fiscal year.
 
guestgulkan said:
Hi Suzie this looks like a good source, see "section (2) Criminal and related grounds."

Can you help me with something?

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

I read that as, the exception only applies to "(i)(I)" ie the Moral Turpitude paragraph and there are no exceptions to "(i)(II)" the controlled substances paragraph.
Click to expand...

I agree with your conclusion here.

But we're not lawyers. He does need to speak to one, I think, to pursue this. At the very least, so he knows for sure if he should or shouldn't pursue it.
 
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