Seeking a second opinion. Denied citizenship because of a DUI.

S

snappy

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I've been helping my neighbour apply for citizenship in the US. She is a law abiding citizen and throughout the course of living in the US has only had one incidient; a DUI.

Infact, because of the DUI, she ended up taking a mandatory DUI course. She was appalled at the counseling that she ended up getting a 2yr degree at a local community college in Human Services specializing in Drug & Alcohol services. She is now working to become a certified counsellor in the state of California to conduct the state mandated drug and alcohol courses.

Sorry to distract, but I thought I should mention this before asking the following question.

She applied for citizenship and was denied because of the DUI. I'm not sure the extent of the details, but she contacted an immigration lawyer who told her not to appeal, but instead just wait for two years and apply again. (The two years has something related to her DUI, I think there's a 5 year expiration from the time the incident occured which was 3 years ago.)

Is there any issues with filing an appeal for a second review? Is her education in drug and alcohol abuse worth mentioning? Will appealing impact her chances in two years time?

There isn't any inherent issue waiting two additional years, but it will cost a lot to reapply for citizenship, and I'm sure she would rather not go through the process again.

Any insight would be much appreciated.
 
She has to have clean 5 year period. No point in appealing if her DUI was decided/ her DUI course was less than 5 years back. Appeal and reapplication costs almost the same. Appeal is a waste of money in most of the cases.
 
She should wait atleast 5 years (3 years if married to US Citizen) from the date she was discharged from probation etc.
 
pleasehelp08 said:
She should wait atleast 5 years (3 years if married to US Citizen) from the date she was discharged from probation etc.
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No, it is not necessary to wait for 5 years after the end of probation. 5 years after the conviction is normally sufficient (provided the probation has ended).
 
snappy said:
She applied for citizenship and was denied because of the DUI. I'm not sure the extent of the details, but she contacted an immigration lawyer who told her not to appeal, but instead just wait for two years and apply again.
Click to expand...

Depending on the exact charge , she would have to wait 5 years after conviction before applying. The fact that a lawyer already told her this means the DUI must have been a felony conviction (aggravated DUI due to BAC level and/or associated accident)
 
Just wanted to say thanks to everybody. I wasn't aware that appeals also cost money, so it's probably best she waits until she has a clean record before reapplying (as suggested numerous times already).
 
I thought there came a new law sometime towards the end of the Bush administration that 1 DUI would not be a ground for denial. Although now that I think of the BAC/accident above, maybe that's what did it. In any case, it would take a couple of years to get a reply for filing anything anyways, so she didn't loose much except her filing fee.
 
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