Student visa - Stopped at Immigration due pending case

V

vjain2k

Registered Users (C)
Hello,
May I request your advise summarized as follows:s


I was contacted recently by worried parents of my cousin (My cousin is a student in Pennsylvania , his parents are overseas).

1. My Cousin got admission in as an undergrad last year and came to USA as an undergrad on student visa.
2. In February 2015, Marijuana was discovered in his dorm room by local police. According to my cousin, his roommate were responsible for it.
3. In local court proceedings he has been put on probation for 1 year. After which , on good conduct, the case will be sealed and archived from record.
4. He went overseas to meet his parents in July 2015, summer break. When he returned he was detained about 10 hours in airport by Immigration officers. He was told that there is above mentioned case on his record and he has two choices 1) return to country of origin or 2) Immigration will let him proceed to destination and will call him in the Immigration court to decide his future status (whether he stays or not)


I would like to ask your advise for the following:

1. Is this charge (Marijuana possession ) serious enough that he can be deported ?
2. What should be the best strategy to deal with immigration court (hire a lawyer ?? any good recommendation to hire an immigration lawyer ?)
3. Should he travel overseas prior to the immigration court calls him to decide the matter ?
4. Any other general or specific recommendations ?

Needless to say he is quite worried.

Thanks in Advance for your advise.
VJ
 
No it probably wasn't serious enough that he could have been deported. The problem is that by travelling abroad without consulting an attorney he may have made his situation a lot worse. The crime may not have been serious enough to make him deportable, but it was serious enough to make him inadmissible. I.e. had he not left on his own voluntarily, he wouldn't have been deported, but now that he left on his own, he cannot be allowed back in.

From a legal perspective, after questioning him for 10 hours, they probably didn't admit him to the country but merely paroled him into the country (big difference) while he awaits the immigration court decision. From an immigration perspective, he hasn't been admitted to the country, but is merely physically allowed into the country as a convenience as he awaits the decision of the judge whether to actually admit him.

Yes he needs a good immigration attorney. I'm not in PA but maybe someone in PA can advise him on a good immigration attorney. Although in general immigration attorneys can practice nationwide (immigration law is the same in all 50 states), in his case I'd recommend a PA immigration attorney who also has some familiarity with PA criminal law. If the immigration attorney is familiar with PA criminal law, perhaps he/she can find a way around the immigration consequences--the immigration consequences often depend on the exact way the individual state statutes are written and that can vary from state to state. So I wish him the best but your cousin is indeed in a difficult position and needs strong immigration counsel to have any chance at all.
 
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