Answer:

In central Florida, in Orlando, we deal with that a lot. Orlando is an area where a lot of tourists come to visit. They love the place, so they end up making it their homes or they come here to work. Being in that situation and having a potential arrest or conviction could severely affect your immigration application. There are certain crimes such as crimes of dishonesty or violent crimes that will almost be a sure bar to your immigration application and may even get you deported immediately.

It’s very important to speak with an attorney who’s familiar with the different details and nuances of what case may or may not affect your immigration case, especially which ones could be detrimental if not fatal to your immigration case because once an individual is accused of a criminal offense here in Orlando, Florida, and they enter a plea without the assistance of counsel or with the assistance of a counsel who is not specialized or has experience in that area of law, then that could adversely affect their immigration process. That’s very important if you are in the immigration process and you find yourself arrested or accused of a crime, we would highly suggest getting an attorney who knows about criminal offenses and immigration process involved in your case immediately.

Also if you find yourself in that situation, be honest with your criminal defense attorney, be honest with your immigration attorney, let them know exactly what’s going on, let them know where in the process you are in terms of the criminal case and/or the immigration case because all of these things can affect either process. As for immigration, there are certain notice requirements if you are in that situation where you’re arrested or accused, you may need to provide notice or update applications indicating the same. There are also certain crimes, as we mentioned, that if you do plea to them could be fatal.

Now, there are also regular crimes that may not be fatal if you plea to them outright, but if you enter a plea and you are judicated guilty or you don’t do it the right way, then that could be the same as entering one of those fatal pleas and it could have a detrimental affect on your immigration application process. It is very important to get an attorney who knows what those cases are and whether you can plea or whether you’re going to have to fight it, any of these things to protect the immigration process that you have started and probably have spent time and money into getting resolved. If you have any other questions about how a criminal case could affect your immigration application, please call the Victory law firm.