Renewing Your Green Card After a Criminal Charge or Conviction

U.S. lawful permanent residents must renew their green cards every ten years. This doesn't mean that you're no longer a lawful permanent resident if your green card expires. Only the card expires, not your actual status and permission to be in the United States. Nevertheless, if you have criminal charges on your record, reapplying for your green card (or, for that matter, applying for U.S. citizenship or traveling outside the United States) could put your immigration status at risk.

Does that mean you should simply avoid renewing your green card? No, it's important to get the card renewed, because you are legally obligated to carry a valid green card with you at all times. Not having a valid green card could make it difficult for you to find or keep a job, or to travel outside the United States and return.

But you should definitely speak with an attorney before submitting your renewal application, for the reasons explained below.

How USCIS Learns of Crimes During the Green Card Renewal Process

The process of applying for a renewal of your U.S. green card involves filling out and submitting Form I-90 to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You'll notice that you will also be asked to pay a fee at this time, for both the application and for "biometrics services."

What are biometrics? As you probably know, USCIS collects personal data on every green card applicant, including fingerprints and a photo. It will send the fingerprints, as well as your name, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI will check these against databases held by numerous law enforcement agencies. The results will tell USCIS whether you have any crimes or immigration violations on your record.

If USCIS sees a crime or immigration violation on your record that could make you removable from the United States, such as an aggravated felony, it can place you into removal (deportation proceedings). That means you would have to appear before an immigration judge and defend yourself. The U.S. government would have an attorney there too, representing its side and providing the legal reasons that you should be deported. If you lost your case, you would likely lose your right to a green card as well, and be sent from the United States to your home country.

Not every crime makes a green card holder deportable, however. With the help of your own attorney, you might find grounds upon which to argue that your crime does not actually fit within one of the grounds of deportability found in U.S. immigration law (described below), or find some other legal basis upon which to mount a defense.

Types of Crimes That Make a U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident Deportable

Within the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.) is a long list of types of crimes that make a person with a green card deportable. For example, you can be found deportable for having committed:

• an aggravated felony
• a crime of moral turpitude within five years of receiving a green card
• two deportable crimes at any time
• a sex crime
• a drug crime
• domestic violence
• a firearms offense, or
• a fraud-related offense.

This is only an abbreviated list. To more fully understand whether a particular crime matches one of these descriptions requires an in-depth analysis of the legal language and courts' interpretations in previous cases.

You will not, for example, see the words "crime of moral turpitude" anywhere on your court record. This term is basically an added judgment made by the immigration authorities. In order to compare your crime with the above list, you will need an attorney's help.

See an Immigration Lawyer

If you have been convicted of a crime and need to renew your green card or to travel outside the United States, be sure to hire an experienced immigration lawyer. The lawyer will most likely have you get your fingerprints done again, and then analyze the results in light of the criminal laws in your state. The lawyer can then help you develop a strategy with regard to renewing your green card.