Prostie bust won’t flush your chances down john
QThe police arrested me for patronizing a prostitute. That was about two years ago, after I had become a permanent resident. The judge sentenced me to three days community service. When I completed the service, the case was dismissed. If I visit my family back home in Africa, will I have a problem entering upon my return?
AYou can travel abroad and return without fear. Because you had to complete community service as a condition for getting your case dismissed, the law considers you convicted of a crime. But even with the conviction, you shouldn’t have a problem reentering the United States. A single conviction for soliciting a prostitute is not a bar to reentry, nor is it a deportable offense. Once five years have passed since your offense, consider becoming a U.S. citizen. Then you won’t have to worry about these matters. You can naturalize three years after the offense if during those three years you have been married to and are living with a U.S. citizen. Someone told me that I need to travel abroad before I can get my green card based on marriage to a U.S. citizen. Is that true? Can I get travel documents?
QR.S., by email I am here in Temporary Protected Status. My wife is a U.S. citizen. If I get U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service travel permission, and travel to Canada, will I then be able to apply to get my green card once I return?
Name withheld, Brooklyn Traveling to Canada after first getting USCIS travel permission, called Advance Parole, means that you can interview here for your green card. That’s a lot quicker and simpler, than the alternative: applying for your immigrant visa in your home country. From what you write, I’m assuming you sneaked into the United States, what we call “entry without inspection.” A person who entered this way, in most cases, must return home for their immigrant visa interview. If you return from Canada with Advance Parole, USCIS will let you interview here since you will have been inspected and admitted at your most recent entry.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004 or email to questions@ allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.
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