Skip to main content

Are You Sure You Are Inadmissible?

If you were denied entry to the US because of a criminal conviction (a crime involving moral turpitude, or CIMT) and you've committed only 1 offense then you might be eligible for the petty offense exception under INA §212(a)(2)(A)(ii) if you satisfy all of the following 3 statements:
  1. he/she has committed only one CIMT;
  2. he/she "was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of six months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed)"; and
  3. the offense of conviction carries a maximum possible sentence of one year or less.

In other words the individual can only have one Crime Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT), this crime must be a misdemeanor, and the sentence that the individual received could not have been for more than 180 days.

If this is the case, the individual will be “forgiven” and the individual cannot be deemed inadmissible for this crime!

(this is a para-recap of a prior posting entitled "Can you claim the Petty Offense Exception?")
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2009 at 9:48 PM

    I went through National Pardon Centre to get a waiver , jumped through all the hoops and then took me completed applicatrion to the Sweetgrass border crossing , after waiting 10 minutes the officer called me up and asked me Why are you getting a waiver? You do not need one. She then explained this excemption to me and told me she would not take my money for the waiver , and that when they ask if anyone has been convicted or charged answer YES and everything should be good ! The National Pardon Centre would not givce me my money back ,and they still insist that I need a Waiver !

    ReplyDelete
  2. SinghTekSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:05 PM

    I was originally denied entry to the US in June of 2000.

    I have only now had a chance to apply for my first waiver.

    I applied on June 11, 2009 and received my waiver on September 26, 2009 dated September 21, 2009.

    I received a 1 year waiver.

    I will be starting the process again in March of 2010 just to be sure!

    I'm hoping for a longer duration waiver.

    I must say, receiving that waiver made me feel like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders, but it is bittersweet, since I have to go through the whole process again in 6 months...

    Good luck to everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 2, 2009 at 3:13 PM

    Is DHS finally showing a little intelligence?
    I got my 4th waiver on November 30th (dated November 23rd) after applying at Ottawa airport on September 15th. This one is for 5 years and only took 2 months while the previous 3 were only 1 year waivers & took 6-8 months.
    Apparently (and finally) they have decided that an FBI name check is not necessary on renewal applications.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2010 at 12:28 PM

    Interesting, my latest wait time was nicely similar. I got my second waiver Dec 14/09, after applying in Winnipeg airport Oct 6/09. This one is for 5 years, and took 2 months, and the last one was for 1 year, and took 5 months. At a cost of about $1,000 to apply each time, it's nice to save a few thousand dollars.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2010 at 9:03 PM

    PETTY OFFENCE EXEMPTION, does anybody know if young offender charges appear on a court record where you have an adult charge? I have 1 minor adult conviction from a Kitchener, Ontario Court., My young offender charges were in Toronto. What I am asking is, do I qualify for a PETTY EXEMPTION with my Court record from Kitchener??? Any info would be helpful, Thanx

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2012 at 8:50 PM

    I've been going to the US for years. I never had a problem. On January 2nd, 2012 I was headed for Florida to sign the papers at the notary and the bank for a condo I had just purchased.


    The agent at the booth told me I was to go for a random check up.

    To my surprise the agent performing the check up ask me if I had ever been refused an entry to the US, which I had not, he asked me if I ever was arrested or on probation, I answered no. He continued by mentionning a conviction in 1985, when I was 18 years old..... I didn't even remember this. So I told him the story of how I ended up with the wrong people at the wrong time.


    He left me in the office and returned 5 minutes later and allowed me to go through and told me to fix it.

    Upon my return last week I searched the web and talk to Parole Canada, the US customs office; etc.... I will be going to the customs office at the airport next week to find out how to fix it.

    I will obviously apply for a Canadian Pardon and take the necessary steps to get a US Waiver.

    My question is to know if I can still go to the US while my application for a Waiver is in process?

    I would appreciate any feedback I can get.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  7. uswaiverMarch 13, 2013 at 1:47 AM

    The US policy is totally strict, but I think there’s nothing wrong if we follow that policy. They have the right to do it to make sure that the people who visit their country have no criminal background.

    1-855-7-Waiver US Entry Waiver

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do you have an I-194 waiver?

Thanks to those who participated in my recent poll "Do you have an I-194 waiver?". It turns out that of those who participated over half have applied or intend to for the I-194 waiver (Advance Permission to Enter as a Non-Immigrant). It is also interesting to note that the amount that have 1 year or 5 year waivers are very close (3 to 4). I had read somewhere that the waivers were granted as 1 year or 5 based on the degree or seriousness of the past offenses. If this is true, then wouldn't a person expect that if he/she were granted a 5 year waiver, he/she should always expect the 5 year waiver? I'd be happy to hear your comments and personal experiences on this. Update: See  I-192 Waiver Application Process
167 comments
Read more

Check Your Waiver Application Status

I've never tried, but apparently there is an email address to check your waiver application status. CHECKING THE STATUS OF YOUR WAIVER REQUEST: Please allow at least 120 days from the date of submission of your I-192 before making an inquiry about the status of your application. As stated earlier, a full review of your circumstances can take up to a year, and requests for status updates may add to that timeline. However, if for some reason you are concerned about the status of your request, and you filed at a CBP Preclearance location or at a land border port of entry after August 26, 2007 you may ask for an update by emailing inquiry.waiver.aro@dhs.gov . In the email, be sure to provide your full name, DOB and your A number. If you filed at a land border port of entry prior to August 26, 2007, please contact them directly. Phone numbers are on our Web site. Attorney inquiries: attorneyinquiry.waiver.aro@dhs.gov If you have submitted an application and you have had a chang...
74 comments
Read more

I-192 waiver application cost going up?

As mentioned by a contributor on the I-194 waiver forum , a recent article on CBC ( Have you ever smoked weed? ) has made claim that the cost of an I-192 waiver application is increasing from $585 to a whopping $930 US ($1,200 CDN) later this year. There seems to be some truth as found on a US Federal Register under a section labelled "TABLE 9—PROPOSED FEES BY IMMIGRATION BENEFIT" (see here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-05-04/pdf/2016-10297.pdf ) If these changes move ahead Canadian's who have been previously denied entry to the US will see a 59% increase on their US waivers. There is some potential good news in that all waivers after the fee increase may be issued for a set 5 year (instead of the current 1, 3, 5 year) with limited exceptions for sexual assault convictions but that has yet to be confirmed. Waiver renewal application processing seemed to have gotten quicker over the summer with some applicants commenting on 3 month returns. So perhaps we can f...
10 comments
Read more