Commack, NY Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The out-of-status alien cannot get any new visa status in the U.S. now. There are two possible ways for this person to obtain legal status in the U.S.: a) if the alien has no disqualifying criminal convictions,

There is no easy, smooth process for one to sponsor themselves by their own business, unless it's the million dollar investment visa. While it certainly can be done, it's very complex and will have issues that can derail it due to self-sponsorship. And, to adjust through business immigration, a person must be in legal status, typically.

Theft is a crime of moral turpitude; and being convicted of a theft will likely put you in removal proceedings (if ICE does not come for you right away, the removal proceedings will be initiated when you apply for citizenship or for renewal of your green card). For this reason, if it isn't too late yet, get a good criminal defense attorney and ask him to plea-bargain your offense to something like disorderly conduct, if possible. Regardless of the outcome of your criminal case, it would be a good idea to find asap an immigration attorney who would be familiar with your case and be ready to intervene if you find yourself in removal proceedings. It is particularly important if your previous conviction has any immigration law consequences (most criminal convictions do; and it does not matter that yours was sealed). For instance, if you have only one conviction for a crime of moral turpitude, it might fall under the "petty offense" exception to the deportation statute; but, if your sealed conviction was for a crime of moral turpitude, too, it is going to make your deportation much more likely. In some cases, it might be possible to reopen and vacate (wipe out) the prior conviction, but it takes time, and the Immigration Court will not halt removal proceedings to let you complete that process; so, the sooner your attorney would start working on it, the higher your chances not to be deported are likely to be.