Waivers after a conviction
If the conviction stands and fits a ground of removal, the last question is which waiver or form of relief is still open. The answer is different for each one. The 212(h) waiver reaches a crime involving moral turpitude and a single small marijuana possession but not any other drug offense. Cancellation is closed by an aggravated felony. Asylum and withholding are closed by a particularly serious crime. Deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture is closed by nothing. This page is the map, form by form.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
Every waiver and every form of relief has its own criminal bar, and a conviction that closes one can leave another open. The work is matching the conviction to the list. This page states what each form of relief requires and which convictions close it. How each one is litigated in front of the immigration judge, the hardship evidence, the discretion, the hearing, is on immigrationtrial.com, and the cards at the bottom go there. What the conviction is in the first place is the crimes and removal analysis, and what can be done to the conviction itself is the rest of the after a plea section.
The 212(h) waiver
INA 212(h) waives inadmissibility under 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I), a crime involving moral turpitude; under 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(II) only for a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana; under 212(a)(2)(B), multiple convictions with aggregate sentences of five years or more; under 212(a)(2)(D), prostitution; and under 212(a)(2)(E), serious crimes where immunity was asserted. It does not reach any other drug conviction. There is no firearms ground of inadmissibility, so there is nothing in 212(a)(2) for a firearms conviction to be waived from, and a false claim to citizenship under 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) is outside 212(h) entirely.
There are three routes to the waiver under 212(h)(1)(A), (B) and (C):
- The offense is more than 15 years old, admission would not be contrary to the national welfare, safety or security, and you have been rehabilitated;
- Denial would result in extreme hardship to a United States citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, son or daughter; or
- You are a VAWA self-petitioner.
Two exclusions and one bar sit on top of the routes. No waiver is available for murder or criminal acts involving torture, or an attempt or conspiracy to commit either. And the flush text bars the waiver for a person "previously admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence" who has since been convicted of an aggravated felony, or who has not lawfully resided continuously in the United States for 7 years before the initiation of proceedings.
The LPR bar depends on how you became a resident
Under Matter of J-H-J-, 26 I&N Dec. 563 (BIA 2015), the LPR bar applies only to a person who entered at a port of entry as a permanent resident. A person who adjusted status inside the United States was not "admitted" as a permanent resident and is not subject to it, even after an aggravated felony conviction. Whether a permanent resident in removal proceedings must pair the 212(h) waiver with an application for adjustment of status, rather than seek it on its own, is litigated and varies by circuit. The immigrationtrial.com 212(h) page linked below covers it.
One more standard applies to the worst offenses. Under 8 C.F.R. 1212.7(d) and Matter of Jean, 23 I&N Dec. 373 (A.G. 2002), where the offense is a violent or dangerous crime, the waiver is granted only in extraordinary circumstances or on a showing of exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. That is a higher bar than the extreme hardship the statute requires, and it is applied before discretion is reached.
Former 212(c)
Former INA 212(c) was repealed in 1996. Under INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001), it remains available to a permanent resident who pleaded guilty before April 1, 1997 and who had seven consecutive years of lawful unrelinquished domicile. Under 8 C.F.R. 1212.3(f) it is barred where the conviction was an aggravated felony for which the person served five years or more. For a plea entered on or after April 1, 1997, 212(c) does not exist. The date of the plea is the whole question.
Cancellation of removal
For permanent residents
Cancellation of removal for a permanent resident, INA 240A(a), requires five years as a permanent resident, seven years of continuous residence after admission in any status, and no aggravated felony conviction. The aggravated felony bar has no exception and no waiver. The seven years are counted under the stop-time rule in INA 240A(d)(1): continuous residence ends when the Notice to Appear is served or when you commit an offense referred to in 212(a)(2) that renders you inadmissible under 212(a)(2) or removable under 237(a)(2) or (a)(4), whichever comes first. Under Matter of Perez, 22 I&N Dec. 689 (BIA 1999), the offense stops time on the date it was committed, not the date of the plea, and under Barton v. Barr, 590 U.S. 222 (2020), an offense that "renders" a permanent resident inadmissible stops time even though the resident is not seeking admission. The stop-time rule page works through the dates.
For everyone else
Cancellation of removal for anyone else, INA 240A(b)(1), requires ten years of continuous physical presence, good moral character during that period, exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent or child, and no conviction of an offense under 212(a)(2), 237(a)(2) or 237(a)(3). That last bar is wide: a single CIMT, a drug offense, a firearms offense or a domestic-violence offense closes non-LPR cancellation regardless of sentence. Under Matter of Cortez Canales, 25 I&N Dec. 301 (BIA 2010), the petty offense exception applies to a CIMT that would otherwise be a 212(a)(2) offense, but not to an offense that is independently a 237(a)(2) ground.
VAWA cancellation
VAWA cancellation under INA 240A(b)(2) requires three years of presence, good moral character and extreme hardship, and is closed to a person who is inadmissible under 212(a)(2) or (3), deportable under 237(a)(1)(G), (2), (3) or (4), or convicted of an aggravated felony.
Voluntary departure
Under INA 240B(a)(1), voluntary departure before the conclusion of proceedings is not available to a person deportable for an aggravated felony or on security grounds. Under 240B(b)(1)(B) and (C), voluntary departure at the conclusion of proceedings also requires good moral character for the preceding five years, which the bars on the good moral character page can defeat: a CIMT, a drug offense, or confinement of 180 days or more during the period.
Asylum, withholding and the Convention Against Torture
Asylum
Asylum is barred under INA 208(b)(2)(A)(ii) for a person convicted of a particularly serious crime, and under 208(b)(2)(B)(i) an aggravated felony is per se a particularly serious crime for asylum. Any aggravated felony, whatever the sentence.
Withholding of removal
Withholding of removal is barred under INA 241(b)(3)(B)(ii) for a particularly serious crime, but the per se rule is narrower: an aggravated felony or felonies with an aggregate term of imprisonment of at least five years is per se particularly serious. Everything else is decided case by case, under the factors in Matter of Frentescu, 18 I&N Dec. 244 (BIA 1982), and Matter of N-A-M-, 24 I&N Dec. 336 (BIA 2007): the nature of the conviction, the sentence, the circumstances and underlying facts, and whether they indicate a danger to the community. A conviction that closes asylum does not necessarily close withholding.
Deferral of removal under CAT
Deferral of removal under CAT is not barred by any criminal conviction. 8 C.F.R. 1208.17(a). It is the one form of protection a record cannot close. It is also the narrowest: it protects against removal to the country of torture only, it can be terminated if conditions change, and it confers no status. The asylee and refugee side of this is on the asylee and refugee pleas page.
The U visa waiver
For a victim of a qualifying crime applying for a U visa, INA 212(d)(14) allows the criminal grounds in 212(a)(2) to be waived in the public or national interest. It is the broadest criminal waiver in the statute, and it reaches drug convictions that 212(h) cannot. It is available only to a U applicant, and it is discretionary.
The map
| Relief | What it requires | Which convictions close it | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 212(h) waiver | 15 years plus rehabilitation, or extreme hardship to a USC or LPR spouse, parent, son or daughter, or VAWA self-petitioner | Any drug offense other than a single possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana; murder or torture; for a person admitted at a port of entry as an LPR, an aggravated felony or fewer than 7 years of lawful residence; violent or dangerous crimes face the Jean standard | INA 212(h); 8 C.F.R. 1212.7(d); J-H-J-; Jean |
| Former 212(c) | LPR; 7 years lawful unrelinquished domicile; plea before April 1, 1997 | An aggravated felony with 5 years or more served; any plea on or after April 1, 1997 | former INA 212(c); 8 C.F.R. 1212.3(f); St. Cyr |
| LPR cancellation | 5 years as LPR; 7 years continuous residence; stop-time | Any aggravated felony | INA 240A(a), (d)(1) |
| Non-LPR cancellation | 10 years presence; good moral character; hardship to a USC or LPR spouse, parent or child | Any conviction under 212(a)(2), 237(a)(2) or 237(a)(3) | INA 240A(b)(1); Cortez Canales |
| VAWA cancellation | 3 years presence; good moral character; extreme hardship | Inadmissible under 212(a)(2) or (3), deportable under 237(a)(1)(G), (2), (3) or (4), or an aggravated felony | INA 240A(b)(2) |
| Voluntary departure | Before conclusion: not an aggravated felon; at conclusion: also 5 years good moral character | Aggravated felony; at conclusion, any good-moral-character bar | INA 240B(a)(1), (b)(1) |
| Asylum | Persecution on a protected ground | Any aggravated felony, or another particularly serious crime | INA 208(b)(2)(A)(ii), (B)(i) |
| Withholding of removal | Clear probability of persecution | Aggravated felony with an aggregate sentence of 5 years or more; other offenses case by case | INA 241(b)(3)(B); Frentescu; N-A-M- |
| CAT deferral | More likely than not to be tortured | None | 8 C.F.R. 1208.17(a) |
| U visa waiver | U applicant; public or national interest | Reaches the 212(a)(2) grounds, in discretion | INA 212(d)(14) |
The table is about eligibility. Every form of relief on it is also discretionary, and the conviction that does not bar relief still weighs against it. That is the court side of the case.
The 212(h) waiver as it is litigated before the judge: the three routes, the hardship record, the LPR bar, whether the waiver must be paired with adjustment, and the violent-or-dangerous standard.
The 212(h) waiver →
immigrationtrial.comCancellation of removal for permanent residents: the seven years, the stop-time rule in practice, the hearing, and the discretionary balance when there is a record.
Cancellation for permanent residents →
Common questions
Can a drug conviction be waived?
Almost never. The 212(h) waiver reaches the controlled-substance ground of inadmissibility only for a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana. Every other drug conviction is outside 212(h). The U visa waiver under INA 212(d)(14) can reach the criminal grounds in the public or national interest, and deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture has no criminal bar, but for most people a drug conviction has no waiver, which is why it has to be avoided at the plea.
I have a green card. Does that bar me from 212(h)?
It depends on how you got it. The statute bars 212(h) for a person previously admitted as a lawful permanent resident who has since been convicted of an aggravated felony or who has not lawfully resided continuously for seven years before proceedings began. Under Matter of J-H-J-, that bar applies only to a person who entered at a port of entry as a permanent resident. A person who adjusted status inside the United States is not subject to it.
My plea was before 1997. Is there anything different for me?
Possibly. Former INA 212(c) was repealed in 1996, but under INS v. St. Cyr it remains available to a permanent resident who pleaded guilty before April 1, 1997 and had seven consecutive years of lawful unrelinquished domicile, unless the conviction was an aggravated felony for which five years or more were served. The date of the plea decides whether this door exists at all.
Is there anything that no conviction can close?
Deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture. Under 8 C.F.R. 1208.17(a), deferral is not barred by any criminal conviction. It requires proof that you would more likely than not be tortured if removed, and it is a narrower protection than asylum or withholding, but it is the one form of relief that a criminal record does not touch.
Tell us about the charge before you take the plea. Not after.
You get a free conversation with an immigration attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will read the charge against the immigration statute, tell you what the offered plea does to your status and to every form of relief, and tell you what to ask your criminal lawyer to negotiate instead. If the plea has already been entered, we will tell you what can still be done.