What counts as a conviction
Immigration law has its own definition of a conviction, and it is wider than most state definitions. A guilty plea with probation and no judgment is a conviction. A withheld adjudication is a conviction. A sentence that was suspended in full is a sentence. A record that the state later expunged is still a conviction. Before anyone can say what a plea does to your status, the first question is whether the disposition on offer is a conviction at all, and the answer comes from the federal statute, not from what the criminal court calls it.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
Every rule on this site starts with the word "conviction." Most of the grounds of removal require one. Most of the bars to relief require one. If the disposition you are offered is not a conviction under the immigration definition, most of those rules do not reach it, and if it is, they do. This page is that definition, the dispositions that fall inside it, the ones that fall outside it, and the one way a conviction can later stop being one. The full map of the criminal grounds is on the crimes and removal page.
The definition
INA 101(a)(48)(A) says a conviction means, with respect to an alien, a formal judgment of guilt entered by a court, or, if adjudication of guilt has been withheld, where
- a judge or jury has found the person guilty, or the person has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt; and
- the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the person's liberty to be imposed.
The first half is the ordinary case: a judgment of conviction. The second half is the one that catches people. It reaches every disposition in which the court withheld or deferred a judgment but you pleaded guilty or no contest and the court imposed anything at all. Probation is a restraint on liberty. A fine is a penalty. A treatment program, community service, a no-contact order entered as part of the disposition, a suspended sentence: each has been treated as a penalty or restraint.
INA 101(a)(48)(B) does the same thing to sentences. Any reference to a term of imprisonment or a sentence "is deemed to include the period of incarceration or confinement ordered by a court of law regardless of any suspension of the imposition or execution of that imprisonment or sentence in whole or in part."
The plea plus anything equals a conviction
If the offer is "plead guilty, complete a year of probation, and the charge will be dismissed," that is a conviction the day you plead. The later dismissal is a rehabilitative act and does not undo it. If the offer is "the charge is adjourned and dismissed in six months with no plea," that is not a conviction, because nothing on the first list happened. The difference is the plea. Ask what you are being asked to say in court before you ask what you get in exchange.
Dispositions that are convictions
| Disposition | Why it is a conviction | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Judgment of conviction after a plea or a trial | A formal judgment of guilt | INA 101(a)(48)(A) |
| Deferred adjudication with a plea and community supervision | Plea plus a restraint on liberty | Matter of Punu, 22 I&N Dec. 224 (BIA 1998) |
| Florida withhold of adjudication after a plea, with probation or a fine | Plea plus a penalty or restraint | INA 101(a)(48)(A); Fla. Stat. 948.01 |
| A New York "violation" adjudicated in a criminal proceeding | Meets the statutory test on its face if the proceeding was criminal in nature, even though state law does not call the offense a crime; no reported Second Circuit decision squarely holds it, so treat it as a conviction risk | INA 101(a)(48)(A); Matter of Eslamizar, 23 I&N Dec. 684 (BIA 2004) |
| A New Jersey disorderly persons offense | Prosecuted in a criminal proceeding to proof beyond a reasonable doubt; New Jersey does not use the felony and misdemeanor labels at all | N.J.S.A. 2C:1-4; the 101(a)(48)(A) test |
| A conviction later expunged, set aside or dismissed under a rehabilitative statute | Rehabilitative relief does not eliminate a conviction | Matter of Roldan-Santoyo, 22 I&N Dec. 512 (BIA 1999) |
| A conviction vacated solely to avoid immigration consequences | Still a conviction; only a vacatur for a defect counts | Matter of Pickering, 23 I&N Dec. 621 (BIA 2003) |
Dispositions that are not convictions
| Disposition | Why it is not a conviction | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Juvenile delinquency adjudication | Not a criminal conviction | Matter of Devison-Charles, 22 I&N Dec. 1362 (BIA 2000) |
| New York youthful offender adjudication, CPL Article 720 | Analogous to a federal juvenile delinquency determination | Matter of Devison-Charles |
| A proceeding that is not criminal in nature (a civil infraction decided on a preponderance standard) | Not a judgment of guilt in a criminal proceeding | Matter of Eslamizar, 23 I&N Dec. 684 (BIA 2004) |
| Dismissal after a diversion program with no plea and no finding of guilt (for example New Jersey pretrial intervention without a plea) | Nothing on the first list of 101(a)(48)(A) happened | INA 101(a)(48)(A); N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12 |
| Federal first-offender disposition for simple possession under 18 U.S.C. 3607 | The federal statute says the dismissed proceeding "shall not be considered a conviction" | 18 U.S.C. 3607(a), (b) |
| A conviction vacated for a substantive or procedural defect in the case | No longer a conviction | Matter of Pickering |
Two cautions. A state analog of the federal first-offender statute does not get the federal statute's protection; under Roldan-Santoyo the state expungement is rehabilitative and the conviction stands. And whether a particular state's diversion, conditional discharge or adjournment-in-contemplation-of-dismissal disposition is a conviction depends on whether a plea or a finding of guilt was entered and whether the court imposed a penalty or restraint. A state-by-state list of those dispositions would mislead you, because the answer turns on how each one is actually entered in each court. Bring the paperwork, or ask your criminal lawyer exactly what the court will require you to say.
Admissions without a conviction
For a person seeking admission or adjustment, two grounds do not need a conviction at all. INA 212(a)(2)(A)(i) reaches a person who admits having committed a crime involving moral turpitude or a controlled-substance violation, or admits the essential elements of one. INA 212(a)(2)(C) reaches a person the government has reason to believe is or has been a drug trafficker, with no conviction and no admission. And under INA 237(a)(2)(E)(ii), a court's finding that you violated the protective part of a protection order is a ground of deportability without any criminal conviction.
This matters at the plea because the plea colloquy, the allocution and any factual basis you agree to can be an admission even where the resulting disposition is not a conviction. What you say in court is part of the record forever. The record of conviction page explains which documents the immigration judge will read.
The one way out
A conviction stops being a conviction only when the criminal court vacates it for a substantive or procedural defect in the original proceeding. Under Matter of Pickering, a vacatur granted for immigration hardship or because you have been rehabilitated leaves the conviction in place. The most common qualifying defect for a noncitizen is the one the Supreme Court identified in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010): a plea entered without correct advice about its immigration consequences. That is the subject of the vacating a plea page, and it is why the record of what your lawyer told you before the plea matters as much as the plea itself.
Read next: deferred and withheld adjudication, youthful offender and juvenile cases, expungement and sealing, or vacating a plea.
Common questions
I pleaded guilty but the judge never entered a judgment. Is that a conviction?
Almost always, yes. Under INA 101(a)(48)(A), where adjudication of guilt has been withheld, a conviction exists if you entered a plea of guilty or no contest (or admitted sufficient facts) and the judge ordered some form of punishment, penalty or restraint on liberty. Probation, a fine, community service, a treatment program or a suspended sentence all count as a penalty. A Texas deferred adjudication was held to be a conviction in Matter of Punu, and a Florida withhold of adjudication after a plea works the same way.
My record was expunged. Does immigration still count it?
Yes, if the expungement was rehabilitative. Under Matter of Roldan-Santoyo, a state expungement, set-aside or dismissal granted because you completed probation or stayed out of trouble does not eliminate the conviction for immigration purposes. Only a vacatur based on a substantive or procedural defect in the original case, under Matter of Pickering, removes it.
Does a juvenile case count?
A juvenile delinquency adjudication is not a conviction. Under Matter of Devison-Charles, a New York youthful offender adjudication is treated the same way, because it is the counterpart of a federal juvenile delinquency finding. Whether another state's youthful offender or similar disposition is a conviction depends on whether it is a judgment of guilt in a criminal proceeding, and that has to be checked against the statute that created it.
Does a suspended sentence count as a sentence?
Yes, in full. Under INA 101(a)(48)(B), a reference to a term of imprisonment means the period the court ordered regardless of any suspension of its imposition or execution. A one-year sentence suspended in full is a one-year sentence for every rule that turns on sentence length, including the aggravated felony entries and the petty offense exception.
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.