Which status are you in?
The criminal statute is the same for everyone in the courtroom. The immigration consequence is not. A green card holder is tested against the deportability grounds and can lose cancellation of removal. A person who entered without inspection is tested against the inadmissibility grounds and can lose the only path to a green card. A person with a pending application can lose the application. This page sorts out which set of rules applies to you, in about two minutes.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
The fastest way to tell
Answer these two, and you know which list applies to you and whether an application is at stake. The plea tool asks the same two questions first.
Were you admitted to the United States?
An admission is an inspection at a port of entry, or an adjustment of status inside the country. If yes, the deportability grounds in INA 237(a)(2) are the list that applies to you now. If you crossed without inspection, the inadmissibility grounds in INA 212(a)(2) are your list.
Are you applying for anything?
Adjustment of status, a visa, naturalization, TPS, asylum: each application has its own criminal bars on top of the grounds, and an application tests you against inadmissibility even if you were admitted.
Pick the card below that matches. Each one leads to a page that goes through the rules for that status.
You are a permanent resident
Your list: deportability, INA 237(a)(2). The government must prove the ground by clear and convincing evidence.
At stake: cancellation of removal under 240A(a), which an aggravated felony bars and which an offense can stop the clock on. The 212(h) waiver, with its seven-year and aggravated felony bars for some residents. Also naturalization and re-entry after travel.
The dates that matter: when you were admitted, when you became a resident, and when the offense was committed.
Green card holders →
You were admitted on a visa, or hold TPS, DACA, asylee or refugee status
Your list: deportability, INA 237(a)(2), because you were admitted. Inadmissibility as soon as you apply for anything. Parole is not an admission; a person who was paroled in is tested under the inadmissibility list.
At stake: the status itself. TPS has a felony or two-misdemeanor bar. DACA has its own list. Asylee and refugee status can be terminated, and adjustment to a green card requires admissibility.
The date that matters: your admission date, for the five-year CIMT rule.
Visa or temporary status →
You entered without inspection, or your status ended
Your list: if you entered without inspection, inadmissibility, INA 212(a)(2), and the burden is yours. If you were admitted and overstayed, deportability applies to the crime and inadmissibility applies to any application.
At stake: non-LPR cancellation, which any 212(a)(2) or 237(a)(2) conviction bars. Adjustment through a family petition and asylum. And bond: the Laken Riley Act makes detention mandatory on a theft or assault arrest alone.
The date that matters: the day the offense was committed, which stops the ten-year clock.
No lawful status →
You have a pending application, or you are about to file one
Your list: inadmissibility, INA 212(a)(2), for a green card or a visa. Good moral character, INA 101(f), for naturalization, cancellation and voluntary departure. The application's own bars on top.
At stake: the application. A conviction during the statutory period can end a naturalization case, and a plea entered while adjustment is pending can turn an approvable case into a removal case.
The date that matters: the day the application is decided, because the record is read as it stands then.
Applying for status →Green card holders, in one paragraph
You were admitted, so the deportability grounds in INA 237(a)(2) are your list, and DHS has to prove them. A single crime involving moral turpitude makes you deportable only if it was committed within five years of your admission and carried a possible sentence of a year or more; two CIMTs at any time do; any aggravated felony, any controlled-substance offense other than a single small marijuana possession, any firearms offense and any domestic violence offense do, regardless of sentence. If you are charged, the relief that matters most is cancellation of removal under INA 240A(a), which needs five years as a resident and seven years of continuous residence after any admission and is barred by an aggravated felony. The seven-year clock stops on the date you commit a 212(a)(2) offense, not the date you plead. And a resident who travels after committing a 212(a)(2) offense is treated as seeking admission on return, which means the inadmissibility list applies at the airport.
Pleas for green card holders
The full rules, the dates, and what to negotiate.
Read →Travel after a plea
INA 101(a)(13)(C) and why a resident with a conviction should not leave without advice.
Read →Naturalization
The good moral character bars and why filing the N-400 with a record can start a removal case.
Read →Visa holders and temporary statuses, in one paragraph
You were admitted, so the deportability grounds apply to the conviction itself, and the five-year CIMT rule runs from your admission date. But a temporary status is also a status that can be lost on its own terms, and every step toward a green card is an application that tests you against the inadmissibility grounds, where there is no marijuana exception and the burden is yours. TPS is barred by any felony or two misdemeanors. The DACA regulation bars a felony, a listed misdemeanor, or three misdemeanors. An asylee or refugee applying for a green card needs admissibility or a waiver, and a particularly serious crime can end protection altogether. For a nonimmigrant, a conviction can also void the visa and end the ability to return on it.
No lawful status, in one paragraph
If you entered without inspection, you are treated as an applicant for admission, the inadmissibility grounds in INA 212(a)(2) are your list, and you have to prove you are not inadmissible. That list has a petty offense exception for one small CIMT, no marijuana exception for drugs, and it reaches admissions and reason-to-believe findings without a conviction. The relief that matters most is cancellation of removal under INA 240A(b)(1), which any conviction under 212(a)(2) or 237(a)(2) bars, and adjustment through a citizen or resident relative, which needs admissibility or a 212(h) waiver. If you were admitted and overstayed, the deportability grounds apply to the conviction and the inadmissibility grounds apply to any application. Either way, the Laken Riley Act makes detention mandatory for an inadmissible person charged with or arrested for theft, burglary, shoplifting, assault of an officer, or a crime causing death or serious injury, before any conviction.
Applying for status, in one paragraph
Every application has its own criminal test, and the test is applied on the day the application is decided, not the day it was filed. Adjustment of status and any visa require admissibility under INA 212(a)(2), with a 212(h) waiver available for some grounds and not others. Naturalization requires good moral character for the whole statutory period and through the oath, and under 8 C.F.R. 316.10 a single CIMT, a drug offense, 180 days of confinement or an unfinished probation term during that period is enough to deny it. Cancellation and voluntary departure test character too. And a naturalization applicant with a record is presenting that record to the agency that can start a removal case, which is why the N-400 is never filed until the record has been read against the deportability grounds first.
Most people are in more than one
A green card holder about to apply for naturalization is both a permanent resident and an applicant. A person who entered without inspection and has a pending I-130 has no lawful status and is also an applicant. When that happens, both sets of rules apply, and the stricter one controls the plea. The tool asks a few extra questions to sort it out, and so do we.
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.