{"id":1966,"date":"2020-10-16T21:51:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T21:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/16\/naturalizing-criminal-record\/"},"modified":"2020-10-16T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T21:51:12","slug":"naturalizing-criminal-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law888.com\/?p=1966","title":{"rendered":"Naturalizing with a Criminal Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The option of becoming a U.S. citizen becomes available to most immigrants who have possessed a green card for five years or three years if the green card<\/a> was obtained via marriage.\u00a0 One question our team of immigration experts often receives asks whether a green card holder who has been arrested or has a criminal record can still apply for U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process.\u00a0 The answer will likely depend on the circumstances of the arrest and\/or conviction.<\/p>\n

According to current immigration law, any applicant for citizenship must be considered to have “good moral character”.\u00a0 Good moral character is a relatively open term and is not clearly defined.\u00a0 In most cases it is assumed that a citizenship applicant has, by default, good moral character, but certain actions can detract from that consideration.\u00a0 Too many negative actions could preclude a judgment of good moral character.\u00a0 And some negative actions could carry more weight than others.\u00a0 An immigrant convicted of assault would be less likely to be considered of good moral character than an immigrant convicted of speeding, for example.<\/p>\n

Immigration officials will conduct a background check of anyone applying for naturalization.\u00a0 The background check will include checking your name and any aliases (such as your maiden name) against several criminal databases locally, federally, and even internationally.\u00a0 Should the background check turn up any negative information, immigration officials will have to decide whether they consider you of good moral character.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty of the good moral character test is a very good reason to seek the help of an experienced immigration law firm.\u00a0 The Law Offices of Scott Warmuth can help green card holders navigate the process of naturalization and identify any potential roadblocks, and address them, in advance.\u00a0 We offer free consultations for our immigration services<\/a>, so call us today at 888-517-9888 to learn more.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The option of becoming a U.S. citizen becomes available to most immigrants who have possessed a green card for five years or three years if the green card was obtained via marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal-defense","category-immigration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}