088: Should I Apply for Citizenship If I Have a Record?

Sophie Alcorn Podcast

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, together with my law partner, Anita Koumriqian, we discuss what you should know about applying for U.S. citizenship if you already have a green card and you have some sort of record, whether in the form of an arrest, a DUI or drug possession.

Everybody should obviously be careful and try to not commit crimes. But when you're an immigrant, you have to be extra careful about what you do because there's a lot of stuff that you might encounter that could jeopardize your immigration status. One of the things also worth noting is that citizenship is very jurisdictional where it's unique to where you're living, specifically within the community in which the applicant resides.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Qualifications for U.S. citizenship and the five-year statutory period
• Good moral character standards
• Things you need to disclose (expungement, citations, etc.)
• How the USCIS could find out you’ve committed a crime
• Types of minor level and major level convictions

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Resources:

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 14: Visas & Green Cards Based on Past Accomplishments

• Episode 29: Sponsoring Employees for PERM Green Cards

• Episode 81: The Engineers I’m Recruiting Want H-1B Transfers and Green Cards… What Do I Do?

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.