Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(E)  Foreign Convictions Must Be Final to Trigger Immigration Consequences.  Foreign convictions fall under the normal rules requiring that the conviction be final, i.e., direct appeal must have been exhausted or waived before the conviction will trigger immigration consequences.[122]  See § 7.37, infra.

[122] Marino v. INS, 537 F.2d 686 (2d Cir. 1976); Matter of D, 8 I. & N. Dec. 199 (BIA 1958) (conviction in Canada has attained “finality” for purposes of the immigration laws when the offender has been placed on probation or on suspended sentence pursuant to section 1081 of the Canadian Criminal Code).  See D. Kesselbrenner & L. Rosenberg, Immigration Law and Crimes § § 2:17-2.19 (2007).