Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(B)  Consular Processing.  The State Department, for visa issuance purposes, has given the following definition of the term “moral turpitude”:

It is defined as anything done contrary to justice, honesty, principle, or good morals; an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow man, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule or right and duty between man and man.  Moral turpitude implies something immoral in itself, regardless of the fact whether it is punishable by law.  It must not merely be mala prohibita, but the act itself must be inherently immoral.  The doing of the act itself, and not its prohibition by statute, fixes the moral turpitude.[16]

Counsel should expect this definition to be used by the State Department in processing visa applications.

[16] 9 U.S. Dep’t of State, Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) § 40.21(a), N2.2.