Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

(C)

Immigration Benefits of Reduction of Felony to Misdemeanor.  There are three major immigration benefits of obtaining a court order reducing a felony to a misdemeanor or a misdemeanor to an infraction.  These benefits include avoiding immigration damage, or obtaining an immigration benefit, that depends on:

(1)   whether the immigrant has a felony conviction,

(2)   whether the immigrant has a certain number of misdemeanor convictions, or

(3)   whether the maximum custody for an offense is one year or less.

            For example, if an immigration consequence depends on whether the defendant has a felony conviction, the granting of the motion to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor will avoid the negative immigration consequence and qualify the immigrant for the immigration benefit.  If an immigrant’s conviction can have no more than a one-year possible sentence in order to qualify for an immigration benefit, reduction of a felony to a misdemeanor will reduce the maximum possible sentence from a state prison sentence greater than one year, to a one-year maximum possible misdemeanor sentence, thus enabling the immigrant to obtain the immigration benefit.  If a certain number of misdemeanor convictions will disqualify an immigrant from a certain immigration benefit, successfully reducing a misdemeanor to an infraction can avoid the disqualification.