Crimes of Moral Turpitude

(B)

Suspension Based on Ten Years.  A person who is deportable under one of the crime-related grounds of deportation, such as the moral turpitude, controlled substances, or aggravated felony provisions, must show ten years of continuous physical presence and Good Moral Character immediately following the event that rendered him or her deportable.[423]  Thus, even defendants who have a serious conviction in the distant past may still be eligible for this form of suspension (assuming, of course, that their deportation proceedings began before April 1, 1997 and that they are otherwise eligible).

Conviction of an aggravated felony is a permanent bar to a finding of Good Moral Character if the conviction occurred after November 29, 1990.  See N. Tooby & J. Rollin, Criminal Defense of Immigrants § 15.6 (4th ed. 2007).

Suspension may still be granted if the conviction occurred before that date. 

[423] INA § 244(a)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a)(2).  The BIA has held that where a conviction is the event that makes the person inadmissible, the ten years runs from the date of conviction, not the date of commission of the offense.  Matter of P, 6 I. & N. Dec. 788 (BIA 1955).