Reentry as a Green Card Holder With Two Old DUI Convictions

Attorney Answer

You will most likely be readmitted, but the reason matters more than the reassurance: as a returning permanent resident you are generally not treated as seeking admission at all, so the inadmissibility grounds do not apply to you unless one of six specific things is true.

That rule is 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C). A lawful permanent resident returning from a trip abroad is not regarded as seeking an admission unless the person (i) has abandoned or relinquished status, (ii) has been absent more than 180 continuous days, (iii) engaged in illegal activity after departing, (iv) departed while under legal process seeking removal or extradition, (v) has committed an offense identified in 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2), or (vi) attempts to enter at an undesignated time or place or without inspection. A two-week vacation with a valid green card does not touch (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or (vi). Everything therefore rides on (v).

The § 1182(a)(2) ground that could matter is 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I): a noncitizen convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude is inadmissible. Whether a DUI qualifies depends on the elements of the Wisconsin statute you were convicted under, not on how long the sentence was or how serious it felt.

There is a trap in the escape hatch. The petty offense exception, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II), applies only where the person committed only one crime, the maximum possible penalty did not exceed one year, and the sentence imposed was not more than six months. You have two convictions. If both were treated as crimes involving moral turpitude, that exception would not be available to you.

What you can do — before you fly, not after

1. Order certified copies of the judgment of conviction and complete disposition for both Wisconsin cases, including the statute subsection you pled to and the exact sentence imposed. Do this this week; Wisconsin clerks are not fast. 2. Take those certified copies with you, along with your green card and evidence of your continuing ties here. 3. Have an immigration lawyer read the two statutes of conviction against the moral-turpitude standard before you leave. This is a one-hour question for someone who does it regularly. 4. Keep the trip short and return well within the 180-day line. 5. If you are sent to secondary inspection, ask to speak with a lawyer and do not sign anything giving up your permanent resident status.

⏱ Time limits apply. The 180-continuous-day absence line in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C)(ii) is a hard statutory threshold, and once you are outside the United States an admissibility problem is far harder and slower to fix than it is from inside. How the rest of § 1101(a)(13)(C) applies depends on your specific convictions.