Re-Entry Risk for a Permanent Resident With an Old DUI Arrest

Attorney Answer

For this particular trip there is very little to worry about: St. Thomas is in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which is United States territory. Flying there and back is domestic travel — you are not leaving the country, so you are not seeking admission when you return.

That is the fact that decides your question, and it gets missed in almost every discussion of DUIs and travel. Check one thing before you rely on it: if your trip is a cruise or an itinerary that calls at a foreign port — the British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, anywhere outside U.S. territory — then you are travelling internationally and the analysis below applies.

For genuinely international travel, the governing framework is INA § 101(a)(13)(C); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C). A returning lawful permanent resident is not regarded as seeking a new admission unless one of six enumerated conditions applies, including clause (v), where the person has committed an offense identified in § 212(a)(2). And INA § 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I); 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) requires a conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, or an admission of having committed the offense or of the acts constituting its essential elements. An arrest that produced no conviction ordinarily satisfies neither.

Two honest caveats. Clause (v) is written in terms of having *committed* an offense rather than having been convicted of one, so the absence of a conviction is not categorically the end of the analysis. And the admission route in § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) has real safeguards — the offense must be defined for the person, and the admission must be voluntary and unequivocal — which is exactly why you should not narrate an old arrest to an officer at a checkpoint. A stray remark is not automatically an admission, but there is no reason to test it.

What you can do

1. Confirm your itinerary. A flight to St. Thomas and back is domestic. A cruise with a foreign port call is not. 2. Get the certified court disposition showing that the case six years ago ended without a conviction, and keep a copy with your travel documents. 3. Carry your green card. A Global Entry card is a trusted-traveler credential; it is not proof of your immigration status. 4. If you are sent to secondary inspection, answer questions about your identity and status, decline to discuss the facts of the old arrest, and sign nothing that gives up your permanent residence. 5. If you plan real international travel later, have an immigration lawyer read that disposition once against § 1182(a)(2). A single review covers years of trips.