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Green Card

by Debbie McGoldrick

Debbie is the editor of our sister publication, The Irish Voice, and is an expert on immigration issues.

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Green Card for May 2012

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Friday, May 25, 2012 at 09:41 AM

Applying for a green card with a criminal record

"I am living in the U.S., and I have been a U.S. citizen for the past four months. I won the green card through the lottery seven years ago and I am very happy here. I have a brother back home in Ireland who would like to come here and work for an indefinite period of time. He is 28 years old and lived in London for two years. During that time he was arrested because he had a fight. He was convicted but did not serve jail time. He was also arrested in Ireland on a drunk driving charge, but he didn’t hurt anyone and didn’t serve jail time. I would like to sponsor him to come out here, but I’m aware that his background could stand against him. What should we do? Could I sponsor him? Can he come out to the U.S. and stay while we do the sponsorship. He has stopped drinking and has really straightened out his life and he would do well here.”