If a past criminal conviction is harming your immigration status, you may be eligible for relief under California Penal Code § 1473.7.

Penal Code § 1473.7 allows people—especially non-citizens—to seek post-conviction relief if they accept a guilty or no-contest plea without meaningfully understanding the immigration consequences. You do not need to be in immigration proceedings or detained by ICE to qualify, and you do not have to prove ineffective assistance of counsel. The key question is whether a prejudicial error, such as misunderstanding the risk of deportation, kept you from knowingly accepting the plea.

A non-citizen with a California conviction may qualify for relief under Penal Code § 1473.7 if they are no longer in custody, on probation, or on parole, and the conviction is harming their immigration status. For example, a lawful permanent resident with a drug conviction, such as simple possession under Health & Safety Code § 11350(a), may face detention and removal after contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even after many years in the United States and strong community ties, including steady employment, U.S.-born children, and home ownership. This law was created in California to provide a remedy to help people with deep community ties avoid severe immigration penalties—such as deportation—when an old conviction resulted from a legal error. The law reflects California’s interest in family stability, fair process in the criminal court system, and recognition of the contributions immigrants make to California communities.

At Uribe & Uribe APLC, the process to vacate a conviction begins with an investigation. A review of the record of conviction is required to determine whether you qualify for relief under Penal Code § 1473.7. To be eligible, your criminal case must be fully resolved, with probation completed, all fines and fees paid, and no outstanding warrants. The process typically begins with an investigation into how the conviction occurred, including whether you entered a plea without understanding the immigration consequences or went to trial without appreciating the immigration impact of a conviction. Courts also consider whether you have strong, long-standing ties to your community in the United States.

To succeed in a motion to vacate, a petition must be filed in the court where the conviction occurred, with the goal of showing that you would not have accepted the plea had you known its immigration consequences. To succeed, you must show that, had you understood the immigration consequences at the time you were facing the charges, you would have chosen an immigration-safe alternative. In other words, you must establish that you did not meaningfully understand the conviction’s adverse immigration effects, whether the conviction resulted from a plea or a jury verdict.