A conviction from your past doesn’t have to decide your future.
If a guilty plea is now blocking your green card, your citizenship — or already led to a removal order — California law may allow a judge to vacate that conviction. Our family firm has practiced criminal and immigration law in Los Angeles for more than 45 years.
Free, confidential case review
Tell us what happened. An attorney — not a call center — reviews every submission.
Three legal grounds to vacate a conviction under § 1473.7
You may file if you are no longer in criminal custody for the conviction. A judge must grant the motion when the error is shown by a preponderance of the evidence.
You didn’t understand the immigration consequences
The most common ground. If you took a plea without meaningfully understanding it could trigger deportation, block a green card, or bar citizenship — and that error prejudiced you — the conviction is legally invalid. Most of our clients were never truly advised, or would have fought the case had they known.
New evidence shows you are actually innocent
Newly discovered evidence — recanted testimony, new witnesses, DNA, proof someone else committed the offense — can require the court to vacate the conviction in the interest of justice.
Race, ethnicity, or national origin tainted the case
Under California’s Racial Justice Act (Pen. Code § 745), a conviction or sentence obtained because of bias based on race, ethnicity, or national origin can be vacated.
This is about your whole life — not just a court file
Immigration
- Removes the conviction that made you deportable or inadmissible
- Can support a motion to reopen a removal case — even after a deportation order
- Reopens paths to a green card, visa renewal, or naturalization
Work & licensing
- A vacated conviction is legally invalid — not merely dismissed
- Helps with professional licenses, certifications, and background checks
- Removes a barrier many employers can’t look past
Your record & family
- The judgment is set aside as though the error never happened
- May allow withdrawal of the plea and dismissal of old charges
- Lets families plan a future without an old case hanging over it
From case review to court ruling
Because we practice both criminal defense and immigration law, the same firm that vacates the conviction can pursue the immigration relief that follows.
Free case review
We hear your story, pull the court file and plea transcript, and tell you honestly whether § 1473.7 — or another remedy — fits your case.
Investigation & declaration
We gather records, immigration history, and evidence of what you were (and weren’t) told when you pled.
Motion & hearing
We file in the county of conviction and argue the motion. If you’re outside the U.S., the court can excuse your personal appearance for good cause.
After the grant
With the conviction vacated, we move immediately on the immigration side — a motion to reopen, an application, or a defense to removal.
In removal proceedings — or already deported?
Timing matters. The law expects motions to be filed with reasonable diligence once immigration consequences surface — a Notice to Appear, a denial, a removal order. And yes: a § 1473.7 motion can be litigated even if you are outside the United States. If the conviction is vacated, we can seek to reopen the immigration case that relied on it.
A Los Angeles family firm, built for exactly this problem
Most 1473.7 cases live at the border of two practice areas. A criminal lawyer who doesn’t know immigration law can win the motion and still leave you deportable. An immigration lawyer who doesn’t litigate in criminal court can’t win the motion at all. Lluis Law — Ramiro J. Lluis and David A. Lluis — has practiced both, together, for more than 45 years from our office on Broadway, in English and Spanish.
The conviction is step one. What it did to your immigration life is step two. We handle both.
Questions families ask us every week
How is vacating a conviction different from an expungement?
Is there a deadline to file?
I was already deported. Can I still file?
Do I have to prove my lawyer back then did something wrong?
What does it cost?
Will this work for any conviction?
One conversation can tell you if this is possible.
Call, chat, or send the form. You’ll get a straight answer about whether your conviction can be vacated — and what it would mean for your immigration case.