Hello! And thank you for your question! I'm happy to help you with your Immigration or TSA questions, and will do my best to do so based on my expertise. Please note that while you are working with me, I also will be working with several other customers, so you may experience delays. Please be patient as we work through this process - your questions WILL be answered in the order they are received.

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict whether an officer at the border will permit you to enter the US, with a criminal record. The decision that the consular officer makes is a separate and distinct decision, and the border agent does not have to follow the consular officer. The only thing the visa does is make you eligible to travel to the US and eligible to enter the US. But it is the border agent that decides whether they will let you in, even if the visa is approved.

The best I can offer is that it is highly unlikely that you will have issues entering the US. This is because immigration laws do provide an exception to a theft conviction, through the "petty offense exception." The exception says that if the maximum penalty possible for the crime of which the alien was convicted … did not exceed imprisonment for one year and, if the alien was convicted of such crime, the alien was not sentenced to a term of imprisonment in excess of 6 months (regardless of the extent to which the sentence was ultimately executed), then the petty criminal offense will be excused, for the purposes of admission to the US.

So if you qualify for the exception, it is unlikely you will confront issues entering the US.

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Thank you!