Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing I-601 Waivers specifically in the context of Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent posting on X, on Bangkok Boy's channel on X or X's account, his posting @BangkokBoy17. The article is titled: Bangkok's Fake Goods Empire Crumbling: MBK Center Raided After Falling on US "Notorious Markets" Blacklist. Quoting directly: "In a strike against the trade of illicit goods, Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) launched a massive, coordinated raid on Bangkok's famed MBK." Quoting further: "The operation, which unfolded across 17 high-priority targets within the shopping complex on March 12, 2026, resulted in the seizure of over 100,000 counterfeit items with an estimated market value exceeding 30 million baht." 

I did another video contemporaneously with this one where I talked about this development in and of itself, and I urge those who are watching this video, maybe go check that out if you're interested in the underlying issue of the raid. The point of this video though is I have actually had clients over the years, and in fact in the few cases I have added involving this, none of them even knew that they were doing something illegal. They were selling in fact in all three I think cases they were selling T-shirts and it was in a street stall situation, like if you go to Patpong Night Market or something like that, they were selling T-shirts. They didn't know that the supply chain of these t-shirts originated with them being knock offs; they thought that they were real. But that said, they were arrested and they were cited for selling counterfeit consumer goods. That can be considered a species of fraud that falls within what is called the provision within the American Immigration Nationality Act that pertains to Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude or CIMT. And if convicted for such a thing, a person may still be able to get a Visa but they have got to go ahead and process an I-601 Waiver in order to get that conviction, that citation of the conviction, and therefore the finding of a legal ground of inadmissibility to the United States, you have got to get that waived, and doing so you need to go ahead and prove up extreme hardship to a qualifying relative; I have done a number of videos in the past regarding that. 

But long story short, yes CIMT can be a major thing, and it can have a tremendous impact on one's ability to immigrate to the United States. On top of everything else, we are also dealing with Trump's travel ban or travel pause at the moment so it may or may not have an impact on those that are having to undergo the I-601 waiver process because it already takes not significant, but more time to process a 601 waiver than you would with just a standard visa, somebody seeking a K-1 Fiancé Visa, K-3 Marriage Visa, a CR-1 Marriage Visa or an IR-1 Marriage Visa. Again, there is the standard process for that and then on top of that, you have got to deal with the I-601 issues. Again, depending on the underlying facts in the case and sort of the procedural posture associated therewith, you may not even notice Trump's Visa pause if you are dealing with the 601. 

That said, I do have one case that ripened up and we got the 601 approved only to find the Visa pause come in to affect and I was trying to get the thing reset for interview in the aftermath of the waiver being approved, but it turned out I have to wait till April - and I started doing that back in December - and I discussed this in other videos that again back in December, they just weren't scheduling anything until April. So my hunch is and it's a hunch, it's speculation, the Visa pause is going to end in April. Again, I could be wrong about that, it remains to be seen. But the thing to take away from this video and to understand is yeah even something as innocuous as selling, inadvertently or otherwise, whether or not one had malicious intent, if they are found and cited to be selling counterfeit goods in Thailand, or anywhere else for that matter, that could be deemed a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude and that could lead to a denial of a visa application and that denial can only be overcome by the issuance and approval of an I-601 Waiver.