Will this charge affect my green card or citizenship?

Criminal charges can affect status in several ways: triggering removability, barring relief, preventing naturalization, and blocking reentry after travel.

The definitional trap. Federal immigration law treats a disposition as a conviction where guilt was admitted or found and any penalty was imposed. That means a withhold of adjudication — not a conviction under Florida law — frequently counts as one for immigration purposes. People rely on the Florida answer and are wrong.

Categories that matter most: controlled substance offenses, crimes involving moral turpitude, aggravated felonies as federally defined, domestic violence offenses, and firearms offenses. The federal definitions don't track Florida's labels, and an offense that sounds minor can fall into a serious federal category.

What this means for strategy. A plea that looks like a good criminal outcome can be a catastrophic immigration outcome. The two have to be evaluated together, before any plea.

If you are not a U.S. citizen, raise that at the first meeting. Counsel with immigration expertise is frequently warranted alongside criminal defense.