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Cal. PEN § 653.56

This is the official text of Cal. PEN § 653.56, part of California’s Penal Code — defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Compensation” means money, property, or anything else of value.

(b) “Immigration matter” means any proceeding, filing, or action affecting the immigration or citizenship status of any person which arises under immigration and naturalization law, executive order or presidential proclamation, or action of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Department of State, or the United States Department of Labor.

(c) “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, other organization, or any employee or agent thereof.

(d) “Preparation” means giving advice on an immigration matter and includes drafting an application, brief, document, petition, or other paper, or completing a form provided by a federal or state agency in an immigration matter.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.