Well for what is worth i can share my past experiences in applying for E (investor Visa) HI-b (skilled employee visa) green cards and other types of visa's for both family and employees, I am
not an immigration expert
nor am I an immigration lawyer but if it helps I will share my experiences with the application process with you. I am not familair with the M type visa but i assume it is similar to the old J type for students and short term professional training.
A caveat is most, but not all, of the applications I made were in the early 2000,s and prior to 9/11 and other laws being enacted and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service's being reformed.
Some of the people/employees I applied for had convictions which were classed as misdemeanours ( punishable by up to 1 year in jail) which did not prevent them from gaining a visa. Felonies (punishable by more than a year in jail were a big no no) However if the conviction was for a "crime of moral turpitude which the immigration department had a list of qualifying crimes) that also was a show stopper and I believe some misdemeanours fall into that category. They are now very serious about drunk driving convictions also.
Best to call a US lawyer (there are plenty of them
) with an immigration practice/specialty to see, my experience was some will do a brief initial case overview over the phone if you are overseas and let you know your options/chances.
The good news is since all the departmental changes and the hiring of private contractors ( I believe it was a division of Boeing) to process applications, things go a lot quicker
Not trying to be smart but if you haven't started your pilot training whether it's for a FAA license or one from Singapore how do you know what plane you want and why does it have to be an N reg? Surely other factors such as local availability/config take priority.
I fly a N reg because it is the specific make,model, config and price I wanted and none were for sale in the UK at the time, had there been one here I would have bought it and skipped all the BS.