Dismissed Complain and Filing N-400 Application

M

Mitwa

Registered Users (C)
I need some help here from fellow members. I am going to apply for my citizenship this week.

I do not have any traffic tickets or anything on my record. But last week I got a ticket from court to appear. The reason being my neighbour made a complain against me for "Leaving Garbage outside his premises". I never did that and this guy did not even asked me. Upon checking with him he relized his mistake(It was actually the other neighbour not me).

To sum up we went together on court date and he took his complain back. The judge also dismissed the case.

Now the question --
Do I need to put this on my application?
If yes how I should write it and what reason I should say?

There is not citation number no other details on the ticket. It just says "Leaving Garbage bag outside (address)".

Please help me. I am little confused here.


Thanks.
 
I'm sorry to hear about this. This neighbour could first come and warn you or talk to you or something.....Gee...

Overall, don't worry. This is really nothing. If I were you, I would certainly mention this in the application and provide explanation (anyhow, you need to do that per instructions). For your interview, bring court papers showing that the case was dismissed, deposition etc.

Ideally, it would be also great if you could get an affidavit from you neigbour saying that he made an honest mistake etc. Certainly, if this is pain with your neighbour, do not worry...it is not that important. However, I think he should owe you on this one and should do this little thing for you.

Bottom line: you want to report this one, so that you make sure that you have crystal clear application and nothing to hide or lie about. You want to avoid false statement and you need to show good moral character.

I think that IO officer will be totally cool about this on the interview and probably greet it with the smile. In addition, it will demonstrate to him/her that you are very responsible and serious person.

Nothing to worry...

Good luck!

P.S.: I'm not a lawyer. I'm not an immigration expert. This is not a legal advice. I'm just an ordinary guy and you are responsible for the actions you take.
 
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Don't report it on your N-400. It could complicate your application if the adjudicating officer is not smart enough to make judgement and escalate your case. It's problem with your neighbor, not you.
 
Thanks

Thanks a lot for your timely replies. But your opinions are as split as my mind. Part of it says that I should put it, other says why? When I did not do anything, why should I put it and ask for trouble.

I am planning not to put it and take a copy of court records along with the ticket. If the officer will ask about it I will show him that and tell him about my position on it. I think it was a minor confusion which got resolved later on. I did not do any crime.

Please suggest.
 
I fully understand the other side of the argument - it was not a crime, was not serious, you were not arrested etc. I would partially agree with them, but would not risk it. Better be safe than sorry.

Certainly, I personally would not be comfortable with your solution at all. Just think about your scenario for a moment....

"If the officer will ask about it I will show him..."

So, this implies that you are hiding something (or omitting facts). Great way to get into the trouble for nothing - during interview or even at the later time.

I can not imagine dumb IO officer who would take "garbage dumping" as serious matter (even if you were convicted - let alone that charges were dismissed). But I can see a lot of IO Officers who will have problem with someone trying to cover up.

Good moral character is not about judical rulings - that is only one component. It is not about weather you did something or not. It is not up to you to judge that! Your job is to provide information to IO officer who will judge if it was nothing or something in terms of your moral character. By not surrendering this infomation, you are depriving officer to be able to make that determination.

Hiding facts (either material or non-material) to speed up your application process is unecessary and potentially dangerous.

After all, you were at the court (you had to show up - did not you?) and the judge dismissed the case. No big deal - stupid things do happen.

You have no need to hide anything or get scared. Actually, you have the best possible case and really nothing to worry about. Your interview has all the potential to be the breeze.

This is just my 2c. I fully understand that we are all different with different tolerances for risk and various approaches. Whatever you decide, stick with it and do not dwelve too much - do not kill yourself.

Worse case scenario - you can always pay pennies to get a good 20-30 min consultation with an immigration lawyer.

But, my friend, you have to make a decision.

Good luck!

P.S.: I'm not a lawyer. I'm not an immigration expert. This is not a legal advice. I'm just an ordinary guy and you are responsible for the actions you take.
 
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There is no need to report on N-400, well, no harm to report either. you can flip the coin to decide.

good luck

P.S. I did not even report my traffic tickets which the fines under $500 ( by the new regulation). And the interview officer did not even bother to ask me. I took the oath the very next day.
 
Looks like it was small claims court. It has nothing to do with criminal cases, arrests etc.
 
To OverOverOver:

Regarding "P.S. I did not even report my traffic tickets which the fines under $500 ( by the new regulation). And the interview officer did not even bother to ask me. I took the oath the very next day." Where did you find out the new regulation and can you please provide the link?

Thx
 
It is in the N-400 instruction PDF file.
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/n-400ins.pdf

"Note that unless a traffic incident was alcoholor drug related, you do not need to submit documentation for traffic fines and incidents that did not involve an actual arrest if the only penalty was a fine of less than $500 and/or points on your driver'slicense."

So unless your tickets were over $500, there is no need to make your application more complicated. Our immigration officers already have enough things to do. If you list those trafic tickets, by law they have to ask you the proof of payment because they won't be able to know the fine amount of your tickects before hand.

So save yourself and Interview office a little hassle, it might help to speed up this lenghty process just a little bit.

Good luck and take care
 
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