Do I need to consider speeding tickets while filling out N-400

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chaudiah

Registered Users (C)
There are a few questions in the citizenship application regarding citations, arrests, convictions etc. Do speeding tickets come under any of this categories? Do I need to disclose them in the application form? I am sure many people would have faced a similar situation and I am curious how they handled it. Thanks.

Chaudiah
 
No Title

The question clearly say "excluding traffic violation", which I
believe actually mean minor traffic violations (not alcohol
related). You don\'t have to report ordinary speeding violations.

In Massachusette, Florida, and a few others, traffic violations
are offiically tried as civil trial so that offenders in these
states even would not have to report them even the INSsaid
inlcuding traffic violations
 
Re: traffic tickets

I do not see where it says \'Excluding Traffic tickets\'. May be I am missing something. I searched the application, the instructions and the guide to naturalization but could not find explicit reference to what you are saying. Which document you are referring to? Thanks.

Chaudiah
 
No Title

Dear JoeF:

I am looking at the online forms, so the page number you mentioned does not match. But looking at questions 15 and 16, here is what it says:
------------------------
For the purposes of this application, you must answer \'\'Yes\'\' to the following questions, if applicable, even if your records were
sealed or otherwise cleared or if anyone, including a judge, law enforcement officer, or attorney, told you that you no longer have a
record.
D. Good Moral Character
15. Have you EVER committed a crime or offense for which you were NOT arrested? Yes No
16. Have you EVER been arrested, cited, or detained by any law enforcement officer
(including INS and military officers) for any reason? Yes No
-----------------

I am confused. There is no 15 (b). What you quote as 15 (b) seems to match question 16.

Have the forms changed now? Or somehow the online forms are different from the printed ones.

Thanks,

Chaudiah
 
No Title

That stinks. Many of us will have to say "Yes".
Only Mass. Florida, Washington State, Oregon etc
have completed de-criminalized minor traffic violations.
If you get a ticket in these state, the state brings a civil
lawsuit against you on civil court. In other states,
traiffic violations are techinically still considered
"crimes".

Nevertheless, on the OF-156 form, there is this question:
"Have you ever been arrested or convicted?", it does not say excluding traffic violation either, but how many of you
answered Yes when appkying for F1, H1B etc? Can we assume
the exclusion of traffic violation is automatic?
 
No Title

I looked up the new version of form N400 myself. It asked more specific questions.

So any professional opinions on the "speeding ticket" question?
 
No Title

Gees. I had one speeding ticket and one stop sign ticket
in 1997. I\'ll try to contact the court to get official
disposition documents as soon as possible because they may
put records in some remote storage facilities, which
make it harder to get as time goes on and I\'ll have to keep
all such docuemnts in future violations---and this is
perhaps the advice to everyone who want to become a
citizen. Of course, it give us more incentives to
drive more carefully from now on.

As I said, in ten states, routine traffic violations
are considered civil issues instead of criminal issues,
I am not sure if the speeding ticket issued in these states
have to be disclosed or not. If civil fines imposed by
government agancies has to be disclosed, then you should
also disclose that you have been fined by a government
library for returning a loan book too late.

But I think the INS will perhaps not care too much about
it.
 
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No Title

I really think it may not matter even the applicant does not
disclose it. Firstly, he can argue that he does not think
traffic violation means criminal because in pratice no one
consider speeding is a crime, secondly such a fact is not
a material fact as you mentioned, i.e., it will not prevent
natualization anyway.

Take OF-156 for the example, a lot of people go in and
out the USA by frequently applying for non-immigration
visa at USA consulate. It is reasonable to assume that
a lot of them once have had traffic tickets but no one
would answer Yes to "Have you ever been arreested or
convicted?"

The trouble with disclosure of such violation is that
you may not be able to get the official court documents
after so many years. But if the INS insist on seeing
them as reqquired by standard procedure, you may not
be able to provide them. But the burden of proving a
good charcater is on the applicant.
 
Should Parking Tickets be disclosed at Natualization?

The ticket is not even addressed to any person. No court date.
No choice of plea.
 
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