Good Moral Character section on Form N400

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brightfuture

Registered Users (C)
Dear Immigration gurus,

I have a question on question 17 in the Good Moral Character section on Form N400, i.e., Have you EVER been charged with committing any crime or offense?

I received my immigrant visa and green card in 2000. In 1992, I was charged with rash and reckless driving in my home country, but was found Not Guilty. I have had no other brushes with the law since then, either in my own country or here in the US.

My question is:

1. Do I need to answer Yes to question 17?

2. If I have to answer Yes, do I need to produce court documentation etc to show the disposition of the case? This would be a problem as dealing with any official body in my home country is a tedious and time consuming affair, not to mention that I would have to go there and get it.

Please advise. Thank you.
 
I would not mention it. but again this all depeds on the country you are from. For exxample third world countries have these type of issues resolved with a little bribe because the records are in some type of registers that are so old, they must have been rotted by now. so no one is going to find that out. Besides i do not think they will get to your country and chek on what the police records have.
But, thta is my two cents.
 
Report it

It will not do you any harm to report it. You were found "not guilty". If you withold it, and they find out, it can cause problems. If you tell them, it will be no problem. Play it the safe way.

-Ocelot
(In case anybody forgot, I'm not a lawyer)
 
If this was a concern, I would have expected that this is something that would have come up during the checks leading to your becoming a PR, but what records were searched by the INS (at that time) or obtained / produced by you depend on whether you did this via the I-485 or CP route.

AFAIK, there's no re-check of your non-U.S. records as part of the naturalization process. I know for CP, they check the Interpol system as part of that name check process, but for naturalization?
 
I immigrated to the US through family sponsorship. Before I attended the immigrant visa interview in my home country, I had to fill out a form called OF-230 Part I and II. I think it is now called DS-230 Part I and II. In any case, I am not sure whether the version used then (i.e. 2000), specified that traffic violations could be excluded or not. Does anyone know.

Secondly, I have no problem disclosing this on the N400 if required. What I fear is that the immigration officer will insist that I go back to my home country and obtain documentary evidence of my acquittal and place my application for citizenship on hold till then.

Any thoughts? Has anyone faced a similar situation?
 
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