How to find out if I had run-ins with the law?

H

halivingston

Registered Users (C)
I've never been arrested. I've never gone to jail.

I have apparently (I was told my the court office) had a bench warrant. I can't seem to find it in Montana's registry at all now.

I've got a couple of speeding tickets, and seat-belt ones, but nothing else.

No DUI, etc.
 
Wherever you heard about the bench warrant, start from there and find out. A couple of tickets is usually not an issue, but an unknown warrant ... you better be sure what it is; and take care of it before the interview.

It is not guaranteed they will find out, but I am sure FBI search is pretty exhaustive so the odds are in their favor.
 
The bench warrant is probably for an unpaid ticket. Either you didn't pay a ticket, or when you paid it the clerk didn't properly record the payment.

Can't the court tell you what the bench warrant is for?
 
It was an unpaid ticket, which I paid and took care of the bench warrant. Confirmed with the state court or whatver that I indeed have no warrant for that anymore.

But, does this (a) Show up somewhere? The judge's clerk kept telling me this is nothing, and it's regular stuff, but I want to be sure.

Secondly, what if I had a ticket elsewhere that I forgot to pay? I'm not like that, but this is a big thing for me (just like it is for anyone else actually) and I want to be sure.
 
Note that unless a traffic incident was alcohol or 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 or points on your driver's license.

Phew, makes me more OK about not reporting this.
 
You're supposed to report the traffic tickets on the N-400. But you don't need to provide documentation for them if they're under $500 and no DUI etc.
 
Vorpal said:
The USCIS directs applicants not to disclose minor traffic tickets that did not result in an arrest. See p. 60 of the document linked below.

http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/About Us... Guide/Permanent_Residents_Naturalization.pdf
Click to expand...

Yeah, but one has to wonder who exactly in USCIS prepared this (fairly recent) document and how consistently it is followed internally. The adjudicator's field manual and the N-400 instructions have not been updated on the traffic ticket issue, and it is rather vague as to what is meant by "simple"/"minor" traffic tickets mentioned in this document. Plus the practical experience of recent individual posters in this forum seems to show that at least some IOs adjudicating N-400 applications do take traffic tickets into account and ask for documentation related to their disposition.
 
baikal3 said:
Yeah, but one has to wonder who exactly in USCIS prepared this (fairly recent) document and how consistently it is followed internally. The adjudicator's field manual and the N-400 instructions have not been updated on the traffic ticket issue, and it is rather vague as to what is meant by "simple"/"minor" traffic tickets mentioned in this document. Plus the practical experience of recent individual posters in this forum seems to show that at least some IOs adjudicating N-400 applications do take traffic tickets into account and ask for documentation related to their disposition.
Click to expand...

I've always believed that the reason why certain IOs ask for traffic ticket receipts/dispositions is because the applicant disclosed them on the application, so the IOs want to cover their rears. It's simply a case of an IO erring on the side of caution. Cases of IOs specifically asking whether an applicant had any traffic tickets seem to be very few and far between.

For all intents and purposes, in the eyes of USCIS, a simple traffic violation would be defined the same way it's defined in the guide to naturalization: a violation resulting in a fine of less than $500 and/or points on the recepient's driver license.
 
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