Is Credit history + score important for citizenship
- Thread starter Elias
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N400 app is for citizenship not for mortgage. So unless you misused the credit system with criminal intentions, forged checks, committed financial fraud and were arrested and spent time in jail etc etc (ironically these are the qualifications of WallStreet financiers 
), the credit mess up shouldn't be an issue and probably won't show up in the background check.
Unless the IO asks for it during the interview (which I think never going to happen as long as your background check comes back with NO financial fraud related arrests)..please don't volunteer with your FICO credit scores etc and complicate the interview process which is otherwise a straight forward process for 90% of the time as far as we're concerned once the FP and background checks are completed.
Don't u guys think we're over complicating the citizenship process by bringing up unnecessary and irrelevant issues to the interviewing IO's attention.?
), the credit mess up shouldn't be an issue and probably won't show up in the background check. Unless the IO asks for it during the interview (which I think never going to happen as long as your background check comes back with NO financial fraud related arrests)..please don't volunteer with your FICO credit scores etc and complicate the interview process which is otherwise a straight forward process for 90% of the time as far as we're concerned once the FP and background checks are completed.
Don't u guys think we're over complicating the citizenship process by bringing up unnecessary and irrelevant issues to the interviewing IO's attention.?
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So unless you misused the credit system with criminal intentions, forged checks, committed financial fraud and were arrested and spent time in jail etc etc (ironically these are the qualifications of WallStreet financiers
Hehe...
There's nothing on UK citizenship application about a credit check.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/nationality/form_an.pdf
Neither is a credit check a requirement for UK naturalization.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/eligibility/naturalisation/standardrequirements/
Milk You made my day
(ironically these are the qualifications of WallStreet financiers )
LOL LOL...
Well, that is the plain and simple reality now a days.
Suppose if Berney Madoff applies for US citizenship (just hypothetically), he would be denied outright but the same fraud skills are welcome on WallStreet.
As long as you don't have any "official" arrests or citations or a bitter divorce proceedings or a common middle eastern name (unfortunately), N400 process is just a slam dunk.
That makes me wonder whether any one would confess on N400 for the below question?
Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?
If you are not arrested, who would disclose it on N400 and invite trouble?
My mistake for being too general, however your financial background is checked for the usual tax payments etc and also for any bankrupt judgements, here is the relevant quote:
If you have been declared bankrupt at any time you should give details of the bankruptcy proceedings. Your application is unlikely to succeed if you are an undischarged bankrupt.
If you have been declared bankrupt at any time you should give details of the bankruptcy proceedings. Your application is unlikely to succeed if you are an undischarged bankrupt.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
They don't expect you to confess to it. They put that question there as a back-door way to denaturalize you when other reasons won't work. If you answer No to that question, they just have to find out something you did for which you were not arrested.
It's important to differentiate between being asked about something and them actually checking the facts via an additional check. For example, it says "We will check that you pay income tax...We may ask HM Revenue and Customs to confirm this."
Of course, if you fail to answer honestly what they ask you it can be used against you. They work under the assumption that you are truthfully answering the application, instead of them double checking every fact via external checks. This still gives them leeway in denying your application or revoking your citizenship if you fail to answer truthfully and they discover this via a search that is part of the process or one done at their discretion.
I don't think credit check is relevant. Anyone could write to credit bureau and file complaint against you. Bankruptcy is a different ball game... again this is not illegal either. If you borrowed for business and that fails and filed for bankruptcy...
Lastly, what if you have not checked your credit rating because you did not have need to borrow any money.... you would not know what is out there...
Lastly, what if you have not checked your credit rating because you did not have need to borrow any money.... you would not know what is out there...
FriscoDude
Registered Users (C)
N400 app is for citizenship not for mortgage. So unless you misused the credit system with criminal intentions, forged checks, committed financial fraud and were arrested and spent time in jail etc etc (ironically these are the qualifications of WallStreet financiers
Unless the IO asks for it during the interview (which I think never going to happen as long as your background check comes back with NO financial fraud related arrests)..please don't volunteer with your FICO credit scores etc and complicate the interview process which is otherwise a straight forward process for 90% of the time as far as we're concerned once the FP and background checks are completed.
Don't u guys think we're over complicating the citizenship process by bringing up unnecessary and irrelevant issues to the interviewing IO's attention.?
I do.
I do as well. But this is understandable given that many of us fear denial because we have built our lives here and being denied citizenship may ruin our lives and impel us to restart them all over again after spending years (and decades, like myself) building our lives here and legalizing our presence in the US.
Many of us want to do the right thing as per law so we can get it done without issues. But some are complicating the process by bringing up irrelevant and unasked issues into the process.
For example: Many of us at some point of time here in the US had few drinks and drove (including me before marriage ) but never caught. Now for the last few months I thanked God several times for not getting me into DUI crap many years ago which I was finding out now how much damage it would have done to the citizenship process.
But am I going to bring it to IOs attention? probably not, as it is totally unnecessary as it will stay within ourselves (wont be doing it again) On the other hand if one is caught and cited for DUI, then it becomes official and needs to be disclosed.
As one of the famous policy states "Don't ask Don't Tell" as long as it is not official and can not be found during background checks, nobody needs to reveal what they did last summer unless there is some proof. As far as N400 is concerned what they care about is the official record of violations. But to discuss whether it is morally correct to hide (on N400) your mischievous behavior from childhood or not is totally irrelevant
We just need to provide what an IO asks for during the Interview. Just be over prepared and provide just "what is being asked". Simple.
For example: Many of us at some point of time here in the US had few drinks and drove (including me before marriage
) but never caught. Now for the last few months I thanked God several times for not getting me into DUI crap many years ago which I was finding out now how much damage it would have done to the citizenship process.But am I going to bring it to IOs attention? probably not, as it is totally unnecessary as it will stay within ourselves (wont be doing it again) On the other hand if one is caught and cited for DUI, then it becomes official and needs to be disclosed.
As one of the famous policy states "Don't ask Don't Tell" as long as it is not official and can not be found during background checks, nobody needs to reveal what they did last summer unless there is some proof
. As far as N400 is concerned what they care about is the official record of violations. But to discuss whether it is morally correct to hide (on N400) your mischievous behavior from childhood or not is totally irrelevantWe just need to provide what an IO asks for during the Interview. Just be over prepared and provide just "what is being asked". Simple.
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AmericanWannabe
Registered Users (C)
credit history can reflect where a person live and has lived in the past. Don't
know if the USCIS bothtehr to look into it if they have doubt about where you lived in the past.
But I am not sure if three big credit reporting agency allows USCIS to check or not. On N400 form, we do give our SSN but not a consent for 3rd party.
And because some IOs push the legal authority to ask questions and request documentation to the edge, specially when not represented by an attorney.
And because of our own guilt and need to be righteous.
Its rare to see a normal joe who checked everything "No" on the application and doesnt case when it gets processed here. Most folks here want to do right thing, get processed quick and be citizen and be done with the 'immigration' process forever. On the way, we tend to be nervous, overly concerned (sometimes its good) and eager. So much so, that I sometimes wonder what I am going to do after the process is done
I agree.
Take for example, in your case. You were asked by IO to show the zero balance from the Account Transcript which you were not aware of. All we know is to provide Tax Returns when asked. Now you will have couple of months delay because you only took Tax returns. What if that particular IO did not know about the tax account transcript before but he recently came to know about it only when someone volunteered by asking " I have both Account Transcript and also the Tax return, which one do you want?"
Like the OP asked innocently about the credit score and its impact on the citizenship process. I guess, now he knows that it has no impact and probably won't be revealing anything about it during the interview process. What if someone volunteers the FICO score to the interviewing IO just to show that they have high credit score thus a good citizen (???). The next person in the line will get asked to show FICO (well, chances of asking it are less..but just an example) and gets his process delayed (like yours) unnecessarily.
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