Moving violation citation/ticket - interview in 3 weeks

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chola

Registered Users (C)
My wife got a ticket for not fully stopping before making a right turn. The ticket says "made an illegal right turn by not coming to a complete stop". The court date is 5/21, but our interview is in 3 weeks.

Obviously, she will let the IO know about the ticket. Will this be an issue? Is there anything else we should be doing? This is my wife's first ticket in over 10 yrs.
thx
chola
 
chola said:
My wife got a ticket for not fully stopping before making a right turn. The ticket says "made an illegal right turn by not coming to a complete stop". The court date is 5/21, but our interview is in 3 weeks.

Obviously, she will let the IO know about the ticket. Will this be an issue? Is there anything else we should be doing? This is my wife's first ticket in over 10 yrs.
thx
chola
Click to expand...
Them traffic citations are no issues. Just don't worry about it at all. If some one has an arrest record that is different cause in that case you have to provide court papers showing case has been dismissed. I've been US for the last 20 years & had numerous traffic tickets in my interview IO clearly explained me about those traffic citations are not important for USCIS so she simply asked me if I had any prior arrests ? I said no & she proceeded with next question.
So don't worry at all about your wife's citation deal.
Atique.
 
Some IOs have been asking for proof of payment of minor traffic tickets ,and even some applicants have been pulled aside at oath for pending minor traffic tickets. Most of the time its not an issue, so its up to the applicant to decide how prepared they want to be.
 
Bobsmyth, not sure what you are saying about being prepared.

I was thinking of approaching the DA's office to see if he can process it before the court date but I doubt he will.
chola
 
chola

You can get a disposition from the court but since this is recent, not sure if it can be obtained. In any case take the ticket with you, copy of payment (canceled check) or even better if you can go to the court to pay (we can do that in our area) you can get a receipt for payment. All that the IO needs is some proof that there is nothing pending.
 
chola, sorry I didn't realize you have a court date. Since this was your wife's first offence I thought she got an option to plead guilty and just pay the fine (which happened to me the first time I got a ticket). Your best bet is to take a copy of the ticket and tell the IO what the offence is and hopefully he/she will realize it is a minor one. You could also find what the maximum penalty ($) for the offence is from the internet for your jurisdiction and show it to the IO. In most instances the IO will not care if the offence is minor like yours but sometimes some IO's can be picky (my IO asked me to turn in the court disposition I had, he was nice though).
 
Usually traffic ticket information is updated within a week with the court(s) systems. You can go to court that you (or your wife) have been summoned to appear and explain them about up coming naturalization interview. Most of court clerks are accommodative in the sense that they will get you before judge; please guilty, pay fine and take points on the drivers license.
Other option is to pay fine over phone (after confirming records are available) and take the points on drivers license.
Another option would be approach a lawyer, and get the case handled by lawyer; lawyer may be able do explaining for expedited resolution of ticket, either with points on the license or without.
Given the naturalization interview, paying fine and resolving traffic ticket (and getting points on license and paying a bit more of isurance premium for next three years) may be better than waiting for court date.
 
If you have a pending court case, even if it is for a minor traffic violations, many IOs will postpone the decision and oath until after the court case is resolved and you submit the final disposition. So if you want to avoid that, contact the court and see if there is a way to pay the ticket and close the case without waiting for the court date.
 
Thanks all for the response. I agree with you Jackolantern, having been through this immigration process for over a decade, I don't want to take chances at the finish line.
I plan to go to the court house tomo and talk to the DA or whoever to see what can be done to close this asap.
Will keep you all posted.
chola
 
My husband was in an exactly similar situation; a speeding ticket that he wanted to contest but the court date was after our interview date. We had even hired a lawyer and paid his fees to contest the ticket. After much thinking, we decided to take a double hit and just paid the fine before the interview. I'm glad we did that because the IO went through the proof of payment.

Thanks
Kashish

chola said:
Thanks all for the response. I agree with you Jackolantern, having been through this immigration process for over a decade, I don't want to take chances at the finish line.
I plan to go to the court house tomo and talk to the DA or whoever to see what can be done to close this asap.
Will keep you all posted.
chola
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Here in NC we can request "prayer for Judgement" for a first time minor traffic infraction - wherein points are taken off the license, but you still pay the court fees.

We approached the DA's office this morning, explained to the staff about the upcoming citizenship interview, and requested processing of the case. The staff agreed that it was a very valid reason to present to the DA for review (it was 2 months ahead of the actual court date). The DA called my wife in just a few minutes of waiting (in the court room). She walked up to him and said "Hi how are you" and he replied "case dismissed, you are free to go". Obviously, my wife was stunned and didn't know how to react. He repeated again, and then she smiled/thanked and walked away. He clarified that I can pick up the copy of the dismissal in a couple of days for proof.

Thanks all for the invaluable counsel.
chola
 
chola said:
Here in NC we can request "prayer for Judgement" for a first time minor traffic infraction - wherein points are taken off the license, but you still pay the court fees.

We approached the DA's office this morning, explained to the staff about the upcoming citizenship interview, and requested processing of the case. The staff agreed that it was a very valid reason to present to the DA for review (it was 2 months ahead of the actual court date). The DA called my wife in just a few minutes of waiting (in the court room). She walked up to him and said "Hi how are you" and he replied "case dismissed, you are free to go". Obviously, my wife was stunned and didn't know how to react. He repeated again, and then she smiled/thanked and walked away. He clarified that I can pick up the copy of the dismissal in a couple of days for proof.

Thanks all for the invaluable counsel.
chola
Click to expand...

Seems to me that the DA was a decent person and didn't want your wife to incur any possible delays in getting her citizenship. Congrats!
 
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