N400 with Reckless driving and arrest

L

licey71

Registered Users (C)
Hope you guys can guide me in the right direction:

My 5 year aniversary is 8/9/09 so I am within the 90 days.

My main concern is this:

5 and a half years ago and before I had my green card I was stopped at a Florida hwy and arrested on 4 counts:

Reckless Driving [adjudication withheld]
Unlawful Speed [adjudication withheld]
follow too closely [adjudication withheld]
fail to obey traffic control device [adjudication guilty]

All fines and court costs did not amount to $500.

I spent that night in jail and was released the very next morning with $100 bail.

I later went to do a DDS 12 hr agressive driving course

I have had a checkered past as far as traffic violations.

Back in 1997 I was given a speeding tickets in Texas and a going the wrong way in New Orleans and did not pay them which I can only guess it has resulted in warrants for my arrest in both states. I ASSUME.

In 2005 I was caught going ten over the limit in a school zone and paid my fine and took my lumps.

I am answering yes on questions:

16...been arrested...
19...alternative sentencing...adj withheld...
21...been in jail or prison...

I already have a court sealed "disposition order" and the "arrest form"

Should I write a letter explaining myself? What else will I need and will I have an issue with these items?

Another question:

On the question for selective service:

I was in the USA with a student visa from age 20 to 27

So I was ready to answer no on question 33 yet much to my surprise, I have a Selective Service Number:
71-1980221-8
with a date of 6/8/1995

I have no recollection of this event.

Should I write YES instead and put that date and ss number down?

Thank you for your guidance.
 
licey71 said:
Hope you guys can guide me in the right direction:

My 5 year aniversary is 8/9/09 so I am within the 90 days.

My main concern is this:

5 and a half years ago and before I had my green card I was stopped at a Florida hwy and arrested on 4 counts:

Reckless Driving [adjudication withheld]
Unlawful Speed [adjudication withheld]
follow too closely [adjudication withheld]
fail to obey traffic control device [adjudication guilty]

All fines and court costs did not amount to $500.

I spent that night in jail and was released the very next morning with $100 bail.

I later went to do a DDS 12 hr agressive driving course

I have had a checkered past as far as traffic violations.

Back in 1997 I was given a speeding tickets in Texas and a going the wrong way in New Orleans and did not pay them which I can only guess it has resulted in warrants for my arrest in both states. I ASSUME.

In 2005 I was caught going ten over the limit in a school zone and paid my fine and took my lumps.

I am answering yes on questions:

16...been arrested...
19...alternative sentencing...adj withheld...
21...been in jail or prison...

I already have a court sealed "disposition order" and the "arrest form"

Should I write a letter explaining myself? What else will I need and will I have an issue with these items?
Click to expand...
You'll need to disclose all traffic incidences, including the ones you never payed, but since the 1997 incidents falls outisde statutory period, either:

a) not disclose it and hope it doesn't come up during process (this is really left to personnel choice and by no means a suggestion)

b) disclose it and hope IO does not ask if it was payed or not. You can always answer you don't have any proof that it was payed as it was so long ago.


licey71 said:
Another question:

On the question for selective service:

I was in the USA with a student visa from age 20 to 27

So I was ready to answer no on question 33 yet much to my surprise, I have a Selective Service Number:
71-1980221-8
with a date of 6/8/1995

I have no recollection of this event.

Should I write YES instead and put that date and ss number down?

Thank you for your guidance.
Click to expand...
If you weren't required to register , then you would answer no to selective service question.
 
licey71 said:
Hope you guys can guide me in the right direction:

My 5 year aniversary is 8/9/09 so I am within the 90 days.

My main concern is this:

5 and a half years ago and before I had my green card I was stopped at a Florida hwy and arrested on 4 counts:

Reckless Driving [adjudication withheld]
Unlawful Speed [adjudication withheld]
follow too closely [adjudication withheld]
fail to obey traffic control device [adjudication guilty]

All fines and court costs did not amount to $500.

I spent that night in jail and was released the very next morning with $100 bail.

I later went to do a DDS 12 hr agressive driving course

I have had a checkered past as far as traffic violations.

Back in 1997 I was given a speeding tickets in Texas and a going the wrong way in New Orleans and did not pay them which I can only guess it has resulted in warrants for my arrest in both states. I ASSUME.

In 2005 I was caught going ten over the limit in a school zone and paid my fine and took my lumps.

I am answering yes on questions:

16...been arrested...
19...alternative sentencing...adj withheld...
21...been in jail or prison...

I already have a court sealed "disposition order" and the "arrest form"

Should I write a letter explaining myself? What else will I need and will I have an issue with these items?

Another question:

On the question for selective service:

I was in the USA with a student visa from age 20 to 27

So I was ready to answer no on question 33 yet much to my surprise, I have a Selective Service Number:
71-1980221-8
with a date of 6/8/1995

I have no recollection of this event.

Should I write YES instead and put that date and ss number down?

Thank you for your guidance.
Click to expand...


Hmm-m. It seems to me that you really need to try and take care of those 1997 unpaid tickets before you apply for citizenship, or, at the very least, try to find out if any arrest warrants for you have been issued. If there are outstanding arrest warrants for you, they'll likely come up during the background checks (both the FBI Name Check and the criminal record/fingerprint check). That could really come and bite you in the butt then, sink your application and possibly even create a problem with your green card. You should be able to inquire about the status of those 1997 tickets directly with the county courts in the jurisdictions where the tickets were given to you; the tickets may also show up if you request your diriving abstracts in LA and TX and possibly in the state where you live now. Regarding arrest warrants, there are private companies that can do a criminal/civil record check for you, for a fee. In fact, I think that some credit reporting agencies can do that as well.


Both LA and TX are members of the "Non-Resident Violator Compact" agreement. Although the states have been pretty disorganized in reporting to each other driving violations, they are getting better as the technology improves. This means that eventually those unpaid tickets are likely to catch up with you in the state where you live now and your licence there may be suspended as well. It is also the case that by now the fines and fees associated with those unpaid tickets may have grown to over $500 which may also create an extra problem with an N-400 application, even if there are no outstanding arrest warrants. Even if you don't apply for citizenship at all but stay an LPR, there are still good reasons to clear up the situation with those unpaid LA and TX tickets. My understanding is that when a green card is renewed (once every 10 years), USCIS does run a criminal record check for you again. If some outstanding arrest warrants come up then, it could concievably create a problem with your GC status.
 
baikal3 said:
Hmm-m. It seems to me that you really need to try and take care of those 1997 unpaid tickets before you apply for citizenship, or, at the very least, try to find out if any arrest warrants for you have been issued. If there are outstanding arrest warrants for you, they'll likely come up during the background checks (both the FBI Name Check and the criminal record/fingerprint check).
Click to expand...

Considering the event happened 12 years ago, any license suspension or outstanding bench warrant would have caught up with the OP by now with the "state information sharing" laws in place.

Also, I really doubt that the FBI database contains bench warrants for minor traffic cases..they have better things to worry about.

As for GC, unpaid minor traffic tickets have no effect on ability to renew your GC.
 
True. An idiotic cousin of mine drove at will on Canada's only toll highway (407) thinking his Illinois plates give him immunity. He was very surprised to find a bill in the mail six weeks later :)

Bobsmyth said:
Most likely for the same reason some ignore traffic tickets obtained in a foreign country; hoping there's no way it can follow them due to jurisdiction.
Click to expand...
 
Bobsmyth said:
Most likely for the same reason some ignore traffic tickets obtained in a foreign country; hoping there's no way it can follow them due to jurisdiction.
Click to expand...

I was leaving the country "for good" back in 97 and at least one of the tickets was TOTALLY unfair as I was going the wrong way on a street that A COP had advised me to take south. It was not the full blown internet era yet so paying and finding out about something in two far away states was a pain. So I let it sit.

After that I became a resident in 2004 and this did not come up in my record neither when I applied for jobs afterwards.
 
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