Need advice: Yellow letter received in response to Q 16 on N-400

L

ludhianvi

Registered Users (C)
Hello All:

Today we received a yellow letter (for my wife) telling us to bring the following documents to the interview:

1. Driver's license.

2. You indicated in your application that you have been arrested. For these arrests and other incidents in which you may have been involved, bring originals or certified copies of all arrest records and court dispositions showing how each incident was resolved.

The thing is that my wife was never arrested. I am guessing, this recommendation is due to answering yes on Question # 16 (Good Moral character): Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer. My wife was involved in an accident in 2009 and was issued a ticket. She was never arrested, never had to go to a court or anything. I am worried, why USCIS mentioned arrested in yellow letter.

I have already received unattested driving record from the state (MA), and it shows data under incident date, offense description, and finding date, while there is no data under Court. I am thinking of getting attested/certified record from MA. Will that be enough or we need to do something else? Anything else we need to do?

Thanks in advance. I am hoping that it is not something big or that will mess up my wife's citizenship.
 
This is a non-issue. The reference to being arrested is the standard text that's included in the yellow letter when you answer "YES" to question 16. Since you've already obtained the DMV record, that's more than enough.
 
Thanks Vorpal. That helps a lot!!

Vorpal said:
This is a non-issue. The reference to being arrested is the standard text that's included in the yellow letter when you answer "YES" to question 16. Since you've already obtained the DMV record, that's more than enough.
Click to expand...
 
Yellow letter is the least useful thing in this process. Maybe its only usefulness is to remind you that
your application is still in process
 
I hope that is the case. I was worried yesterday after I received the letter. I knew some people have been asked to bring DL, but I was worried about that arrest part. Now, I hope, it will go smoothly at interview.

Thanks.

WBH said:
Yellow letter is the least useful thing in this process. Maybe its only usefulness is to remind you that
your application is still in process
Click to expand...
 
Even if a speeding ticket is the only reason you answered Yes to that question about being cited/arrested/detained, they still automatically generate that yellow letter which mentions being arrested. Ignore it if you know there was no arrest.
 
In fact, there is no legal defnition of arrest. USCIS can consider short and temnporary deprivation fo yoru freedom when you are pulled over by a cop to be "arrest". An arrest does not mean you have to shown an arrest warrant, be handcuffed, be read miranda rights, placed into the back of teh car, and then lock up at police stattion.
 
ludhianvi, I naturalized in Boston a few years back and had the same situation as your wife. I had a traffic ticket from an incident in Atlanta 12 years prior that I had mentioned. So I also got a yellow letter basically saying the same thing. In my case, I didn't have anything at all to show that I paid a fine back then and that was how it was resolved. I tried hard to get something to show this but GA could not help me out at all and they told me everything is purged after seven years. In the end, all I did was get my clean driving record from the Mass RMV and took that with me to the interview. During the interview, when the IO came to that part, I explained I had a traffic ticket for which I had paid a fine. She did not ask for any documentation at all and changed my answer on the N400 Qtn 16 from yes to no, initialed her name next to that and then wrote "Paid traffic fine". She told me that traffic citations were not relevant to this question and that is why she changed my answer to no. I was happy to hear this. The thing is that I think different IOs interpret this question differently when it comes to Qtn 16. All in all, your wife should not have any issues with this. Good luck!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It was not due to speeding, but due to at-fault accident. But, no charges were filed, except she got a ticket, with points on her license.

Jackolantern said:
Even if a speeding ticket is the only reason you answered Yes to that question about being cited/arrested/detained, they still automatically generate that yellow letter which mentions being arrested. Ignore it if you know there was no arrest.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks JP, that is really helpful!! My wife is little relaxed now.

JPBoston said:
ludhianvi, I naturalized in Boston a few years back and had the same situation as your wife. I had a traffic ticket from an incident in Atlanta 12 years prior that I had mentioned. So I also got a yellow letter basically saying the same thing. In my case, I didn't have anything at all to show that I paid a fine back then and that was how it was resolved. I tried hard to get something to show this but GA could not help me out at all and they told me everything is purged after seven years. In the end, all I did was get my clean driving record from the Mass RMV and took that with me to the interview. During the interview, when the IO came to that part, I explained I had a traffic ticket for which I had paid a fine. She did not ask for any documentation at all and changed my answer on the N400 Qtn 16 from yes to no, initialed her name next to that and then wrote "Paid traffic fine". She told me that traffic citations were not relevant to this question and that is why she changed my answer to no. I was happy to hear this. The thing is that I think different IOs interpret this question differently when it comes to Qtn 16. All in all, your wife should not have any issues with this. Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
ludhianvi said:
It was not due to speeding, but due to at-fault accident. But, no charges were filed, except she got a ticket, with points on her license.
Click to expand...

A ticket means a charge against you for violation of some penal code of the state. The term ticket is just a
nickname. Offically it is called a citation or a summon that requires you to appear in court to answer the
charge against you. For ordinary traffic violation, such a citation or summon usually offer you an option to
plead guilty by paying the fine without going to court. They don't require you to go to court since the
maximum punishment is monetary fine anyway and if you send in a check already with your guilty plea, why
bother to ask you to come to court?

The exception is parking ticket that has no charge
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top