Traffic tickets and naturalization (threads merged)

Lawyer's take - Parking ticket

I talked to an Immigration Lawyer. She mentioned that you need to report any citation (including parking tickets).

The Guide to Naturalization status no documentation is needed for $500 and below. It does NOT state that you do NOT have to report (answer yes to Question 16) on the N 400 form

As I understand this has no bearing on the final result in any case provided you paid the fine

my 2 cents..

thanks
 
If they are too old (>5 yrs) do not worry about them. I have one from 1999 and no agency has any clue about it. They purge the information after x number of years and there is no way USCIS is going to find information on old tickets.
 
I talked a lawyer who recommended that I include moving violations (speeding, etc) as a "citation", but to ignore parking tickets.
 
If ticket is too old you may not get any proof of payment from the traffic court. I got a speeding ticket in 2001 in Santa Clara county, CA. I paid the ticket promptly but I do not have any proof of payment. I went to traffic court today to get POP but they do not have any record of my citation in their system. The clerk told me that the citation is too old and has been purged from their system.

I have not reported this ticket on N400 and I am not going to talk about it in the interview. It will only create further confusion.
 
If ticket is too old you may not get any proof of payment from the traffic court. I got a speeding ticket in 2001 in Santa Clara county, CA. I paid the ticket promptly but I do not have any proof of payment. I went to traffic court today to get POP but they do not have any record of my citation in their system. The clerk told me that the citation is too old and has been purged from their system.

I have not reported this ticket on N400 and I am not going to talk about it in the interview. It will only create further confusion.
 
If ticket is too old you may not get any proof of payment from the traffic court. I got a speeding ticket in 2001 in Santa Clara county, CA. I paid the ticket promptly but I do not have any proof of payment. I went to traffic court today to get POP but they do not have any record of my citation in their system. The clerk told me that the citation is too old and has been purged from their system.

I have not reported this ticket on N400 and I am not going to talk about it in the interview. It will only create further confusion.
 
indeedgc said:
I talked to an Immigration Lawyer. She mentioned that you need to report any citation (including parking tickets).

The Guide to Naturalization status no documentation is needed for $500 and below. It does NOT state that you do NOT have to report (answer yes to Question 16) on the N 400 form

As I understand this has no bearing on the final result in any case provided you paid the fine

my 2 cents..

thanks
Click to expand...

My advice would be to make sure not to use the lawyer who told you to report parking tickets. He/she makes a big deal out of nothing to scare you into paying him/her some fees.
 
Confused as well

I work for a company where there is a legal plan which entitles for immigration related phone calls with a lawyer

I agre that reporting parking tickets for street cleaning is bit too much. Is there anyone who did not report such cases and had any problems during/after the citizenship

thanks
 
The point is there is no proof you were the driver who was cited. It could have been your grandmother who parked that car. Hence the theory of ignoring parking fines.
This is a murky area and even IOs have conflicting views about traffic tickets. But parking ticket issue is a no brainer.
 
If it makes you feel better, mention it during the interview. The person will most probably commend you for being honest. It might make their day.
 
Exactly!

aabbcc11 said:
The point is there is no proof you were the driver who was cited. It could have been your grandmother who parked that car. Hence the theory of ignoring parking fines.
This is a murky area and even IOs have conflicting views about traffic tickets. But parking ticket issue is a no brainer.
Click to expand...

A parking ticket:

1) doesn't involved you being pulled over by an officer
2) doesn't involve a moving violation
3) couldn't possible involve DUI (but it could involve narcotics and stuff like that if a parking official violates your 4th amendment right to privacy and illegal search and seizure
4) is not given agains the driver but the vehicle...this is a major point. You can't be charged with parking ticket?:eek:

Anyway, a parking ticket is not the same as a speeking ticket. And neither may be important during the interview. But if you want to be safe you can mention it...I'm sure the IO will giggle and move on.:)
 
citizenship application - are speeding tickets crimes or offenses and be declared as

Hi all,
Part 10 D Good moral character - has a question "have you ever committed a crime or offence for which you were not arrested"?

Now I have had 4 speeding tickets in last 5 years. What would that mean?

Please help.
 
You will not get a definitive answer about this - no one (even the lawyers) seems to agree.

I considered my speeding tickets to be "citations" and answered yes to the "cited" question and "no" to all of the others.
 
This does really depend. For most cases no traffic tickets are not needed to be mentioned. If you do mention them, bring the court dispositions etc that they were all paid in full.

If you have other issues on your N-400 then yes, it would be a good idea to state them however.

My IO knew about my tickets, though I did not mention them on the N-400. He just stated he was only concerned if they had been DUI/drug or over $400 (I think).

So the answer is Yes and No. Many Immigratioin lawyers from what I researched stated regular traffic tickets and not needed to be mentioned. I took their advice and had no issue.

Somone on here though was told by the IO that they were not needed either, but since they mentioned them on the N-400 they then needed the court dispositions or reciepts they were paid...
 
How does the IO know about your traffic ticket if it was not mentioned in the N-400 application ? Was the traffic ticket within the last 5 years ?

I do not think that they can find out anything beyond 5 years.
 
Mine was brought up when the IO asked me if I had ever been to court. I said yes 2 times. He asked what for. I stated traffic tickets (at the time there were mandatory court for any speeding tickets). He just wanted to know if there were any DUI/Drug charges related to them or if they exceeded $400 (I think that's what it was). I stated nope, just standard speeding tickets. That was it. He moved on to something else and I got my oath letter and then citizenship.

So yes, there's a good chance they will ask about court appearances, but they are really looking for something more then just standard traffic fines...
 
I got 1 speeding tkt just 3 weeks back the fine was $101.00 and paid by a check last week. I am going to apply my N-400 this week and I am not mentioning this in the N400 application.
 
I had two tickets a couple of years ago - one for jumping a light (actually I was beyond the white stop line on a T-Junction on a slow Sunday morning where there is no traffic - the officer still gave me a ticket - cost me $375 and I attended Traffic School for it as well). The other ticket was a speeding ticket - somewhere around $160. I forgot about these tickets when filling out my N-400 form.

During the interview the DO just asked me whether I had ever been arrested (no questions on court appearances or citations or being detained). Even then I did not remember my tickets and answered No. He then went on with the other questions.

After I had passed the interview, a few days later when I was thinking about it, I remembered the Traffic Tickets and asked my lawyer if that would be a problem (especially since the DO had noted down my Drivers License #), and he responded that it would not be an isssue unless my tickets were DUI or drug related which was not the case with me. I still have not received my Oath letter, but then my interview was only on July 18th.

The bottom line is that I do not think basic traffic tickets should pose a problem. Like someone else on this forum, and my lawyer, mentioned that this would only be an issue if the tickets were DUI/Drug related.

Good luck!!
 
...Besides I believe what this question really means is:

Part 10 D Good moral character - has a question "have you ever committed AN ARRESTABLE (if that's a word)" crime or offence for which you were not arrested"?

OR

"have you ever committed a crime or offence which warrants an arrest for which you were not arrested"?
 
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