Traffic tickets and naturalization (threads merged)

Did you pay the cell phone usage ticket?
The DA should be willing to drop/reduce the charge of driving with a suspended license when you show evidence that you paid the ticket.
Your DMV record will probably show your license was suspended due to non payment of previous ticket.
Technically per N-400 instructions you are required to disclose all citations, but evidence strongly suggests that USCIS is only interested in serious tickets. It remains up to you to decide whether you want to disclose this minor ticket.
The tickets don't affect naturalization eligibility, although the IO may decide to delay your oath if you disclose you haven't paid it yet.
 
speeding ticket; court or pay the fine?

I got caught speeding 15mph over the limit. Does this affect my citizenship application? Should I just pay the fine and have the points or go to court? If I go to court, should I plead guilty and request for not getting points or plead not guilty? I am guilty, although there are others speeding also, i just happen to be the last car. I don't know what to do. Please help.
 
Whatever you do, just don't pay the fine as it will increase your insurance costs. Go to court, talk to the DA before pleading and see if they are willing to reduce charges so that it doesn't effect insurance costs.
It does not affect naturalization eligibility, but the IO may ask if you have paid the fine if you disclose ticket at interview.
 
Since you were actually speeding, you should pay the fine. It will not be an immigration issue if it's under $500. That others were speeding too is not a defense.
 
look for a deal

Hi,

Call the number on your ticket and tell them you want to plead not guilty.

Normally prosecutor offers you a deal of lesser charge. You should get away with fine but no points on the license. Although if you are in NJ you are in for a shock because even if they wont give you points they will slap you with surcharge of $245. which even judge cant reduce.

I disclosed 2 speeding tickets on my N-400. The interviewing officer didnt even look at them during interview. Unless a charge is DUI or an arrest has been made they dont care. Speeding tickets wont (normally) affect your N-400 Unless you have a lot of tickets in 5 yrs preceding the application.

Good luck!
 
JerryR said:
Since you were actually speeding, you should pay the fine.
Click to expand...
Paying a fine without any plea bargaining will increase insurance costs. But going to court , talking to the DA and asking for a plea bargain can reduce the charge and insurance costs.
 
agree with Bob

Bob is right..If you go to court they do offer some deal. If you just pay the fine your insurance cost will surely go up.
 
Thanks Vorpal and Bobsmyth.

Cell Pone ticket was issued in NY. I did go ahead and pay the ticket so that license suspension was lifted. I am hoping DA will drop the charge or reduce the severity. I talked a couple of immigration lawyers and they said that we should disclose suspension on n-400.
 
One more question for Bobsmyth - Driving on a suspended license because of not paying a ticket is not the same as driving on a suspended license because of DWI, right? Also, should I wait after my trial for my driving record to be updated with its results before I apply for citizenship. I hear it can take up tp 2 months for my driving record to be updated.
 
citizenship_app said:
One more question for Bobsmyth - Driving on a suspended license because of not paying a ticket is not the same as driving on a suspended license because of DWI, right? Also, should I wait after my trial for my driving record to be updated with its results before I apply for citizenship. I hear it can take up tp 2 months for my driving record to be updated.
Click to expand...

There is the charge (driving with suspended license) and the cause (suspended license due to non payment of cell ticket, DWI, etc...). I don't think there is any difference of the charge itself, eventhough there is a difference on the cause.

From a naturalization standpoint, you can apply now since you will have payed the fine by your oath date. I don't see this as an issue in your case.
 
Thank you for your responses.
Somebody told me that I should I hire a lawyer? Should I? Are they going to revoke my license? It was actually 20mph over on a 35mph limit but the cop reduced it to 15mph.
 
There is a whole industry dedicated to getting people out of speeding tickets. Google for it or look up on Amazon and go from there.

As far as Citizenship goes: if you go to court then make sure to get an official document from the court with the signature, rubber stamp and court seal. Bring the document with you to your interview.

For my interview I did not do so and had to go back again in 2 days with the paper. More time, money and aggravation for lack of care.
 
citizenship_app said:
Thanks Vorpal and Bobsmyth.

Cell Pone ticket was issued in NY. I did go ahead and pay the ticket so that license suspension was lifted. I am hoping DA will drop the charge or reduce the severity. I talked a couple of immigration lawyers and they said that we should disclose suspension on n-400.
Click to expand...

It may be somewhat difficult to disclose a driver license suspension on the N-400, as there is no question that asks whether or not your DL has ever been suspended. As Bobsmyth suggested, since you've already paid the original ticket, you'll most likely be able to plea bargain to a lesser charge.

As far as the suspension itself is concerned, the IOs would be concerned with what caused the suspension, not the fact that there IS a suspension. For example, if you were convicted of a DUI, resulting in a license suspension, the IO would want be concerned with the DUI, not the suspension. Since your DL was suspended for a late payment of a minor traffic ticket, I highly doubt that it would affect your N-400 negatively.
 
I think people should be careful giving advice about handling of minor motoring violations because it seems to differ a lot from state to state.

For example, in Texas, for most such convictions one ticket in any 12-month period can be dismissed by taking a six hour defensive driving course (which can be done on line) that actually potentially decreases your insurance cost. If you get a second ticket within a year you can usually take a deferred disposition option which means that it just goes away if you don't get another within a year. It is only the third and subsequent tickets that start affecting insurance.

As general advice to the OP though, whatever route you take you don't want it to be unresolved at the time of interview, or at the time of oath if you got the ticket after the interview, because it could potentially be a reason to delay things.
 
Vorpal said:
Since driving with a suspended license is not a misdemeanor in NJ, don't worry about it. In fact, if the ticket is under $500, I wouldn't bother disclosing it on the N-400.
Click to expand...
I guess New Jersey has some rather lenient laws. Just try driving in the UK with a suspended license. At a minimum you would get a large fine and a further suspension, probably for three years, but I've seen documented cases of people being sent to prison for this. Then again, in the UK you can potentially be sent to prison for two years for using a hand-held phone while driving (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573190/Drivers-who-use-mobile-phones-face-jail.html).
 
dms1 said:
I guess New Jersey has some rather lenient laws. Just try driving in the UK with a suspended license. At a minimum you would get a large fine and a further suspension, probably for three years, but I've seen documented cases of people being sent to prison for this. Then again, in the UK you can potentially be sent to prison for two years for using a hand-held phone while driving (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573190/Drivers-who-use-mobile-phones-face-jail.html).
Click to expand...

To tell you the truth, I am not at all familiar with NJ traffic laws. I was just quoting the OP's statement. In fact, NJ has some very strict laws, when it comes to certain things. Back in college, a friend of mine was busted in NJ with a small bag of marijuana. By the time the ordeal was over, he was out of $2,000. A similar offense on NYC would warrant a desk appearance ticket and a $25 fine. Go figure.
 
I'm in NC. Somebody also told me about "prayer for judgment". i looked it up and it's like a probationary period that if w/in 3 yrs i should not have any ticket, that there will be no points for insurance and case dismissed. i'm not sure which route to go as i just paid my first ticket in 1999 but my insurance went skyhigh. this time i want to have at least try to get it dismissed or lessened but i don't want to jeopardize anything for citizenship. i only have a speeding ticket in 1999 and an accident, no fault, on 2002.
 
wdwlvnc said:
I'm in NC. Somebody also told me about "prayer for judgment". i looked it up and it's like a probationary period that if w/in 3 yrs i should not have any ticket, that there will be no points for insurance and case dismissed. i'm not sure which route to go as i just paid my first ticket in 1999 but my insurance went skyhigh. this time i want to have at least try to get it dismissed or lessened but i don't want to jeopardize anything for citizenship. i only have a speeding ticket in 1999 and an accident, no fault, on 2002.
Click to expand...

I can tell you from experience that I have pleaded 4 speeding tickets in last 12 years down to 9mph over the limit, which in NC is the limit where it does not count towards insurance. Three in Wake county, one in Johnston county. In fact, in Johnston county court I didn't even have to ask to plead down..the DA offered a plead down to 9mph automatically.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top