Traffic tickets and naturalization (threads merged)

Paramvir1 said:
what you suggest me guys.
i got speeding ticket in washington state.hired an attorney who contested and got case dismissed.
now neither court nor my attorney or state patrol has no records for me cuz its over three year old.all i have a letter from the attorney she send me congratuing me after case dismissed.
and i have mensioned this ticket on my application.
another one i just got speeding ticket one week before mailing my application.and my lawer didnt mention it on the application.and now i plan not to take my lawer with me at the time of interview.what should i explain to officer.?
i hired another lawer who will contest my ticket in the court trial in coming days.
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I got speeding ticket too and hired an attorney and I was dismissed as well.
I disclosed on my application. I had the court dismissal sent to me by my attorney. I gues your lawyer should have the decision made on court. I also asked for driver's record which was totally blank.I was not asked anything during the interview.
 
This is so confusing :eek:

I got a ticket out of state a decade ago. I have absolutely no record of it. I can't even contact the county court I got it in because I don't know what county it was (not even a guess). Anyway, I never went to court, the officer (highway patrol) said I could just mail the payment, so I did and that was that.

I DID declare it on N400. I also attached a letter stating the details as I recall.

I obtained a letter from the state police (of where I got the ticket) that says I have no record and also obtained my driving records from my present and past state (neither mention the ticket).

SO, if they ask for payment proof, I'm out of luck :( I just hope they don't give a darn about a simple speeding ticket that's a decade old.

After I sent in my application, I remembered that I actually had been stop by an officer a while ago. He informed me that my headlight was out (I honestly had no idea). He didn't ticket me or give me any papers, just told me to fix it asap. I don't think this bares mentioning, do you??
 
As has been discussed over and over, minor traffic tickets are not an issue in more than 99% of cases. In the thousands of poster who report here, only a handful have said that the IO asked for proof of payment. Don't worry if you don't have proof of payment for something that happened 10 years ago. Also, don't worry about being stopped for a minor warning (headlight out). This isn't something USCIS uses for determination of good moral character.
 
Bobsmyth said:
As has been discussed over and over, minor traffic tickets are not an issue in more than 99% of cases. In the thousands of poster who report here, only a handful have said that the IO asked for proof of payment. Don't worry if you don't have proof of payment for something that happened 10 years ago. Also, don't worry about being stopped for a minor warning (headlight out). This isn't something USCIS uses for determination of good moral character.
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There really should be a sticky at the top on this whole thing. There are a min of 2 questions a week on this topic with quite a lot of heated debate.

Article Pg 8 or (PDF pg 11 of 58). Question 7 (under Important) from the USCIS states it quite clearly...
http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

The term do not need to submit documention refers to mentioning the ticket on the N-400 document...
 
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Amend N 400?

Hi, I disclosed two traffic tickets on my N400 but I just realized that I had a red light ticket and another speeding ticket in 2001. Should I send an amendment to my N400 or wait till the interview day to disclose this to the IO?

My n400 was received at TX lock box on May 1st 09.

Thanks
 
Please just tell me in simple language, Do I need to mention speeding tickets on my N-600 if the fine was under $500 and paid by mail without going to court? I have one in last 5 years
Some of you stated to have it N-600 and some say Not to ...what should I do??
 
ridiculous said:
Hi, I disclosed two traffic tickets on my N400 but I just realized that I had a red light ticket and another speeding ticket in 2001. Should I send an amendment to my N400 or wait till the interview day to disclose this to the IO?

My n400 was received at TX lock box on May 1st 09.

Thanks
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As repeated over and over again by folks like Bobsmyth, and repeated yet again on my numerous posts on the subject, the answer is NO. Do not send an amendment to your N-400 about these two minor traffic citations.

If the IO asks you about it in the interview, explain that you had traffic citations (bring proof of payment or settlement if it will make you feel better), and then wait for the IO to decide whether he/she will amend your N-400 on the spot.

In most cases discussed on this forum, traffic ticket citations of under $500, not involving drugs, and not involving alcohol are NOT an issue.
 
TariqMSP said:
Please just tell me in simple language, Do I need to mention speeding tickets on my N-600 if the fine was under $500 and paid by mail without going to court? I have one in last 5 years
Some of you stated to have it N-600 and some say Not to ...what should I do??
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Do you mean 'N-400'? I can't see any questions relating to good moral character in the N-600 application.

For the N-400, my personal opinion is that you answer NO to both questions 16 and 17 in Part 10, Section D. When the IO asks you about this question during the interview, you can ask the IO whether you need to amend your response based on the speeding ticket you received, which you already settled. In my case, the IO confirmed with me that the fine was less than $500 and that there was neither drugs nor alcohol involved and then she moved on. I didn't need to amend anything and my NO response was not an issue.
 
Speeding tickets thread

I am thinking of creating one thread and combine all the traffic tickets postings in it. Please let me know if you, as forum members like this idea.
 
I have a related Q. I posted it earlier but got no answer.
My husband was convicted of Reckless Driving(ticket date 1/11/2009),filled and sent N 400 on March 17 2009. On court date(4/27/2009) that was reduced to regular speeding ticket. We didn't mention it on the application as we wanted to wait until court date and I knew it will be reduced and fine will be less than $500.oo (paid $150.00). Should we mention about this ticket that's the only ticket he has.
P.S. We live in Va and here RD is Class 1 misdemeanor .
thank You
 
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Konxvetka said:
I have a related Q. I posted it earlier but got no answer.
My husband was convicted of Reckless Driving(ticket date 1/11/2009),filled and sent N 400 on March 17 2009. On court date(4/27/2009) that was reduced to regular speeding ticket. We didn't mention it on the application as we wanted to wait until court date and I knew it will be reduced and fine will be less than $500.oo (paid $150.00). Should we mention about this ticket that's the only ticket he has.
P.S. We live in Va and here RD is Class 1 misdemeanor .
thank You
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If you read the instructions on the N-400 for Part 10, Section D, it says:

"For the purposes of this application, you must answer "Yes" to the following questions, if applicable, even if your records were sealed or otherwise cleared or if anyone, including a judge, law enforcement officer, or attorney, told you that you no longer have a record."

This suggests to me that you would have had to answer YES to Questions 16 ("cited") and 17 ("charged") because the original charge was for a citation which carried a fine of $500. However, given that you have already sent in the N-400, the issue should be addressed when the IO gets to that question during your interview. In a similar situation, where I didn't declare a "routine" speeding ticket, I asked the IO if I needed to amend my response to Question 16 ("cited"). She said I didn't because it was less than $500 and there were no drugs and alcohol involved. I believe you should ask the IO at that point whether you need to amend your response to that question, and then provide the explanation of what happened. I think you should be prepared with all the copies of the paperwork that lay out the circumstances of your case and how it was resolved (reduction of charge, reduction of fine, fine payment, and final settlement).

If you are open and honest about what happened and how it was resolved, I think it should be fine.
 
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Ok, so I have on speeding ticket and fine was $110. I paid it without going to the court. should I check "Yes" on Question 16, part D? and give the dates and reason below in the table? Please reply, I need to mail N-400 tomorrow
 
TariqMSP said:
Ok, so I have on speeding ticket and fine was $110. I paid it without going to the court. should I check "Yes" on Question 16, part D? and give the dates and reason below in the table? Please reply, I need to mail N-400 tomorrow
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Yes, you should report it.
 
It is about 2 years and the ticket is still not in the system and municipal court will not take fine. What to doo??
 
Disclosure of car accidents

We (my wife and I) are applying for naturalization at end of May. Two quick questions:
1) I understand there is divided opinion regarding disclosure of traffic tickets; but I wanted to check if any car accidents need to be disclosed under the question. My wife was in a minor car accident 3 years ago; there was investigation of the accident and eventually she was found at fault (I know because our insurance premium went up).

2) Do we need to send two separate parcels to the lockbox for our applications or can we send one parcel with both applications included?

Kindly advise

thanks for help in advance
 
Hello Everybody,

My wife and I now become eligible to apply for the citizenship. I was doing some reading and going through all the details. But I am hoping someone can give me specific guidance.

Our case is pretty straight forward except one speeding ticket. Fine is over $500 and I got this about 8 years ago when I was a bachelor living in California. It was given as 'non-correctable' violation, infraction (no misdemeanor) driving ticket that I had to go to the court and plead no-contest and paid the fine. I didnt contest, and at that time I didnt know the implications, but ofcourse I do now. What should I do now?

1. Since the fine is well over $500, although it is 8 years ago, in another state, I think I should disclose this in N-400. I'm not sure if it will show up on any system inquiry now. But It was done long time ago, and I have the proof for paymnet...will it be held against me, one way or the other? Is there any suggestion?

2. Other than the above mentioned one traffic ticket, I dont have anything else...no parking, no other speeding or red-light or anything... I now have a wife, who is also eligible to file with me now and a kid who is US citizen... What should I do now? Should we need to hire an attorney to file N-400 for both my wife and I? or can we do this ourself? I dont even know how much it costs to go through attorneys...I live in Dallas area now.

I couldnt make up my mind one way or the other...and I can see lot of you guys offering very helpful suggestions to several people. so now I am going to leave it to you guys. Please tell me what should we do... Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again,

Arvi
 
I think initial plea doesn't necessarily be the deciding factor in immigration, as immigration is part of Department of Justice. If you plead guilty, instead of going to court, there might be treason why you plead just guilty, paid the fines and done with it. This way you might be deliberately avoiding your own legal rights to confront the charges and truth. Final disposition does matter over initial charges even in immigration, and going to court is like availing services in any other govt office.
 
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