Traffic tickets and naturalization (threads merged)

16) Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer (including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason?

That need to be answered Yes , if you have a ticket ("cited" "for any reason") I guess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_ticket (may not be accurate!!!)

All you can do is to get some advice from a lawyer about it. Actually you get to ask questions to few lawyers on this website on next monday at 2.00 PM ET for free.

http://community.lawyers.com/chat/chat.asp?chatId=1718
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you very much futurecitizen.

I will surely be on this chat tomorrow asking this question! The thing is that I don't remember all the tickets i've received therefore if I put down a YES on that question we are discussing, I will have to apply for DMV record, wait 2 weeks and then once i receive my record I would copy the traffic citations from the record to this form n400. I am not too sure if this is really required. In the poll above, there is a 50 -50 chance it seems that if you put a "NO" down. If you put a "YES" down IO will mostly question it, don't you think?
 
I listed all my traffic tickets (about a half dozen over 25-30 years, all minor, details for all but last two very vague). It never came up at the interview.

The only "proof" I brought to the interview as a "driving record" issued by my state (TX) listing the tickets I had had (actually it missed one) and saying that my record was currently clean. I never pulled it out during the interview.
 
sonu kumar said:
Thank you very much futurecitizen.

I will surely be on this chat tomorrow asking this question! The thing is that I don't remember all the tickets i've received therefore if I put down a YES on that question we are discussing, I will have to apply for DMV record, wait 2 weeks and then once i receive my record I would copy the traffic citations from the record to this form n400. I am not too sure if this is really required. In the poll above, there is a 50 -50 chance it seems that if you put a "NO" down. If you put a "YES" down IO will mostly question it, don't you think?
Click to expand...

I guesss so. But dont count on my words.

btw How was the chat today? were you able to get the answers?
 
co1hz said:
Dear Rafiq,
Can you tell me where exactly in the new N400 form, or instructions, mention "including traffic violations" explicitly? I don't see it anywhere. If there is such a wording somewhere, this issue would not be such a controvercy.

Please reply.
Click to expand...

Well, guess what? I remember reading this but I am still looking. :confused: I will let you know when I find this.
Rafiq
 
Well I said NO on my N-400 for this and on my interview the other day the officer asked if I had ever been in court for anything. I told him once about 9 years ago for speeding. He asked me if there was any drugs or alcohol and I said no, it was just a simple speeding ticket and that was all he asked about it. He might have marked down something on the application, but I couldn't tell. So not sure how if that will or not even affect anything as I'm not officially due to become a citizen until next week (interview was a week too early), so I'll find out then hopefully.

He just didn't really seem to care about it after I had mentioned there was no drugs or alcohol at all...
 
Dear Warlord,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! That's very valuable.
I have the same situation, ie. got speeding ticket on highway, went to the court to contest, and the policeman reduced my penalty amount by half, then I paid it right away. I'll be submitting my N400 soon, but not sure if I should select YES on question about "arrest/citation/charge" etc.

I guess that we all want to be honest, but don't want to make the case more complicated than it should be. It looks like to me that any "YES" answer on thoese questions will raise a big red flag.

Please let us know the outcome on your case. Thank you and good luck!
 
Traffic tickets

Records of Traffic tickets - How far back do I need it? How many years?
I have gotten 1 traffic ticket almost every year for last 5 years, never been arrested, No DUI or DWI.
The tickets were for speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign.
How will that affect my citizenship application?
 
There are several previous posts on this. The N-400 states you do not write down traffic violations unless they involved alcohol or drugs. Traffic tickets will not have any outcome at all on your citizenship. Since I've been in the US over 9 years now, I've had close to 20 tickets some warnings etc. The only thing that they were interested in was if I had ever gone to court. When they found out it was just mandatory to attend court where I lived at the time for a traffic ticket, then they moved along on to the other standard questions.

So you don't have anything to worry about and you don't even need to enter it into the N-400 unless there was something more serious involved...
 
citipassport said:
Records of Traffic tickets - How far back do I need it? How many years?
I have gotten 1 traffic ticket almost every year for last 5 years, never been arrested, No DUI or DWI.
The tickets were for speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign.
How will that affect my citizenship application?
Click to expand...

Collect all the tickets you can recall and list them. Get copies of DMV records from all states you held licenses and that should give you a definitive list. On top of these add all the old ones that you can recall and get information on.
 
This subject receives more discussion on this and other immigration sites than any other. Do a search and you will find more data than you ever wanted !!!!!!! The problem is that there is a huge degree of subjectivity in all the opinions and this includes those from lawyers as well as N-400 applicants.

My own course of action (that I personally believe to be correct tho' for sure not everybody will agree) was to (a) list all tickets since I got my Green Card (b) to provide data to the best of my very imperfect memory and explain that it was probably not 100% accurate.

See this from a previous post of mine:

“Disregard for Traffic Regulations Could Result in the Denial of US Citizenship, ABA Section of International Law, Summer 2005, Volume VIII, Issue 3”

Written by Ileana McAlary who is an immigration lawyer with Miller Johnson.

It is on-line (see page 10) at:

http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/commit...als/immigration_naturalization/summer2005.pdf
 
If I remember correctly, the "citations" question includes the word "ever" (unlike several that say "in the last 5 years").

I listed *every* moving violation I had ever received (about a half dozen over about 30 years). The descriptions got less and less exact as I reached back further into memory (with dates like "late 1970s" and "mid 1980s").

I furnished no evidence with my N-400 and nothing was mentioned during my interview.
 
The instructions for form N-400 say to list all citations & arrests, but you only need to provide supporting documentation for those involving arrest, drugs, alcohol or fines over $500.

Some people "translate" that into not mentioning traffic tickets either because they were so old that docs were no longer available, or perhaps because it adds an extra layer of uncertainty into an already uncertain process. The choice is yours, but to me the instructions are fairly clear.
 
Effect of traffic ticket fine over $500 on citizenship

I got a traffic ticket 3 years ago for speeding over 100mph in California. The fine was about $650 and 2 points on my driving record. No DUI/alcohol was involved.

I understand from this forum that I need to mention this on my application form. Do you think that this will adversely affect my application?

I searched on this forum but did not find similar cases. Does anybody know of anybody else who had similar issue?

Do I need to contact immigration lawyer for this?

Please help!

/I_Citizen
 
You need 5 years good moral behavior in order to be eligible for naturalization. Now, I'm not saying you are definitely ineligible, but a 'reckless' ticket is definitely a good way to get USCIS' attention.

Yes you MUST mention it on your N-400, but you really SHOULD to consult a lawyer before proceeding.
 
over 100mph in California? U were caught on PCH, weren't you? That stretch of road draws people in like pied piper, but $650? Whoa...the fine has definitely gone up since the last time I was there. Were you caught driving without insurance? The fine sounds a bit excessive
 
You need 5 years good moral behavior in order to be eligible for naturalization. Now, I'm not saying you are definitely ineligible, but a 'reckless' ticket is definitely a good way to get USCIS' attention.
Click to expand...

Well, technically, it was not a reckless ticket. The DMV Vehicle code that I was charged for was "speeding" and not "reckless driving".

Does anybody know similar cases? Does this really reduce my chances of getting citizenship?

By the way, can somebody recommend a good immigration attorney in the bay area (California)?

/I_Citizen
 
I know fine in california are very high (reflects standards of living in california.... just joking). Speeding ticket requires just mention of it on N-400 petition, nothing more, so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Per my understanding, it wouldn't affect your chances of getting Citizenship at all.

However, if you want to get clarification/comment from immigration attorneys, I would say try two places first 1) Post a question on http://immigration-information.com/forums/index.php and check if Ron Gotcher answers your question. 2) Try to join Chat session with Sheela Murthy at http://www.murthy.com/chat.html and if she answers your querries. (Basically these are free information sources and still you get clarification from attorneys)

If you want to go for paid consultation, I would say go with good, well known attorneys like Rajiv Khanna, Ron Gotcher (ImmInfo), Michael Boshnaic (FDBL) or Sheela Murthy. Normally they charge approx 100 for 30 min or 200 for 60 min phone consultation.

Good Luck
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If it were me, I would definitely consult an attorney, as the N400 form specifies that you must report any fine above $500.00. It all depends on the interviewing officer interpertation, but definitely is a "moral turpitude" problem.
 
co1hz said:
I could not find any older version N400 which explicitly excludes minor traffic violations.
Click to expand...

Form N-400 (Rev. 07/17/91)N Internet

Part 7. Additional eligibility factors.

15. Have you ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance excluding traffic regulations?

Anyone up to the challenge to make it fillable? I'll wait a week for volunteers and will do it myself :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top