Traffic tickets and naturalization (threads merged)

In my opinion, answer yes but no need to provide documentation. However, I would carry documentation to the interview to cover all bases. There are some adjudicators out there who are sticklers when it comes to such citations.

vmadhu said:
Does that mean, I should select YES for the citation question (PART 10 D-16)of the
N-400 form but don't have to prove it OR do I click on "NO" for that question??
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vmadhu said:
Hello everyone,
quick question on the speeding tickets issue. This is what I have noticed from the instructions document:
Note that unless a traffic incident was alcohol or drug related, you do not need to submit documentation for traffic fines and incidents that did not involve an actual arrest if the only penalty was a fine of less than $500 or points on your driver's license.

Does that mean, I should select YES for the citation question (PART 10 D-16)of the
N-400 form but don't have to prove it OR do I click on "NO" for that question??

Please respond.
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If you take some time to read this thread, you'll see that this is a rather hotly debated issue. Some people believe that all traffic tickets must be disclosed, others believe that only those that are higher than $500/resulted in an arrest/involved drugs and/or alcohol should be disclosed. If you decide to disclose traffic tickets, make sure that you bring proof of payment to the interview. Regardless of what it says in the Guide to Naturalization, there's a good chance that you may be asked to provide proof of payment.

Personally, I didn't disclose traffic tickets on my N-400. I did, however, bring proof of payment for as many of them as I could find, in case I was explicitly asked about traffic violations at my interview. I was only asked if I've ever been arrested, so my traffic tickets remained undisclosed. I passed the interview with no problems.
 
traffic tickets

I had a couple of traffice tickets (long time ago).
which one of "good morale character" should I check YES?
it has questions 15-21.

thank you
 
Do I list my traffic and parking tickets on my N-400 or just mention it to the IO? These are all over five years old? How far back do they go with checking these records?
 
Lacey said:
Do I list my traffic and parking tickets on my N-400 or just mention it to the IO? These are all over five years old? How far back do they go with checking these records?
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You definitely do not need to list parking tickets of any kind.

On the matter of other types of traffic tickets, you generally do not need to list or provide documentation for any offenses that had a fine of less than $500 and that did not involve alcohol or drugs.

However, technically speaking, a traffic ticket is considered a "citation". People on this forum are generally split on whether the question about ever being "cited" should be answered Yes or No. You can answer Yes, and then bring documentation to the interview to prove that all issues were resolved. Or you can answer No, and assume that the intent of the question is to identify citations for offenses carrying a fine larger than $500 and that involved drugs or alcohol. Either way seems to work just fine. Check the interview experiences from people who have interviewed at your DO.

I answered No on the form, but told the IO that I had a recent speeding ticket. She asked if it involved drugs or alcohol. I said No, and she moved on.
 
N400 & photo enforced red light ticket by 3rd party (not police)

do you have to list fines by running photo enforced red light (Texas) in N-400?
thanks
 
Thanks NewRunner for answering my question. Now it is a relief that I don't have to answer about parking tickets. Should I even mention it to the IO?

On the traffic tickets, one was thrown out of court and a couple I went to traffic school for. Then a couple others, I paid. None were alcohol or drug related. No arrests were made and no fines over five hundred dollars. Problem is I no longer have receipts nor can I find the certs for traffic school. I now don't know how to answer on N-400 since I don't want to be penalized about answering that question wrong and would it really matter since these were all over five years ago which is the statuary period. I mean how far back do they go on checking about traffic tickets.
 
I don't think this interpretation is correct. Redlight camera tickets are issued to the registered owner of the vehicle. If you were not the driver you are supposed to let them know who the driver was and the ticket gets re-issued in that driver's name.

Point is that a redlight ticket is just like a ticket issued by a police officer. If in your interpretation on N-400 requirements traffic tickets need to be listed, then a redlight camera ticket needs to be listed too.
 
Vorpal said:
No. Red light camera fines are issued to the vehicle, not the driver. There's no need to list it.
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You can't issue a fine to a vehicle. What you mean is that it is issued to the owner of the vehicle, who may or may not have been the driver at the time of the violation. The real question is whether the fine is a civil penalty or a criminal citation. You should be able to find this out by reading the small print on the paperwork received. It seems to be a common misconception that criminal citations have to be delivered in person. This is not the case.
 
Lacey said:
Now it is a relief that I don't have to answer about parking tickets. Should I even mention it to the IO?...Problem is I no longer have receipts nor can I find the certs for traffic school. I now don't know how to answer on N-400 since I don't want to be penalized about answering that question wrong...
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I would not bring up the parking tickets at all.

For your other traffic tickets, I believe you could say No to the appropriate questions on the N-400. But during your interview, when you get to that part, if the IO asks you those questions, you can mention that you had received a couple of minor traffic citations more than five years ago and that they have been resolved. The IO should move on at that point. This is what happened in my case. I answered No on the form and during the interview asked the IO if I should amend my answer because of the speeding tickets. When the IO learned that they were "minor" (under $500 with no drugs or alcohol), she moved to the next question.

As a general rule, I don't think USCIS is out checking applicant's driving records. But if the driving record resulted in a felony conviction, that could show up in a background check. In your case, that would not seem to be the case.
 
I'll clarify myself. As dms1 pointed out, the red light camera ticket is issued to the registered owner of the vehicle. However, nkm-oct23 is not exactly correct. A ticket issued through a red light camera is most definitely NOT the same as a ticket issued by a police officer. A ticket issued by a police officer is issued directly to the offending driver and usually carries points, as well as a fine. A ticket issued as a result of being snapped by a red light camera doesn't carry any points and is not applied to anyone's driver record. The reason for this is that the camera take a photograph of the license plate of the offending vehicle. It doesn't take a photograph of the driver and use facial recognition software to figure out who the driver is. A red light camera ticket is an equivalent of a parking ticket. If, in your interpretation, a red light camera ticket should be disclosed on the N-400, then parking tickets should be disclosed too, which is definitely not the case.

Also, I should point out that the N-400 asks "Have you ever been cited...by a law enforcement officer?" Not only is a red light camera not a law enforcement officer, it is an inanimate object. This ticket should not be disclosed on the N-400.
 
I think vorpal is right about traffic camera and most of the time it is issued by the city police and does not carry any points in our license. they send it collections agency if we dont pay the fine, its similar to parking tickets.

I dont think it is neccessary to mention in our n400 application and we always have a option to disclose during our interview.
 
sam99 said:
I think vorpal is right about traffic camera and most of the time it is issued by the city police and does not carry any points in our license. they send it collections agency if we dont pay the fine, its similar to parking tickets.

I dont think it is neccessary to mention in our n400 application and we always have a option to disclose during our interview.
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Matter of fact, most of the times, these payments are handled by finance/accounting dept. instead of police dept. As Vorpal has mentioned, there won't be any points (because they don't know who drove the vehicle).
 
cpzinga said:
Matter of fact, most of the times, these payments are handled by finance/accounting dept. instead of police dept. As Vorpal has mentioned, there won't be any points (because they don't know who drove the vehicle).
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Precisely. In NYC, for instance, red light camera offenses (as well as parking tickets) are handled by the NYC Department of Finance. It's a civil liability, not a criminal offense.
 
I have the same situation. I breezed through EZPass lane in a rental car (by habit, my car had EZPass, but the rental car didn't). I realized my mistake when the light turned red, but couldn't do much about it. I forgot all about it, in about 2 weeks the car rental company sent me a ticket (for $25.75, 0.75 toll + $25 fine), it got a picture of the rental car crossing in EZPass lane. The ticket didn't had any name, it only had vehicle information and sent to rental company, and they sent that mail to my address based on the date.

I didn't declare it in my N-400.
-JS.
 
JSlade said:
I have the same situation. I breezed through EZPass lane in a rental car (by habit, my car had EZPass, but the rental car didn't). I realized my mistake when the light turned red, but couldn't do much about it. I forgot all about it, in about 2 weeks the car rental company sent me a ticket (for $25.75, 0.75 toll + $25 fine), it got a picture of the rental car crossing in EZPass lane. The ticket didn't had any name, it only had vehicle information and sent to rental company, and they sent that mail to my address based on the date.

I didn't declare it in my N-400.
-JS.
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You were correct in not declaring it. E-Z Pass violations are issued and handled by the E-Z Pass Authority, which is not affiliated with law enforcement agencies. Most importantly, no law enforcement officer was involved in issuing this ticket. There's no question about the fact that this shouldn't be disclosed.
 
Thanks NewRunner. I just hope all that matters is the last five years since I have a very clean drivers record going back longer than that.
 
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