hollywoodgirl

Hi everyone,

I need some advice (possibly a little too late) regarding disclosing traffic citations and whether I made a mistake choosing to not list them:

I'm pretty new to the boards and just recently filed by N-400 application, after months and months of deciding where to apply for citizenship or to just file I-90 and renew my green card.

When I finally made the decision, I'd left it so late (my green card expires in 4 months) that I was in a bit of a hurry to complete and file the N-400.

One of the things I was most unsure of was regarding whether to disclose any traffic violations of which I have had 4 in the past 10 years. I had a book about citizenship which in the example form they had listed a moving traffic violation.

I went to the California DMV last week and paid for a copy of my 10 year record and only one of the citations was even listed on my report - they had no record of any of the others.

I'd read a variety of sources online (most before I discovered this forum) and in many of them people had mentioned both sides of the argument for disclosure. Some people said you should definitely disclose these on the N-400 and others said that be prepared to have paperwork and proof for everything listed and if you can't provide any evidence then it's better to not mention it at all. For the ones not listed with the DMV, I don't even know the dates, so didn't know how to list them anyways,

Finally, I actually called an immigration lawyer and she said to me that her recommendation would be to not mention them, as they're not really interested in this, but to be prepared to speak about them at the interview if necessary.

Just for info, the 4 citations are the following:

Failure to yield to the emergency vehicle - 12/31/2000 (or 1/1/2001)
Tailgating (aka following too closely) - Approx April 2001
Speeding (approx 50 in a 35) - Approx August 2003
Speeding (42 in a 25) - June 2009


I know most of this is probably a mute point since I mailed my application this past Thursday and it was received in Arizona on Friday, and so the process begins. For some reason I've still been doing a lot of research and reading boards, etc since I mailed the application and I'm beginning to really worry that I've made a mistake here. I just figured that in all the reading I'd done, having a lawyer tell me it was okay to not mention them was all that I needed to finally make the decision. She definitely said this does not include traffic tickets, although clearly there is some debate on this.

Have a made a huge mistake? Is there any way to rectify this, if I have?

Any advice, information or suggestions would be so appreciated. I am suddenly so nervous about this. I don't want to be denied over something as stupid as a speeding ticket.

Thanks in advance.

ian-mstm

You *must* disclose traffic violations. If the fines were less than $500 then you don't need any other documentation... but you must disclose them.


The question does not ask which violations appear on your record... the question asks, "Have you ever been arrested, cited, or detained..." and a traffic violation is definitely a citation.


She is an idiot.


She is an idiot... and there is *NO* debate on this. You *MUST* disclose the violations.


You've made a mistake - yes... although it's not huge.


Yes - you disclose the violations at the interview.


If you're denied, it won't be because of a speeding ticket... it'd be because you failed to answer the question honestly.

Ian

Poppy girl

I looked into this as I had a moving violation in July went through a red light and my N400 is around the corner, my lawyer must know the immigration officer I spoke with because I was told its of no interest to them and not to worry about it.

fatbrit

When you get to the interview, they go through the whole form again with a red pen in front of you to make any corrections necessary. You can change anything at that stage. When they've finished, your swear that it's all true. Take your DMV record (to prove you've taken care of these offenses) and the list of them (as you wrote here) printed out. It won't have any effect on your application.

hollywoodgirl

Should I do anything in the meantime? Send something in to them as an amendment? or redo the whole form?

Or do I just wait until the interview?

Also, when they go through it with you - do you say I didn't know to mention them before? or how to I bring it up that doesn't make it look like this was something I knew about and neglected to mention.

Damn - the lawyer was highly recommended to me so I am very confused about why she would have said no if everyone is so adamant that I should have said yes.

Noorah101

Just bring it up at the interview. Tell the officer you misunderstood what you were required to list, and bring proof that your traffic violations have been taken care of.

I agree that it shouldn't be an issue.

Rene

hollywoodgirl

Thanks so much. I am suddenly so nervous about this. I absolutely agree with an earlier post about how denial would be for the "lie" or omission and not for the actual speeding ticket itself. Especially since if they are looking for 5 years of good moral character, only 1 ticket was in the past 5 years.

I will bring what I have with me. Right now, I have the most recent ticket, since this was just a few months ago, which I haven't paid yet, so don't have proof of payment (I wanted to fight it) and I have the print out from the DMV which shows the one from 2001. I have NO evidence of the others, but can show that I tried to get this. Will that be good enough?

Thanks so everyone's help to settle my nerves!

hollywoodgirl

I'm guessing some of it might just relate to the IO you get and their feelings on it, hence how some people were told it wasn't important.

Anyways, I really appreciate everyone's help. I'll keep you all posted. I'm happy to have someone to talk to about this because I haven't told my husband or family that I'm doing this.

By the way, even if they find something that you aren't happy with in your application, does everyone get called to an interview? or could they deny you before that?

I just want to make sure I have a chance to make this better.

discoviking

That's probably true. I had a couple of traffic tickets as well - all more than 10 years old, that I did not list on my N-400. At the time of my interview I stated that I was not sure if I should have included them or not, since they were not alcohol related, I was not arrested and the resulting fines were less than $500. The IO was not interested, moved on to reviewing the next question, and approved my application. I had my oath ceremony later that day.

This is of course anecdotal evidence, based on my own experience only. Your mileage may vary.

hollywoodgirl

Thanks for this feedback. Great to know and I will handle the same way.

meauxna

That's interesting, why didn't you tell your family?

Everyone gets a chance to interview and review their application. This issue is common, and as long as you bring it up at your interview and say that you were confused or got conflicting information, you can fix it, just like everyone posted.
Especially traffic tickets, this is a very common event.

ian-mstm

I'm about to make a general comment, and not a comment about any specific case. So... that's my disclaimer!

If an IO isn't interested in the traffic violations, then that's his call to make. However, this should not be construed to be the same thing as an applicant not giving honest answers to the questions when specifically asked. The applicant doesn't get the luxury of determining what is or isn't imporant when completing the form.

Personally, I agree that traffic violations aren't all that big a deal, but when faced with a plethora of anecdotal information that all says the same thing (read = the IO wasn't interested in them), then I believe this sets up a dangerous situation where an applicant feels that s/he can safely ignore this question as "unimportant". Again, the applicant can't make that determination.

Okay... I'm off the soapbox now.

Ian

MsElui

i agree with ian - the traffic stuff is of likley no interest to the IO - BUT the fact you didnt declare them might show something - so declare them at the interview.

I think people assume that because they are of no interest - they dont declare - when in reality they mean the citations are not of sufficent interest to deny the application (but they have to know about it to decide its not going to affect it).

hollywoodgirl

I hear you both and I was given bad advice. I will bring whatever I can to the interview and rectify the situation then. Hopefully it's all okay. I truly didn't know to mention this and wasn't intentionally trying to deceive anyone, so I have my fingers crossed it works out alright when I mention it during the interview.

hollywoodgirl

Part of it is complicated and part is simple.

My husband happened to be out of town on business when I finally sat down to go through everything and landed up completing the paperwork and mailing the application, so otherwise he would have known. He's known I've been hesitant about doing this for the last 5 years, so since he didn't know, I just thought I'd keep it as a surprise for him - although not sure when I'd tell him. Nothing sneaky, just think he'd be happy to hear I finally did it!

The rest of my family are green card holders and they decided not to apply, but rather renew with the I-90. I'm not sure why and sometimes we don't have the best relationship. I just decided to leave them out of this and let them do their own thing and let me do mine. I'll tell them too, but don't feel like getting into it with my Dad who still thinks he can tell me what to do whenever he feels like it. Plus since whatever he says or does is "always right" by default, by doing something different I'm inevitably wrong.