VenturaBlvd

Ok, so I moved to California earlier this year...

Before I received my California Drivers License, I was caught speeding on the 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. 87 in a 70 whilst undertaking. Fair enough. I deserve the ticket. I presented my UK licence and the ticket was handed to me.

I tried to pay online but couldn't find my citation using my DOB, name or the Citation number. I looked at the ticket and under Drivers License there is nothing listed. The Officer also put my address as "United Kingdom"

Do I bother paying?

We will be beginning H1B > PERM later this year and don't want to negatively effect anything, or have a warrant out for my arrest in NV!

Michael

In California if you don't pay the fine or appear in court, a "Failure to Appear" (FTA) warrant is issued.

If you eventually decide to naturalize, if the FTA is on your record somewhere and can be matched to you, you may possibly be denied. The adjustment of status may possibly also be denied. So if you don't want to get yourself into a possible pickle, I'd suggest figuring out how to pay the fine.

Sue

You should be able to send the payment by post. If so I'd go ahead and do that.

md95065

Did you get the ticket in California or Nevada?

Either way you probably need to call the court in the area where the ticket was issued if you can't find any trace of it online. Doesn't the ticket that you got have the address and phone number of the court on it somewhere?

MarylandNed

How long ago? Sometimes it takes a while to get into the system for online payment.

Yes! Otherwise you will most likely have problems later.

A warrant is a possibility. Your PR application is yet another good reason to pay.

As others have said, there should be an address on the ticket that you can mail the payment to. Or at least a contact on the ticket. Don't just let this go unresolved.

markwm

I got a speeding ticket a few years back in similar circumstances and found a site online through which I could pay the somewhat hefty fine (nearly $400!!!).

Pay up and forget it - you did the crime, now do the, er, well, pay the damn ticket!

Jerseygirl

Pay it...be thankful that you won't get points on your DL and your insurance premium will not be increased because it was a UK DL.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I doubt that anyone will make the linkage between the ticket issued to you as a UK license holder and your new California license. The record keeping is oriented toward local and US out-of-state drivers. (There are also a few states that trade information with a couple of Canadian provinces.) Your foreign license would have been a square peg in their round hole.

That being said, a failure to appear on the ticket is more serious than the original violation. There should be a date on the ticket -- probably somewhere toward the bottom -- that would tell you the date on which (or by which) that you should have appeared for arraignment, i.e. the proceedings during which you told of the charges and you enter a plea.

If that appearance date has past, then I would presume that the court has already issued a bench warrant for your arrest (i.e. they don't go actively looking for you, but they are supposed to arrest you if they find you). The fine will be higher because the FTA is probably a misdemeanor -- theoretically, you could be jailed for it (although paying up should be enough.) You should start by figuring out whether you currently have just a speeding ticket, or this second, more serious offense.

VenturaBlvd

I know it's the right thing to pay, it just makes you wonder if it was even on the system. Got a cashier's check from the bank and off it will go today by post.

Thanks for your advice / guidance

RoadWarriorFromLP

Before you mail off a payment, make sure that you don't have a failure to appear. If you do have a failure to appear, then you may have a bigger problem to sort out.

MarylandNed

^^^^^Do not ignore this advice. If you are paying by the due date, you should be OK. If in any doubt, call the court (there should be one listed on the ticket). If you do have a bigger problem, tell them you tried to pay online but it didn't work. Follow up to make sure that payment has been received and that you are in the clear.

Songbird

+2

I was in the same situation when I first came here, though not for speeding but for expired tags (who knew that in WV tags expire at the BEGINNING of the month not the end like in most other states - certainly not my US hubby.. grrrr) Anyways presented my UK license, got the $150 ticket (gulp! for 2 days past the first of the month! - no get your documents in order and present em in 7 days like in the UK lol) Had to go to the local station were the ticket was issued to pay it - they had trouble finding it there but I just gave them my UK license (which they photocopied along with the ticket), handed over the $$$'s and was done and dusted