Naturalization N400 Application preparation - A few questions please help

[Mohammad Ahmed 0]

Hi Guys

Great Forum and amazing help - Thank you in advance.

There is a question in Part 11 - ( Q 23 ) : Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer ( Including US Immigration ) ?

Now i have been pulled over by Police twice in the last 1 year ( Once for speeding more than 25MPH in 40MPH Zone- 6 Points ticket ) & ( Once for improper left turn from a right hand lane 2 Points ticket) I have pleaded NOT GUILTY to both and my traffic lawyer is working on the case and it is still pending. So far no points and i have not attended court for this.

Does "PULLED OVER" means cited by a police officer? Do i ave to say YES to this QUESTION?

Plus every time i travel from outside the US and arrive in JFK (NY) - Immigration Officer always take me to the further investigation room (Back Room) where they take every one for any other questions they want to ask. It is a hall with like 60/70 seating capacity and a lot of other people are also sitting there with immigration officers working at one side. I am not sure what they check in system but after keeping me for an hour or so they tell me to leave. They don't ask any questions or any thing and it is a common room - It is not like i am arrested and locked in a room.

So waiting in that common room for an hour or two while they are working means i am detained by an immigration officer?

Do i have to say YES to the above mentioned Question and explain as above the reason i marked YES?

Please comment ..... Thank you

[Ian H. 207]

For the one about being "cited" you answer yes because you were stopped and given tickets by a police officer, provide an explanation. If the tickets don't involve drugs or alcohol and are less than $500, you don't have to include evidence.

For the one about the airport, I believe that's called secondary inspection, you can probably answer yes and explain that. Personally, I would consider that being detained by an immigration officer, but it may not be. I don't think you would have to provide evidence of that because that's a routine process that they do sometimes. It's not like you were in any kind of trouble.

So to be on the safe side, just put yes for both and provide explanations. They sometimes like to use any little thing as misrepresentation now a days, so I would think it best to say yes and provide the explanations and they can tell you themselves that it's not a problem.

[tasnim 1]

To my knowledge ticket in traffic violation does not come in citation. Stopping at airport and letting you go is not detention either. I dont think your answer should be yes. To be secure you should check with your lawyer, who is taking care of your traffic violation, whether it is citation or not.

[Ian H. 207]

Yeah the one about the airport may or may not be necessary to put yes since it's not really being detained, unfortunately they don't make it clear on the instructions what they consider "detained." It's easy for one to think that being held by an officer even if not in any trouble as detained, so I completely understand the confusion. Hopefully someone else can say for sure if they have put yes for that.

As for the traffic tickets, that one I'm sure that it's considered being cited. A traffic ticket is a summons, the synonym for citation so he would have to answer yes.

[JimmyHou 610]

Yeah the one about the airport may or may not be necessary to put yes since it's not really being detained, unfortunately they don't make it clear on the instructions what they consider "detained." It's easy for one to think that being held by an officer even if not in any trouble as detained, so I completely understand the confusion. Hopefully someone else can say for sure if they have put yes for that.

As for the traffic tickets, that one I'm sure that it's considered being cited. A traffic ticket is a summons, the synonym for citation so he would have to answer yes.

I agree.

Traffic tickets: you received a traffic citation from a police officer, so it's clear that you were cited.

Airport: you were not detained, you just went through additional processing. It's no different from people who are selected to go into the customs area to have their bags searched.

[Ian H. 207]

Thanks for clearing that up Jimmy Hou. It would be great if they gave their definition of what they consider "detained" since it can often times lead to confusion. This isn't the first thread I've read about this same topic.

[JimmyHou 610]

Thanks for clearing that up Jimmy Hou. It would be great if they gave their definition of what they consider "detained" since it can often times lead to confusion. This isn't the first thread I've read about this same topic.

Here's how I see it:

If you're asked to go through additional processing at the airport, you're not really free to leave, so you could argue that you're being "detained".

But then again, all passengers arriving at the airport (including US citizens) aren't free to leave until they've been processed and had their passports looked at.

So I think that if the second group isn't being detained, then neither is the first group.

If this were my application, I'd feel pretty safe about not listing the airport incidents.

I agree that they should clarify things... I also think they should exclude traffic violations from this question and clearly state that.

When they revised the N400 form last year, there was a period of several weeks when public comments would be accepted. There were several suggestions that the final draft should explicit state that traffic tickets are not covered by this question, but USCIS decided to leave the wording unchanged, so for now, we have to keep listing them, unfortunately.

[hasssan 1]

I respect all opinions but am totally agreed with tasnim regarding this matter....both these questions are not new to me ...we have discussed them earlier as there are numerous people facing both these questions..I positively remember that I have read somewhere ( definitely in some official form, may b in the instructions of N400 a few years ago ) that traffic violations are not related to this matter .. and visiting that big hall room at air port for some additional screening has been a routine now for so many years and is a common practice for passengers returning from certain countries ....this does not come under detention either...this is not the case of hiding the truth or a lie ....So, I have no doubt in my mind at all ( and there are so many earlier examples also ) that you should not write yes to both these questions....

[JimmyHou 610]

I respect all opinions but am totally agreed with tasnim regarding this matter....both these questions are not new to me ...we have discussed them earlier as there are numerous people facing both these questions..I positively remember that I have read somewhere ( definitely in some official form, may b in the instructions of N400 a few years ago ) that traffic violations are not related to this matter .. and visiting that big hall room at air port for some additional screening has been a routine now for so many years and is a common practice for passengers returning from certain countries ....this does not come under detention either...this is not the case of hiding the truth or a lie ....So, I have no doubt in my mind at all ( and there are so many earlier examples also ) that you should not write yes to both these questions....

There is absolutely NO document issued by USCIS that states that you are not supposed to disclose traffic violations.

If you have received a citation from a police officer, then you have been cited, and you should answer YES to this question.

What confused many people on this issue is that the USCIS Naturalization Guide says:

"Note that unless a traffic incident was alcohol and drug related, you do not need to submit documentation..."

You can see that it doesn't say anything about not disclosing the citation on the form, it just says that you don't have to provide supporting documentation. You STILL have to disclose it on the form.

Read through the interview experiences over the past few months; while many people were told that the traffic citations didn't matter, several applicants were specifically asked about traffic tickets.

It's up to your interviewer whether or not he/she will make a big deal out of traffic tickets, but I want everyone to be clear that the instructions DO NOT say that you don't have to disclose them on the form.

[Ian H. 207]

I agree with Jimmy Hou, the traffic tickets HAVE to be disclosed even if they don't affect the moral character requirement or if you don't have to submit documentation. They involve you being stopped by a police officer and being cited. A traffic ticket carries several names, such as citation and summons.

The one about the airport makes perfect sense. You're not actually being detained, especially if it's done routinely. Besides the IO can make a big deal about the tickets by asking for proof if they wanted to, even though at the end of the day they shouldn't have any bearing on their decision. That is of course if they're not involving drugs or alcohol and such.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Ian H.

[Naumanxenon 38]

Traffic violations do not need to be disclosed.

[aimar10 7]

You don't need to say "yes" to ticket citations of less than $500. I checked "no", as did a ton of people I know. In fact, on a different forum a vast majority (80 percent) of people all said "no" to tickets (pullovers and so on) for similar cases.

You weren't detained at the airport so you shouldn't say "yes", either.

As such, I'd say "no" to both.

[JimmyHou 610]

Traffic violations do not need to be disclosed.

You don't need to say "yes" to ticket citations of less than $500. I checked "no", as did a ton of people I know. In fact, on a different forum a vast majority (80 percent) of people all said "no" to tickets (pullovers and so on) for similar cases.

You weren't detained at the airport so you shouldn't say "yes", either.

As such, I'd say "no" to both.

There are lots of examples to support what you guys are saying. Many interviewers have actually said that they don't care about traffic tickets.

However, there are also lots of examples on this website of people who were asked about their traffic tickets.

Just search for traffic tickets on here and you'll see several examples of people who were asked for them.

As I said in my last post, the instructions don't say that you don't have to disclose tickets under $500. That is not written down anywhere that I have found.

What they do say is that you don't have to provide documentation for tickets under $500.

Since the instructions and the guide do not say that traffic citations should be excluded, then I would advice disclosing them.

[Ian H. 207]

Just because some people have gotten away with saying no and not disclosing info about their tickets, doesn't mean that it was ok.

[DC85 113]

Some people get confused between AOS VS N400

For Aos: The question which goes over this point(q1-b) clearly states "Excluding traffic violations "

For Citizenship : The similar question, which goes over the same point, is (q23) has NO exclusion phrase.

So, I think people, who i was one of them, carry over the impression that they don't need to list traffic tickets. I can say that you need to list them for N400 application, but you dont need to send any documentation. Just, bring a proof of payment to the interview.