Traffic Violation Conviction And n-400 filing

[n400question 0]

Hi all, I will be submitting my citizen application soon, but I have run into a problem. I have recieved two tickets in the last 5 years, one of them were speeding (39 in 30mph zone) and other was for expired registeration. i paid the fees for the speeding ticket and got the expired registration voluntarily dismissed. I have never been arrested or commited any other offense. So how should I answer these questions:

#15. Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested? I will say "NO" for this

#16. Have you ever been arrested, cited, or detained by law enforcement officer for any reason? "yes"

#17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? "not sure about this one?"

#18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? " not sure if my traffic ticket is a crime? 

 

please help me with this, I greatly appreciate it.

[Hypnos 6,579]

(15) No, assuming that's true.

 

(16) Yes.

 

(17) Yes (expired registration and speeding are both offenses).

 

(18) Yes (you admitted guilt when paying the speeding fine--if both tickets had been dismissed you would instead answer No here).

[nightingalejules 678]

Make sure you specify that these were both traffic citations. In just about every other government form, they specify "not including traffic citations," but since they neglected to do that here, you have to answer as above. But there should be a place where you can specify that these were traffic infractions, and not evidence of bad morals or anything like that.

 

I personally suspect that the officers looking at your form are getting heartily sick of all the "speeding ticket" "red light violation" etc and they will correct the wording on the next edition of the form. But for now, it is what it is. 

 

I'm sure it will be fine, just be honest and be prepared to explain what happened, on the form and/or your interview.

 

Good luck on your N400!

[n400question 0]

1 hour ago, Hypnos said:

(15) No, assuming that's true.

 

(16) Yes.

 

(17) Yes (expired registration and speeding are both offenses).

 

(18) Yes (you admitted guilt when paying the speeding fine--if both tickets had been dismissed you would instead answer No here).

thank you! do you think these tickets will hinder the citizenship process?

[n400question 0]

59 minutes ago, nightingalejules said:

Make sure you specify that these were both traffic citations. In just about every other government form, they specify "not including traffic citations," but since they neglected to do that here, you have to answer as above. But there should be a place where you can specify that these were traffic infractions, and not evidence of bad morals or anything like that.

 

I personally suspect that the officers looking at your form are getting heartily sick of all the "speeding ticket" "red light violation" etc and they will correct the wording on the next edition of the form. But for now, it is what it is. 

 

I'm sure it will be fine, just be honest and be prepared to explain what happened, on the form and/or your interview.

 

Good luck on your N400!

thanks for the reply, and yes there is a space where you put your citation, arrests etc. I have put the offense as "speeding ticket" should I word it differently like traffic violation? thank you again for the prompt reply.

[Hypnos 6,579]

Neither expired registration nor speeding will affect anything.

 

Labelling it as a "speeding ticket" is fine.

[skmv 1]

On 6/24/2017 at 2:39 PM, n400question said:

Hi all, I will be submitting my citizen application soon, but I have run into a problem. I have recieved two tickets in the last 5 years, one of them were speeding (39 in 30mph zone) and other was for expired registeration. i paid the fees for the speeding ticket and got the expired registration voluntarily dismissed. I have never been arrested or commited any other offense. So how should I answer these questions:

#15. Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested? I will say "NO" for this

#16. Have you ever been arrested, cited, or detained by law enforcement officer for any reason? "yes"

#17. Have you ever been charged with committing any crime or offense? "not sure about this one?"

#18. Have you ever been convicted of a crime or offense? " not sure if my traffic ticket is a crime? 

 

please help me with this, I greatly appreciate it.

I had posted this in a different forum - reposting here.

 

 

In the USCIS N-400 FAQ -  Q7

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/article/chapter3.pdf

 

it states very clearly the unless the traffic incident is not DUI or drug related, and it did not involve an arrest, and the only penalty was a fine less than $500 and/or points on your driver's license, you do NOT have to submit any documentation.

The same verbiage is also listed on your interview letter.

 

During my interview, when the IO walked through the list of questions in the applications form, I volunteered information about my traffic citations and she made a note of it. However, she said not to worry about it and they do not look into it closely.

 

Hope this helps as I struggled with this quite a bit after submitting my application, as my case was delayed for a long time. Once I read through the N-400 FAQ, i was confident that I did not provide any incorrect information.