K1 Visa - Beneficiary Traffic Violations / Convictions

[DAnna31 0]

Hi all

 

I have a question about criminal convictions for the beneficiary of a K1 visa. My Fiance and I filed the I-129F in April and got our NOA1 on the 1st of May 2019. The beneficiary has convictions related to driving and owning a car. These are: paying a vehicle licence fee late, a speeding offence and driving without insurance. The first two only happened because he didn't receive the initial fines/tickets as he had changed address and didn't update this with the DVLA (DMV in the U.S.). As a result, instead of just a ticket the issues ended up in court. My fiance has applied for an ACRO police check already and it came back clean. However he will have to declare these convictions when he files the DS-160.

 

What we are concerned about is whether this is something that could be grounds for denial of the visa. As far as we know none of these count as CIMT and in the USA they are probably considered more minor than in the UK (where my beneficiary is based).

 

Any knowledge, advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated!

[Wuozopo 4,293]

53 minutes ago, DAnna27 said:

As a result, instead of just a ticket the issues ended up in court. My fiance has applied for an ACRO police check already and it came back clean. However he will have to declare these convictions when he files the DS-160.

Does the police certificate say "no trace" or "no live trace"?

[DAnna31 0]

8 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

Does the police certificate say "no trace" or "no live trace"?

Thanks for getting back to me.

The title of the file says "no trace". The letter says neither but it does say that "based on the info provided there is no data held about you on the PNC".

This is the free version of the check.

 

What do you think?

[Wuozopo 4,293]

6 hours ago, DAnna27 said:

Thanks for getting back to me.

The title of the file says "no trace". The letter says neither but it does say that "based on the info provided there is no data held about you on the PNC".

This is the free version of the check.

 

What do you think?

I suppose you need the real immigration version of the police certificate to know what it says. Hard to believe there is no record when you mention going to court. That said, I'm not aware of any visa denial in London over such. There was a tax disc switch about six years ago. Driving one car that worked, using the tax disc from a car that wouldn't start. The officer said it was technically a CIMT because it was fraud, but did not deny the visa. 

[phd1974 17]

Yeah, I do not think some traffic violation convictions will keep you from getting past that part. Late paying, no insurance, and speeding I do not think would nearly qualify for them denying you based solely on that. If you did not report them (if required) and they find out, then that could possibly be an issue.

 

Item Number 4.a.Criminal Information. Indicate whether you have ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance in any country, for any offenses other than those you have already outlined in the previous section. Unless a traffic incident was alcohol- or drug-related or involved a fine of $500 or more, you do not need to provide information on it.

[Jenkitkat 3]

that might not cause a visa denial. In my experience and also we hired immigration attorney. The attorney said it was alright coz the conviction were not related to illegal drugs, human traficking, murder, domestic violence or alike. He had the same situation as yours too. All the attorney asked him to get are those police reports where he was arrested and the court reports. If he has still cases that are still not closed and didnt pay fines. He needs to work that as soon as now coz that will take delay if it was raised to the court. Like ours it took like 2 months during the procesing of our application this year to close a DUI that happened 9 years ago😁 coz he didnt pay fines. Coz we needed to submit the police reports and court reports. And the court wont issue if its not closed yet ofcourse. 

[Limey 551]

On 5/25/2019 at 5:47 PM, DAnna27 said:

Hi all

 

I have a question about criminal convictions for the beneficiary of a K1 visa. My Fiance and I filed the I-129F in April and got our NOA1 on the 1st of May 2019. The beneficiary has convictions related to driving and owning a car. These are: paying a vehicle licence fee late, a speeding offence and driving without insurance. The first two only happened because he didn't receive the initial fines/tickets as he had changed address and didn't update this with the DVLA (DMV in the U.S.). As a result, instead of just a ticket the issues ended up in court. My fiance has applied for an ACRO police check already and it came back clean. However he will have to declare these convictions when he files the DS-160.

 

What we are concerned about is whether this is something that could be grounds for denial of the visa. As far as we know none of these count as CIMT and in the USA they are probably considered more minor than in the UK (where my beneficiary is based).

 

Any knowledge, advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated!

How long ago were the convictions? There are 2 reasons they won't show up on the ACRO police check - either they don't qualify (I had a couple of minor speeding tickets, they didn't show up, motoring offenses are considered differently to criminal offenses), or they are too recent (I'm not sure how long it takes for a conviction to show up in the Police Check).

Assuming these offenses were some time before the ACRO check then its likely they are traffic offenses rather than true criminal offenses. So I don't see you'd have a problem. The form states:

 

Indicate whether you have ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance in any country, for any offenses other than those you have already outlined in the previous section. Unless a traffic incident was alcohol- or drug-related or involved a fine of $500 or more, you do not need to provide information on it.
 

The offenses are traffic related, and don't involve drugs or alcohol - so assuming the fine wasn't for more than $500 you don't need to mention it. You'll also have a UK police cert showing NO TRACE. I don't see how you'd have any problems at all.

Even if the fine was more and you did declare it, I think its very unlikely to affect immigration - especially since it doesn't show up on the police cert.