Traffic vs Criminal

[ErinB 17]

Hey guys, 

I'm posting this here just to grab some opinions, because as much as I look, I just keep flipflopping between whether I need to be concerned about this or not. I was feeling pretty okay until earlier today, when someone else on this forum mentioned that they were denied a visa today based on a "very minor" 40-year-old conviction. That started my search up again and now I've just confused myself. So here goes:

The Tl;dr version of the story was that my license and registration expired at the same time (as I'd registered my car the day I got my license), it was the first time they were rolling around to be renewed, and I missed the date. I got pulled over, and had to go to the magistrates court. I explained the circumstances, the judge was very nice and basically just told me to be more careful, gave me a fine and a suspended license for 3 months (it's a mandatory sentence they have to impose here) and sent me on my way. 

I'm now DQ'd, and both my standard AFP check and my full disclosure AFP check have come back clean. I did disclose all of this on my DS260 form (of course), and provided my court documents as well. 

What I don't know is whether these count as traffic violations or not. Obviously I know they seem somewhat minor (not that I don't fully understand the potential ramifications should I have had an accident. I shudder to think...), but given there are multiple of them (all from the same event) I'm a little worried. 

Any thoughts?

[Dashinka 24,579]

Driving on an expired DL and having an expired registration in ones vehicle is considered quite minor in the US for the most part, the penalties vary from state to state, but I would not worry about it in your case.  The penalties could be bigger if there are other circumstances such as repeated violations etc., but that does not seem to be the case for you.

 

Good Luck!

[ErinB 17]

1 minute ago, Dashinka said:

Driving on an expired DL and having an expired registration in ones vehicle is considered quite minor in the US for the most part, the penalties vary from state to state, but I would not worry about it in your case.  The penalties could be bigger if there are other circumstances such as repeated violations etc., but that does not seem to be the case for you.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you! No, no repeats, definitely not. It was an honest mistake, but quite frankly it scared me off of driving for a number of years, and that was before I knew I'd be going through this process. Nowadays, I'm hyper aware. Thanks for your answer!