N 400 Online Form Question

[alegra 1]

Hello,

I am applying for my citizenship under the 3-year rule-married to US citizen. I am trying to do it all online but have a few questions regarding some of the question on the form and hope someone can help me navigate. The question I am concerned about is part of the criminal hisotry section. i dont have any of that except one red light camera ticket in 2018. They sent the ticket to an old adress and by the time it got forwarded to my new address, I missed the deadline of paying it and it turned to a citation. However, I paid it $194 and case was closed with nothing further—no points taken, etc. Now when I fill the online application, I see the following:

 

Have you EVER been arrested, cited, detained, or confined by any law enforcement officer, military official (in the U.S. or elsewhere), or immigration official for any reason, or been charged with a crime or offense, or notified that you were being investigated for a crime? - Since it was a citation, I am assuming I should answer "yes." Can someone advise?

 

Crime and offense history

Provide information about all your crimes and offenses in the United States or anywhere in the world, including any offenses involving solicitation, domestic violence, or driving under the influence; any offenses that have been expunged (removed from your record) or for which you received a pardon; and any offenses that happened before you reached 18 years of age. If anything is incorrect or missing, you can add, edit, or delete your entries.

Note: If you do not tell us about these offenses, you may be denied naturalization even if the original offense was not a crime for which we would deny your application. Here it lists what type of violation they need information for, and a red light camera ticket is not one of them. Unless a traffic incident involved alcohol, you were arrested, or you seriously injured someone, you do not need to submit documentation.  This is from the N400 instructions, page 20.  So do I leave it emty? Do I just type in something like "red light camera ticket" and bring the paid fine documentation with me? 

 

If you received a suspended sentence, were placed on probation, or were paroled, have you completed your suspended sentence, probation, or parole?

We will not approve a naturalization application while you are on probation, on parole, or under a suspended sentence.  I dont have any of these, so this does not apply to me but the only option are YES or NO. I can not skip and leave blank. What do I answer to that?

 

Thak you so much

[OldUser 9,552]

20 minutes ago, alegra said:

Have you EVER been arrested, cited, detained, or confined by any law enforcement officer, military official (in the U.S. or elsewhere), or immigration official for any reason, or been charged with a crime or offense, or notified that you were being investigated for a crime? - Since it was a citation, I am assuming I should answer "yes." Can someone advise?

 

 

Yes is the answer

[OldUser 9,552]

21 minutes ago, alegra said:

Crime and offense history

Provide information about all your crimes and offenses in the United States or anywhere in the world, including any offenses involving solicitation, domestic violence, or driving under the influence; any offenses that have been expunged (removed from your record) or for which you received a pardon; and any offenses that happened before you reached 18 years of age. If anything is incorrect or missing, you can add, edit, or delete your entries.

Note: If you do not tell us about these offenses, you may be denied naturalization even if the original offense was not a crime for which we would deny your application. Here it lists what type of violation they need information for, and a red light camera ticket is not one of them. Unless a traffic incident involved alcohol, you were arrested, or you seriously injured someone, you do not need to submit documentation.  This is from the N400 instructions, page 20.  So do I leave it emty? Do I just type in something like "red light camera ticket" and bring the paid fine documentation with me? 

Listing red camera incident should not be a problem. Not listing it may be a problem, given you got fine and citation etc. I'd list it.

[OldUser 9,552]

23 minutes ago, alegra said:

If you received a suspended sentence, were placed on probation, or were paroled, have you completed your suspended sentence, probation, or parole?

We will not approve a naturalization application while you are on probation, on parole, or under a suspended sentence.  I dont have any of these, so this does not apply to me but the only option are YES or NO. I can not skip and leave blank. What do I answer to that?

If you can't skip it, pick yes or no and explain during interview.

[alegra 1]

46 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Listing red camera incident should not be a problem. Not listing it may be a problem, given you got fine and citation etc. I'd list it.

When you say list do you mean attach the ciation paid fine or just write it down ? I am getting confused by the instruction verbige where it say to only attach documents if its alcohol, drug-related, etc., which mine is not. here is the exact verbage from the instructions on page 20 :

Documentation of traffic incidents only if the incident: 1. Involved alcohol or drugs; 2. Led to an arrest; or 3. Seriously injured another person.

[OldUser 9,552]

46 minutes ago, alegra said:

When you say list do you mean attach the ciation paid fine or just write it down ? I am getting confused by the instruction verbige where it say to only attach documents if its alcohol, drug-related, etc., which mine is not. here is the exact verbage from the instructions on page 20 :

Documentation of traffic incidents only if the incident: 1. Involved alcohol or drugs; 2. Led to an arrest; or 3. Seriously injured another person.

Disclose and provide anything you can provide. You shouldn't be penalized for this. It's the fact you got citation because you missed timely payment that may require listing, not the offence itself.

I'm not a lawyer and this is not a legal advice. But as the form says, you can get denial / misrep accusation if USCIS thinks you should have listed and you didn't.

Most likely, if you list it, officer will briefly ask what happened and move on with interview.

Edited May 17 by OldUser