N400 Question (First time poster!)

[RomanVT 0]

Good afternoon All,

It's a pleasure to find this site, and I appreciate any help anyone can provide directly and/or indirectly. I attempted to search the forums (Below) but was unable to find an answer to my question.

I am all set to turn in my N400 form but have a question regarding Part 10. Additional Questions > D. Good Moral Character > #15 (Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?)

Am I to report if I have gone over the speed limit while driving before or had a drink of alcohol before I turned the age of 21 without being arrested?

Maybe I'm reading into this too much and someone can help. Thanks!

Roman

[Otto 83]

Am I to report if I have gone over the speed limit while driving before or had a drink of alcohol before I turned the age of 21 without being arrested?

Going out on a limb here and saying "No."

[Goran 2]

Am I to report if I have gone over the speed limit while driving before or had a drink of alcohol before I turned the age of 21 without being arrested?

Hi Roman,

I can understand your dilemma. When I filled out my N-400, I had the tendency to read into the questions the same way. I ended up taking a poll around work, asking how they would answer the questions.

I came to the following conclusion. It is better to be "overly" honest and disclose everything. From what I understand, the immigration officer that conducts your interview will give you the option to change the application if something is incorrect. Note though, that you cannot purposely give false answers to see if you can "get away with it", and if the IO becomes suspicious of your good moral character (i.e., lying on an application), expect the to change it to the other answer.

If you answer "yes" in the question, and attach an explanation why you answered "yes," I am fairly certain that they will change the answer from "yes" to "no" during your interview.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion and statement. I am not a lawyer.

Cheers,

Goran

PS. Did you drink while you were under 21 and in Germany? I thought the drinking age there is 16?

[RomanVT 0]

PS. Did you drink while you were under 21 and in Germany? I thought the drinking age there is 16?

No, I've been living in the States since I turned 5...so I can't use that excuse ha.

[jasminelily 1]

Good afternoon All,

It's a pleasure to find this site, and I appreciate any help anyone can provide directly and/or indirectly. I attempted to search the forums (Below) but was unable to find an answer to my question.

I am all set to turn in my N400 form but have a question regarding Part 10. Additional Questions > D. Good Moral Character > #15 (Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?)

Am I to report if I have gone over the speed limit while driving before or had a drink of alcohol before I turned the age of 21 without being arrested?

Maybe I'm reading into this too much and someone can help. Thanks!

Roman

I'm just wondering about the same thing. The wording of the question isn't too concise. Of course everyone had gone over the speed limit while driving, and you can call that an offense but not arrested unless you got pull over by cops and given a ticket. Therefore, I'm going to say no, but that's just me.

[KyngSilva 0]

I wouldnt read into it too much. Just put NO and your on your way. There way too many things one could do, that are considered a crime or offense. Like in Tucson AZ "Women may not wear pants." LOL.

[Stella08 0]

I think the question is, what do they consider a crime or offense? Does a traffic violation count as crime? I think there might be some legal lingo that differentiates between the two. More importantly I was wondering why they would ask a question like that. Do they want you to self-implicate you? And is there ANYBODY out there who never did anything wrong? Speeding? Jaywalking? Littering? Driving with a vehicle where a light wasn't working properly? Not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign? Keeping something you found instead of turning it in? Having a beer under age? And the list goes on and on. Some things you probably never did. Others you might have done, on purpose or by accident.

I think the main reason for this question is, that the United States still has the right to revoke your citizenship if it turns out later that you "forgot" to mention something like "I have killed somebody", "I have set a house on fire", "I robbed a bank" and so on on your application. Then they can say, you lied on your application and because of this your naturalization is invalid. But I don't think they care about little infractions that everybody might do at one point and time, but for which nobody will hold you responsible later on if you didn't get caught right away.

I wrote before that I can be overly correct. So I totally understand where you're coming from. And I think if you answer "yes" to this question, you always have a chance to explain your answer. But I also think if you answer "no", it's going to be o.k. USCIS hopefully knows that nobody is perfect and nobody never makes a mistake.

[motu 6]

What and are you going to disclose the impure thoughts you had about your Kindergarten teacher? Or the girl next door or the playboy bunnies etc. etc. ???

You are not going to a confession - and traffic infractions are not 'crimes'. Perhaps they should also have an 'I am an idiot' box for people to check.

Edited February 13, 2009 by motu

[moonhunt 1]

Good afternoon All,

It's a pleasure to find this site, and I appreciate any help anyone can provide directly and/or indirectly. I attempted to search the forums (Below) but was unable to find an answer to my question.

I am all set to turn in my N400 form but have a question regarding Part 10. Additional Questions > D. Good Moral Character > #15 (Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?)

Am I to report if I have gone over the speed limit while driving before or had a drink of alcohol before I turned the age of 21 without being arrested?

Maybe I'm reading into this too much and someone can help. Thanks!

Roman

It's up to you.

N400 instructions said you don't have to provide the proof for the ticket less than $500 and/or points.

But that doesn't mean you tell lie.

I think Question #16 mentioning citation, and traffic ticket is considered as citation.

Especially DUI/DWI, which means driving under drinking alcohol, should be reported.

It is considered as serious habitual offense, so sometimes USCIS asks for theraphy course completion record to prove that you won't be doing it again.

Essential assumption about Good Moral Characters is honesty.

If the question ask for thing, you should tell the truth.

That's the reason you are taking oath for interview.

In my cases, I have a couple of speed tickets, and USCIS adjudicator marked "Yes", but he put note "speed tickets only" under that question. I brought my certified driving record copy from DMV, but he didn't ask for it.

If adjudicator didn't ask for it, it will be fine.

But when he/she ask for it, and you tell something other than truth, it can be used for excuse to revoke your citizenship at any time.

[Stella08 0]

Well, as for citations etc. I even listed the times when I got stopped and got away with a warning. But I think the question the poster is referring to, is another one. Of course you have to list all the times you got cited, arrested or charged. But what about the times when you went 5 MPH over the speed limit and didn't get stopped? According to the wording of that question you might have to list that, too. Any time, you did something wrong and didn't get caught. Did you list all those times?

[Goran 2]

I think the question is, what do they consider a crime or offense? Does a traffic violation count as crime? I think there might be some legal lingo that differentiates between the two. More importantly I was wondering why they would ask a question like that. Do they want you to self-implicate you? And is there ANYBODY out there who never did anything wrong? Speeding? Jaywalking? Littering? Driving with a vehicle where a light wasn't working properly? Not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign? Keeping something you found instead of turning it in? Having a beer under age? And the list goes on and on. Some things you probably never did. Others you might have done, on purpose or by accident.

I think the main reason for this question is, that the United States still has the right to revoke your citizenship if it turns out later that you "forgot" to mention something like "I have killed somebody", "I have set a house on fire", "I robbed a bank" and so on on your application. Then they can say, you lied on your application and because of this your naturalization is invalid. But I don't think they care about little infractions that everybody might do at one point and time, but for which nobody will hold you responsible later on if you didn't get caught right away.

I wrote before that I can be overly correct. So I totally understand where you're coming from. And I think if you answer "yes" to this question, you always have a chance to explain your answer. But I also think if you answer "no", it's going to be o.k. USCIS hopefully knows that nobody is perfect and nobody never makes a mistake.

Well put, Stella08.

[NickD 203]

Could go insane trying to use logic for these questions, but my wife was asked three times by her paranoid IO if she ever committed a crime she wasn't caught for.

Only logic I can see, if you did come here to overthrow the US government while answering No to that question, and did overthrow the government, they can also get you for lying on your N-400 application. Well not just that application, practically all of them. But if you did overthrow the government, who would be left to condemn you?

Wife was also concerned about bearing arms for this country, my army captain neighbor assured her, if they did, we would really be in deep deep trouble and more than likely, she would be the only one left.

Another area is of concern is your name, just about everyone in Venezuela has the last name of Castro, Chavez, Gonzales, thank God my mother-in-law married a German. Your name may be on the FBI list to give you further problems.

If you were a member of such terrible organizations like the American Red Cross or the United Way, would write that down as well. You know your shady past if you have one, if you have any traces to any, would put those down and explain them. Some people that came from former Soviet countries that were forced to join the party just for being born there can have some problems.