Worried accident just 4 days before Interview :(

[Starlight95 1]

Hi guys!

Thank you for all your help in my previous topics. I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Heres the sad story. My husband an unlicensed driver due to pending AOS got into an accident this Friday. I usually never let him drive my car, the times I have its been just moving my car from the parking lot. So, far everything had been great with his driving. So, trusted him to drive my car a few blocks down in a residential area. To make a long story short he lost control of my car and crashed the car into a fence and hit a parked car. I was not in the car with him was waiting for him a few streets down a store to pick me up. No one has been hurt he did not get a citation or nothing. We are going to pay the damages to the fence and the car. The police mentioned that he could get a misdemeanor, and it will not hurt him. But, our AOS interview is December 3rd. I am really worriedd. We reside in California. Will this hinder him from getting a license and will this affect our AOS interview on Dec 3. Somebody can you shed some light on this. Thank you!

Star

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thank you for all your help in my previous topics. I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Heres the sad story. My husband an unlicensed driver due to pending AOS got into an accident this Friday. I usually never let him drive my car, the times I have its been just moving my car from the parking lot. So, far everything had been great with his driving. So, trusted him to drive my car a few blocks down in a residential area. To make a long story short he lost control of my car and crashed the car into a fence and hit a parked car. I was not in the car with him was waiting for him a few streets down a store to pick me up. No one has been hurt he did not get a citation or nothing. We are going to pay the damages to the fence and the car. The police mentioned that he could get a misdemeanor, and it will not hurt him. But, our AOS interview is December 3rd. I am really worriedd. We reside in California. Will this hinder him from getting a license and will this affect our AOS interview on Dec 3. Somebody can you shed some light on this. Thank you!

Won't affect his AOS at all. He wasn't arrested so you don't need to mention it. It's kinda like getting a parking fine.

[jkelly07 120]

no it won't affect the aos, but when the time comes for you to file for citizenship, on the form n-400 list all fines,list all arrest, you are in good standings good morals obay the laws in us, be careful with his driving he needs more learning good luck,

[jkelly07 120]

you as a license driver you should know better, to let him drive with out a premit or driver license,to late now the damage is done.i don't know cali laws dmv,you most obay all the laws wile in the united states

[Starlight95 1]

Won't affect his AOS at all. He wasn't arrested so you don't need to mention it. It's kinda like getting a parking fine.

Thank you for your quick response. What relief!

you as a license driver you should know better, to let him drive with out a premit or driver license,to late now the damage is done.i don't know cali laws dmv,you most obay all the laws wile in the united states

Thank you! I agree I should have stuck to my instinct and not him drive.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

How can someone be charged with a misdemeanor if there has been no arrest?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

How can someone be charged with a misdemeanor if there has been no arrest?

Easy. If they decide to prosecute then they'll come to your house and hand you a summons. There's no requirement that you have to be arrested before you can be charged with a crime.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Easy. If they decide to prosecute then they'll come to your house and hand you a summons. There's no requirement that you have to be arrested before you can be charged with a crime.

OK. Thanks.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Easy. If they decide to prosecute then they'll come to your house and hand you a summons. There's no requirement that you have to be arrested before you can be charged with a crime.

Yep. My brother had a car accident and reported it to police. He was charged with something, I don't remember what, but never arrested. He just got it in the mail.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

It won't have a good affect on your car insurance, and he will get a citation in the mail. He will have an offense by the time he files for ROC or USC.

[newlyweds2010 208]

driving without a valid license in California is a misdemeanor. This includes those new immigrants with a valid license issued in their country of origin that did not get a CA one because they don't have an EAD or a Green Card yet, after 10 days upon their arrival in the Golden State.

I read somewhere that when you go to court, you can have a plea bargain, pay a fine (around $1,000) and go almost scott free. otherwise, if you try to convince the judge that you do have a valid driver license (from your country) and that you're not a resident yet yadda yadda, you can get up to 6 months of jail. THAT could be a problem.

[driver 9]

My wife drives with her Korean license. We have insurance through Progressive that will insure people with foreign license.

I don't think I'd call CA's bluff about 6 months of jail with my wife, but I really wish someone would. It is BS and there needs to be some cases that actually go that route. If it was me, I'd risk a lockup in min-security jail for 6 months and fight to the bitter end. Every time I read about this ###### I get beyond pissed. The DMV straight up tells people in our situation to just drive with a foreign license. GAH!

[newlyweds2010 208]

My wife drives with her Korean license. We have insurance through Progressive that will insure people with foreign license.

I don't think I'd call CA's bluff about 6 months of jail with my wife, but I really wish someone would. It is BS and there needs to be some cases that actually go that route. If it was me, I'd risk a lockup in min-security jail for 6 months and fight to the bitter end. Every time I read about this ###### I get beyond pissed. The DMV straight up tells people in our situation to just drive with a foreign license. GAH!

I totally understand your position, I just got my CA driver license less than a week ago after months of no driving. Consider that I've had a valid license in my home country for 12 years, never had an accident, never got a ticket. and that every time I came here as a tourist (at least once a year in the past 6 years) I drove everywhere with it. if I wasn't dangerous then, why couldn't I drive now?

This said, the rules are so confusing that even the DMV gets mislead: they tell you to drive with your foreign license because you can easily answer "no" to all of the questions to determine whether you are considered a resident: you are not registered to vote, you don't pay resident tuition, you don't have a mortgage, etc.: you literally just got off the plane!

However, as many others already experienced, there is a disconnection between what the DMV says and what the various PDs from Eureka to San Ysidro do, and if you get pulled over, you will surely incur penalties. Likewise the judge will not give a £$%&! about what the DMV customer service operator told you over the phone.

[w8inglongtime 29]

My wife drives with her Korean license. We have insurance through Progressive that will insure people with foreign license.

I don't think I'd call CA's bluff about 6 months of jail with my wife, but I really wish someone would. It is BS and there needs to be some cases that actually go that route. If it was me, I'd risk a lockup in min-security jail for 6 months and fight to the bitter end. Every time I read about this ###### I get beyond pissed. The DMV straight up tells people in our situation to just drive with a foreign license. GAH!

The OP mentioned that her husband was an unlicensed driver. She didn't mention if he has a license from his native country like your wife does. So it will be difficult to call CA's bluff in this case. Why try to be tough when the law was broken in this case. You mentioned risking going to jail to prove a point. That will be a good idea if the OP doesn't have the intention of filing for I-751 or N-400 because a jail sentence of 6 month wion't look pretty on any application.