Two questions about tickets - or questions about two tickets?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

My ex is FINALLY submitting the N-400 at the end of this month, and I have questions about two tickets (one of which wasn't really a ticket) he received since we moved here in 2007. These are literally the last things we need to figure out before mailing the N-400.

 

The first was back in late February/early March 2008 (neither of us can remember). We were driving in a podunk town in Connecticut and got pulled over by a couple of what I can only surmise were bored cops. (Nothing happens in that barely-a-town.) Our car had a rear light that had gone out at some point during the day, and my ex was driving. The car was in my name, however. We were given a vehicle equipment warning -- essentially a fix-it ticket -- and told to fix it within 10 days and get it reinspected, then sent on our way. We did just that the following day and that was the end of that. Is that something that should be disclosed? We don't have any paperwork for it, as far as I know, and the date is a best guess.

 

The other was a parking ticket he received about 6 years ago for an expired meter here in Los Angeles. He paid it almost immediately. I assume he has a receipt somewhere in his email if he paid it online, but he didn't have to appear. From the research I've done here, it looks like he should disclose it, but is that correct? Also, if he doesn't have a receipt, is a simple declaration enough? (That final question goes for the fix-it ticket, too.)

 

Thanks in advance -- it's been five years since he's been eligible to apply under the five-year rule and we both just want to get on with this!

[nightingalejules 678]

The only thing that makes me giggle a little bit about this interminable process is imagining USCIS officers reading thousands of explanations for irrelevant traffic infractions. Since the N-400 doesn't specify that you can leave out traffic violations (almost every other form does) yes, you need to disclose it. But if a fix-it ticket and a parking ticket would keep USCIS from approving someone for citizenship, there wouldn't ever be any citizens! 

 

I'm sure that just the declaration is enough, and it won't hurt you. The only thing that potentially might hurt you is if you don't disclose it and somehow USCIS finds out... then you would have lied to immigration, and that would be grounds for denial.

 

Good luck to him!

[Wuozopo 4,293]

Read page 8 of the Guide to Naturalization. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/article/M-476.pdf The printed page 8, not the PDF page number.

 

I think that answers your question. Disclose them, but no documentation.

 

Also the top of page 14 of the N-400 instructions https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/n-400instr.pdf?download=1

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Thank you to you both! Neither of us can remember which one of us got the fix-it ticket, since it was my car that was in violation, and I was the one who was responsible for bringing the car to the DMV, but he was the one who was driving that night. In an abundance of caution, we'll disclose. The parking ticket was definitely him, because we weren't even living together at that point and were very much done with our relationship.