Traffic Misdemeanor - Whether & How to Report on N400 App

[NewlyNaturalized 38]

Our naturalization window opens up in November and it seems like lots of things have changed since we reviewed the rules and applications last year. We could use some advice on how to handle reporting (or not) a state misdemeanor conviction for a traffic violation. 

 

My spouse (green card holder currently) was in a minor car accident in 2016 in the state of Georgia while traveling on business. The woman driving in front of him slammed on her brakes for no reason and my spouse barely rear ended her in the rental car. She immediately got a lawyer,  claimed she was injured and had tons of damages etc, so this was obviously done on purpose.  The woman called the police to the accident scene and my spouse received a citation for following too closely. The citation stated that the damage was minor and that the woman may have a possible non fatal injury. We were told this is standard operating procedure for anyone who rear ends another a vehicle no matter how minor. 

 

The damage to the rental car was only $300 and her car was so beat up it was hard to tell what was already there or not. The insurance company agreed this was fraudulent (spouse had photos showing the damage was minimal), but they paid her about $7000 in damages because they said it would be more expensive to hire a lawyer to prove it was fraud. 

 

My spouse received a court date to appear in the city municipal court and entered a plea of no contest and paid the fine. At this point we knew the woman had a lawyer and was trying to commit fraud, so we wanted to avoid the cost and circus of getting a lawyer and trying to fight it as we did not have any proof other than the photos showing minor damage. My spouse pleaded no contest to avoid any civil liability as there was some doubt as to whether the insurance company would cover the accident at that point in time (business vs personal). Of course in hindsight we probably should have hired a lawyer and fought it but too late now. 

 

Following too closely is a misdemeanor crime in the state of Georgia, so my understanding is that my spouse now has this conviction on record permanently. 

 

I am unclear as to whether this needs to be reported and how to report it properly on the N400 application. My spouse was never arrested, simply received a citation from a police officer and then later a notice to appear in municipal court. The fine was under $500. I believe it was $200-300 total, there was some kind of additional cost for pleading no contest. 

 

To my mind this definitely falls under the category of traffic incidents not needing documentation which is listed in the N400 instructions, ie. not involving alcohol or drugs, did not seriously injure another person, didn't lead to an arrest, was under $500 and no jail time was involved. 

 

I'm confused because on the application itself it asks whether there was any crime committed regardless of arrest and whether there was any conviction.. technically yes spouse did get convicted of a misdemeanor crime, even though it is a very silly one and most other states don't treat it as a misdemeanor. Help please!

[Going through 5,671]

14 minutes ago, LTGermany said:

I am unclear as to whether this needs to be reported and how to report it properly on the N400 application.

Yes it needs to be disclosed on the application. 

Edited July 28, 2018 by Going through

[Kan777 2]

7 minutes ago, LTGermany said:

Our naturalization window opens up in November and it seems like lots of things have changed since we reviewed the rules and applications last year. We could use some advice on how to handle reporting (or not) a state misdemeanor conviction for a traffic violation. 

 

My spouse (green card holder currently) was in a minor car accident in 2016 in the state of Georgia while traveling on business. The woman driving in front of him slammed on her brakes for no reason and my spouse barely rear ended her in the rental car. She immediately got a lawyer,  claimed she was injured and had tons of damages etc, so this was obviously done on purpose.  The woman called the police to the accident scene and my spouse received a citation for following too closely. The citation stated that the damage was minor and that the woman may have a possible non fatal injury. We were told this is standard operating procedure for anyone who rear ends another a vehicle no matter how minor. 

 

The damage to the rental car was only $300 and her car was so beat up it was hard to tell what was already there or not. The insurance company agreed this was fraudulent (spouse had photos showing the damage was minimal), but they paid her about $7000 in damages because they said it would be more expensive to hire a lawyer to prove it was fraud. 

 

My spouse received a court date to appear in the city municipal court and entered a plea of no contest and paid the fine. At this point we knew the woman had a lawyer and was trying to commit fraud, so we wanted to avoid the cost and circus of getting a lawyer and trying to fight it as we did not have any proof other than the photos showing minor damage. My spouse pleaded no contest to avoid any civil liability as there was some doubt as to whether the insurance company would cover the accident at that point in time (business vs personal). Of course in hindsight we probably should have hired a lawyer and fought it but too late now. 

 

Following too closely is a misdemeanor crime in the state of Georgia, so my understanding is that my spouse now has this conviction on record permanently. 

 

I am unclear as to whether this needs to be reported and how to report it properly on the N400 application. My spouse was never arrested, simply received a citation from a police officer and then later a notice to appear in municipal court. The fine was under $500. I believe it was $200-300 total, there was some kind of additional cost for pleading no contest. 

 

To my mind this definitely falls under the category of traffic incidents not needing documentation which is listed in the N400 instructions, ie. not involving alcohol or drugs, did not seriously injure another person, didn't lead to an arrest, was under $500 and no jail time was involved. 

 

I'm confused because on the application itself it asks whether there was any crime committed regardless of arrest and whether there was any conviction.. technically yes spouse did get convicted of a misdemeanor crime, even though it is a very silly one and most other states don't treat it as a misdemeanor. Help please!

As I recently discovered this issue of traffic citations and or amount of fines paid is about the most hotly debated topics on this and many other forums. Tons of posts saying include or exclude. Many seem equally plausible. My take away(after reading many posts) is that it depends on the officer doing the interview. Probably shouldn't be that way but it looks like it is. Therefore I am declaring my very minor speeding violations and doing my best to get records. In Illinois going to the DMV office with a form filled out and paying $12 is supposed to get you all violations even out of state. I had one in NC about 15 yrs ago. Here in IL they are referred to as Driving Records Abstracts. Good luck deciding!

[NewlyNaturalized 38]

I was thinking it's probably better just to go ahead and put it on there for full disclosure.

 

So we would mark questions 22-25 as YES (cited, charged, convicted of Following Too Closely) and then list it as a Minor Traffic Accident, Date, Location and Outcome would be "Paid Fine for Citation" or something similar.  We could attach a copy of the citation and print out of the court record and fine payment receipt as evidence. 

 

We were planning to file on our own online, but I'm thinking about maybe having a lawyer to assist with interview at least due to this complication. 

[Going through 5,671]

6 minutes ago, LTGermany said:

I was thinking it's probably better just to go ahead and put it on there for full disclosure.

 

So we would mark questions 22-25 as YES (cited, charged, convicted of Following Too Closely) and then list it as a Minor Traffic Accident, Date, Location and Outcome would be "Paid Fine for Citation" or something similar.  We could attach a copy of the citation and print out of the court record and fine payment receipt as evidence. 

 

We were planning to file on our own online, but I'm thinking about maybe having a lawyer to assist with interview at least due to this complication. 

You are not going to need a lawyer for this as it was a minor traffic offense....it's entirely up to you, of course...just to let you know, I filed my N400 online (without a lawyer's assistance) and I had CIMTs which are far, far worse in the eyes of USCIS.

 

Disclose the citation and write a short 1-2 lines of explanation what the charges were about, as well as the final disposition.  

You can't print out the court records on your own---they will want court-certified (stamped and raised seal) documents pertaining to it.  Upload a copy of the documents (if you choose to file online) and take the originals with you to your interview.

 

Edited to add:  Lawyers cannot speak/answer questions on an applicant's behalf during an interview---they sit silently unless asked a direct question by the IO.

 

Edited July 29, 2018 by Going through

[Alabamak1 688]

@LTGermanyi had a gross misdameanor in Washington State and had to produce the court outcome (certified copy of the court records). I did discloes it since it was a criminal, non traffic, a citation. I was not arrested, but did plead guilty also to it. Long story short, you have to disclose it, because you have plead guilty and I was cited to go to court. I send in the certified copy of the court record and briefly explained what had happened. I still naturalized with no problems.

[NewlyNaturalized 38]

Thank you all for the feedback.. we will order the certified copy from the court and it looks like we can get a certified copy of the driving record showing that is the only violation. 

[Hypnos 6,578]

Disclosing it is certainly the best move here, I think. 

 

In general, when you're uncertain about whether something needs to be listed on an N-400, you're usually better off including it. 

 

It's better to disclose something that later turns out to be unneeded than leave something off that later turns out to be necessary. 

[BigEZ 39]

Just so you have another data point, I answered "no" in my N-400 application and when the IO asked me the question during my N-400 interview, I said, well do traffic citations count and she said yes. So she changed my answer to yes and asked me some details about it such as when, what and amount of fine. She said my offenses were fine because they were just speeding tickets. But she did mention that if it was something serious and counted as a misdemeanor, it could be grounds for denial (depends on the specific case of course). So I would recommend that you check with a lawyer before filing your app. 

[NewlyNaturalized 38]

On 7/29/2018 at 11:16 PM, BigEZ said:

Just so you have another data point, I answered "no" in my N-400 application and when the IO asked me the question during my N-400 interview, I said, well do traffic citations count and she said yes. So she changed my answer to yes and asked me some details about it such as when, what and amount of fine. She said my offenses were fine because they were just speeding tickets. But she did mention that if it was something serious and counted as a misdemeanor, it could be grounds for denial (depends on the specific case of course). So I would recommend that you check with a lawyer before filing your app. 

I think the main problem and why it is so confusing is that every state classifies traffic offenses differently. In Georgia the speeding tickets and silly things like driving in the HOV lane alone are all misdemeanors. In other states it is simply a traffic violation and not a misdemeanor. So that is why they have to have some federal immigration standards as to what is a "true" misdemeanor that shows bad judgement, things like drunk driving or driving without a license, etc.