Questions about N-400 and Evidence recommendations

[skyline385 6]

Hello all,

 

I am in the process of submitting my N-400 under the 3-year GC and married to a US Citizen provision (my GC is almost 4 years old to be honest), and had a couple of questions in it

 

1) Crimes and offences section - 5 years back, I was pulled over by a cop in Florida who gave me a ticket as a fine for my custom number plate holder covering up the number plate more than it should. Now, he specifically said this wouldn't go on my license and Florida also has a system to pull up your complete driving history which I used over the weekend (details on what the complete driving record shows is under the What is on the complete driver record? section on the FLHSMV site). When I did that my history came up completely clean with zero incidents as expected. I also have no recollection of which county the ticket was from, if a record of it even exists online. So my plan for the question in the Crimes and Offences section is to answer NO to both questions and then let the interviewer know of this incident during the N-400 interview. I also did something similar for the AOS interview where I let the interviewer know about this ticket when asked about any traffic incidents in the past so if he noted it down, it should be in their records.

 

Is this the best way ahead for this? I am all ears for a better solution if one exists.

 

2) Evidence - I have read a lot of posts about what to submit and what not as evidence of our marriage and wanted a second opinion on the documents I plan to submit with my application. The list of documents is

1. Required standard stuff - My GC, Wife's naturalization certificate and our Marriage certificate.
2. Bank/CC statements - 4 X Statements (one per year) each of our 5 joint accounts currently in use (2 X Checking, 2 X Savings, 1 X HYSA) and our AMEX card.
3. Tax Returns - Tax Returns from 2019 through 2023.
4. Lease - All of our previous/currents lease documents from 2019 through 2023.
5. Others - Car insurance, Phone bills, my employer provided life insurance and 401k statements showing my wife as beneficiary.
6. Photos - A PDF document containing about 8-10 of our recent photos from trips and family gatherings with a single line explaining the photo (location, year, etc.).
7. Future House purchase agreement - This one I am not so sure about. We have signed a purchase agreement for a house currently under construction and I was debating if I include the first 3 pages of the purchase agreement of the house along with a photo of us and the under-construction house. Since its still under construction, we haven't closed on it yet and as such don't have any mortgage papers to submit so If I were to submit this, it would only be the initial 3 pages of the purchase agreement (I don't see any reason to submit the rest of the paperwork) and a photo of us with it.

 

So this is the evidence list, hoping for some feedback about it particularly about the house purchase agreement.

 

And of course, thanks in advance to everyone. I am hoping to submit the application soon!

Edited yesterday at 01:16 AM by skyline385
added some more details

[Vickys_Mom 229]

25 minutes ago, skyline385 said:

So my plan for the question in the Crimes and Offences section is to answer NO to both questions and then let the interviewer know of this incident during the N-400 interview. I also did something similar for the AOS interview where I let the interviewer know about this ticket when asked about any traffic incidents in the past so if he noted it down, it should be in their records.

 

You got a ticket.  You paid it.  You resolved the issue.  Answer Yes and write out a brief summary.  You can say it was in Florida but you don't remember the county.  You could even attach the screen shot saying that there was nothing outstanding on the Florida computer system.  Getting a ticket is not a big deal as long as you resolved it and you've been a model citizen since.  If they ask you to obtain more evidence then you were potentially going to have to do that anyway.

 

Consider that you might get an interview officer who sees that you answered NO on the form, then sees the notes from the previous interviewer and thinks you're trying to hide something.  He might even suggest that you're attempting to make a false statement on your N-400, and he has proof that it's a false statement because of what you told the previous interviewer.  If they decide it's a fraudulent or misrepresentative answer, you have a larger problem.

 

Yes, you might get an interview officer that doesn't think it's a big deal.  And you might find someone that wants to make an example out of you. 

 

Weigh the risk against the "convenience" of what you're thinking about doing.  Personally, I'd answer Yes and be honest and forthcoming.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

[OldUser 6,761]

26 minutes ago, Vickys_Mom said:

 

You got a ticket.  You paid it.  You resolved the issue.  Answer Yes and write out a brief summary.  You can say it was in Florida but you don't remember the county.  You could even attach the screen shot saying that there was nothing outstanding on the Florida computer system.  Getting a ticket is not a big deal as long as you resolved it and you've been a model citizen since.  If they ask you to obtain more evidence then you were potentially going to have to do that anyway.

 

Consider that you might get an interview officer who sees that you answered NO on the form, then sees the notes from the previous interviewer and thinks you're trying to hide something.  He might even suggest that you're attempting to make a false statement on your N-400, and he has proof that it's a false statement because of what you told the previous interviewer.  If they decide it's a fraudulent or misrepresentative answer, you have a larger problem.

 

Yes, you might get an interview officer that doesn't think it's a big deal.  And you might find someone that wants to make an example out of you. 

 

Weigh the risk against the "convenience" of what you're thinking about doing.  Personally, I'd answer Yes and be honest and forthcoming.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

Couldn't agree more. The question whether one was ever cited should be answered "Yes". Downplaying or hiding it isn't the right solution.

[OldUser 6,761]

1 hour ago, skyline385 said:

I was debating if I include the first 3 pages of the purchase agreement of the house along with a photo of us and the under-construction house. Since its still under construction, we haven't closed on it yet and as such don't have any mortgage papers to submit so If I were to submit this, it would only be the initial 3 pages of the purchase agreement (I don't see any reason to submit the rest of the paperwork) and a photo of us with it.

Either include all pages or don't include any. All evidence should be complete when you submit it. Do not submit partial documents or partial forms, this has a potential to trigger RFE.

 

Are you filing on paper? Why not file online? If you do electronically, then you can upload as many pages as you want as long as document is not too large in size.

[skyline385 6]

10 minutes ago, Vickys_Mom said:

You got a ticket.  You paid it.  You resolved the issue.  Answer Yes and write out a brief summary.  You can say it was in Florida but you don't remember the county.  You could even attach the screen shot saying that there was nothing outstanding on the Florida computer system.  Getting a ticket is not a big deal as long as you resolved it and you've been a model citizen since.  If they ask you to obtain more evidence then you were potentially going to have to do that anyway.

 

Consider that you might get an interview officer who sees that you answered NO on the form, then sees the notes from the previous interviewer and thinks you're trying to hide something.  He might even suggest that you're attempting to make a false statement on your N-400, and he has proof that it's a false statement because of what you told the previous interviewer.  If they decide it's a fraudulent or misrepresentative answer, you have a larger problem.

 

Well the reason I suggested answering NO to the questions is because the updated N-400 instructions state the following on page 20 -

 

"Note that unless a traffic incident was alcohol or drug related, led to an arrest, or seriously injured another person, you do not need to submit documentation of traffic incidents."

 

If I were to answer YES to the question then its going to ask me to submit documentation of the incident which would go against their own instructions?

 

Another concern here is that if I click YES on the form, then the details I need to provide would be -

1) What was the crime or offense? - Like I said, it was a simple fine for improper number plate holder. What would be the exact crime or offense I mention here. My concern here is me accidently providing incorrect information which creates problems.

2) Where did the crime or offense occur? - This is another issue because it asks for the City where it occurred and I have no detailed recollection of the exact city or county where it occurred because i was on the FL turnpike driving north. And I have been unable to find any details related to the incident. So again, the concern here is the lack of information causing issues.

[skyline385 6]

6 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Either include all pages or don't include any. All evidence should be complete when you submit it. Do not submit partial documents or partial forms, this has a potential to trigger RFE.

 

Are you filing on paper? Why not file online? If you do electronically, then you can upload as many pages as you want as long as document is not too large in size.

 

I am submitting online but the reason I said to not submit the rest of the house paperwork is because it is in regards to customizations in our house, community guidelines, etc. I could submit it but it has nothing to do with the purchase agreement which is 3 pages long and which I was planning to submit in its entirety.

[OldUser 6,761]

8 minutes ago, skyline385 said:

 

I am submitting online but the reason I said to not submit the rest of the house paperwork is because it is in regards to customizations in our house, community guidelines, etc. I could submit it but it has nothing to do with the purchase agreement which is 3 pages long and which I was planning to submit in its entirety.

As I mentioned, if submitting part of doc, you can expect an RFE. Maybe not worth including? 

[skyline385 6]

5 minutes ago, OldUser said:

As I mentioned, if submitting part of doc, you can expect an RFE. Maybe not worth including? 

 

I will probably just submit the whole thing, its just unnecessary information but better to just submit it i guess.

 

My bigger worry right now is the traffic fine. I thought my proposed method would be fine because I saw so many posts here about how you can provide minor corrections/updates if required directly on the N-400 interview but now I am concerned after reading the replies here.

[OldUser 6,761]

3 minutes ago, skyline385 said:

 

I will probably just submit the whole thing, its just unnecessary information but better to just submit it i guess.

 

My bigger worry right now is the traffic fine. I thought my proposed method would be fine because I saw so many posts here about how you can provide minor corrections/updates if required directly on the N-400 interview but now I am concerned after reading the replies here.

It doesn't seem like something that would prevent you from naturalizing. You didn't sell controlled substances, or guns or robbed somebody. Disclosing is better than not disclosing. Not disclosing this minor issue can become a problem in itself. If unsure, you can consult a lawyer.

Edited yesterday at 02:48 AM by OldUser

[Lemonslice 4,861]

Misunderstood.  Sorry.

Edited yesterday at 03:22 AM by Lemonslice

[skyline385 6]

Just an update, I went through every clerk's office in Florida and was finally able to find the traffic infraction. I will consult the attorney who originally handled my AOS for next steps on it.