About traffic violation(URGENT)

[vsarya]

Hello,

For the Qs. about
Have you ever been arrested, cited or detained by any law enforcement officer (including USCIS or former INS and military officers) for any reason?

I did get a ticket 6 months back for "passing on wrong side". Can anyone please tell clearly how to answer the above Qs. Should the answer be a Yes or No?

Please advise.

Thanks

[kkboy]

Yes

to be safe and truthful, answer YES, underline "cited" and write the date and type of offence occured in the table. The officer won't care about it as much as a DUI or another felony. Relax, u are ok.

[ckayhan]

The form states that minor trafic violations do not need to be reported. (Which excludes DUI and the like.)

[knowledgeable]

Excerpt from page 25 of Naturalization Guide

If you have been arrested or convicted of a
crime, you must send a certified copy of the
arrest report, court disposition, sentencing,
and any other relevant documents, including
any countervailing evidence concerning
the circumstances of your arrest and/or
conviction that you would like USCIS to
consider. Note that unless a traffic incident
was alcohol or drug related, you do not need
to submit documentation for traffic fines and
incidents that did not involve an actual arrest
if the only penalty was a fine of less than

$500 and/or points on your driver’s license.

[Sctoch100]

Help m undrstand above statement

Wher in above statement does it say you do not hav to "report" an accident if it meet that $500 and other conditons...all it say you do ned to "submit documents" in that case.

[bayareamom]

Just wanted to add my 2cents into this that during my own citizenship interview which I passed and now a US Citizen, the immigration officer indeed clarified to me that traffic violations where the fine is under $500 and not involving DUI does not need to be mentioned.. this was not relevant to me since I've had no tickets, etc.. but it was just part of a casual conversation we had while going thru my application during the interview..

[Sctoch100]

honesty is the best policy

That could be the case, but I've heard a different first hand experience. That guy didn't mentioned his traffic violations considering they were minor and the interviewer got really mad at him when he mention that he didn't report some traffic violations.

However, he still got the citizenship

I would say staying honest would not harm, otherwise you will have to either face the 'yelling' or lie in case the interviewer did ask about the traffic violation.

[bayareamom]

If an officer 'yells' at an applicant during an interview, a formal report filed against this interviewer should be made. There's a general code of ethics that I believe is upheld very seriously and while waiting for my interviewer to call my name, the 'promise' statement that the officers make at USCIS is printed in a bold big signage. That's just my opinion.

[Sctoch100]

Missed the point

Sorry I used incorrect words to explain my point and you got stuck on the 'yelling' part. I was trying to convey that you can get a hard time during interview if you do not mention traffic violation but answered 'yes but those were minor' etc. to that question during the interview.

Before interview I've borrowed an interview preparation CD from Library and this scenario was specifically demonstrated i.e. applicant filled 'No' but answered 'Yes' during interview with an excuse 'oh I thought traffic violation are not to be reported'. However, that scenario did not dicussed any $ limit so it was not conclusive for this discussion.

Another thing that I have heard but I am not positive if that is true, that they are getting more strict on this question recently may be because of a rule change that it is now required or may be beacause of another reason. If anyone know more about it please share.