British citzenship and fare evasion

[gaurav76.5]

Hi

I have 2 questions and is getting mixed reply fro them and nit sure whats correct.

I successfully applied for ILR last year in April. Mine was bit dubious because I had TFL fare evasion in August 2012 issue with me and was fined by court which I paid next day after receiving fine notice from the court.

Before applying for ILR I did PNC check and CRB check and nothing came back as I was told fare evasion is criminal record and is recorded and wont be able to apply for ILR till August 2014.

Now I am eligible to apply for British Citizenship and have following questions ;

1. keeping in mind Good Character requirement am I eligible for naturalisation or do I need to wait till Aug2015. I asked my solicitor and he advised its OK as I succesfully got ILR ( I did mentioned it in my ILR application form)

2. In last year I have absence of more than 90 days (98 days to be precise) and is it correct that I doesnt need to apply under discretion as leave till 100 days are normally disregarded.

Please help !!!!

[milan69]

1. I think you need to wait until August.
2. I would apply for discretion as it is 90 days of absences that is allowed. I would expect HO to approve as absences up to 100 days are disregarded.

[gaurav76.5]

Won't this be disregarded as it's not a serious offence and as per guidelines an offence not serious in nature committed before 12 months is disregarded.

Any senior member please help!!!

[akhurshid]

Won't this be disregarded as it's not a serious offence and as per guidelines an offence not serious in nature committed before 12 months is disregarded.

Any senior member please help!!!

A conviction is a conviction. Serious or not, if the fine was issued by court, you need to wait for 3 years unless you have a grand burning hole in your pocket.

You are already going to ask for discretion because you have over 90 days of absence. Discretion is normally granted provided that the applicant meets all the other requirements. You can't really ask for discretion for both absence and good character.
I would wait until 3 years have passed and then apply. But thats just me, I don't have extra £906 to waste.