Reasons for Visa Denial - Traffic History

[TroyNClare16]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can help us. I am in the process of submitting my visa application - Spouse Visa. I am Australian and my wife is English. I currently reside here in Aus and she is home in the UK.

We have a lawyer acting on our behalf and completing the application.

Our lawyer has advised us that my traffic history MAY be a problem. I have several low-medium range speeding tickets and several other offences such as having the music too loud and one DUI which is almost 20 years old. In all there is about 18 infringements over an almost 20 year period.

I have no criminal history whatsoever and I currently work two jobs, whilst completing a bachelor degree. I am honest and hardworking.

The question I have is would my application be declined based on this traffic history? Does my lack on criminal history and my education, employment history come into play and counteract this?

Does anyone know of any instances where traffic history has been an issue?

Any insight would be great.

Thank you!

[ouflak1]

I have several low-medium range speeding tickets and several other offences such as having the music too loud and one DUI which is almost 20 years old. In all there is about 18 infringements over an almost 20 year period.

I have no criminal history whatsoever...

These two statements appear to contradict each other.

In any case, your lawyer is correct. Any pattern of consistent behavior of low-level offenses will be held to a higher degree of scrutiny than a one-time offense of the same degree. They might seem minor to you, but speeding is the number two cause of car accidents right behind distracted driving (loud music? DUI?). And it only takes one incident of speeding in the wrong place at the wrong time for a disaster to happen. The UK may very well decide that they don't want to take the risk that the next time you are caught speeding, by one of their traffic cameras for example, happens just a few seconds before a fatal accident.

[TroyNClare16]

I have NO criminal history. I am well aware of the dangers of speeding. These offences are not considered criminal in Australia. They are traffic infringements. Not sure how that is contradictory.

[ouflak1]

I have NO criminal history. I am well aware of the dangers of speeding. These offences are not considered criminal in Australia. They are traffic infringements. Not sure how that is contradictory.

I do not wish to offend. I just want to make sure that you understand the UK perspective. What might or might not be considered 'criminal' to you might not necessarily be what the Australian government considers 'criminal' or the UK government considers 'criminal'. Evidence for this is the fact that both countries ask for, and expect to truthfully receive, exactly this kind of information for their respective visa applications whether it be traffic offenses or more serious jailable offenses. Hence my statement on the apparent contradiction. Also, I do hope you don't think I'm preaching. I'm not. The Home Office has a duty to scrutinize this kind of situation. People have been and will be refused for demonstrating a pattern of similar minor offenses, whatever those minor offenses might be (sometimes surprisingly trivial). I just want to give a hint on how they might interpret /refuse your application, and why your lawyer advised you the way he did.

There is no hard guidance on this so there will be discretion required on the part of the case worker. Have any of the offenses occurred within the last 3 years? From your description, you are averaging about one a year.

[TroyNClare16]

Apologies if I seemed short. This is becoming very frustrating and my wife is very stressed about it all as am I.

I have had 3 offences in the last 3 years. Two for speeding 8 miles over and one for using my mobile phone. All of which were fixed penalty offences.

[ouflak1]

Apologies if I seemed short. This is becoming very frustrating and my wife is very stressed about it all as am I.

I have had 3 offences in the last 3 years. Two for speeding 8 miles over and one for using my mobile phone. All of which were fixed penalty offences.

In which case I think you've done the best thing you can do by getting a lawyer to handle your application, which would have been my advice if you hadn't already mentioned you'd done so. Maybe someone else on here will be able to advise further. This topic has come up before on this forum. The only thing else I can say is that spouse applications do tend to be given a greater degree of latitude... within reason.

[TroyNClare16]

Thanks for the advice. Fingers crossed. We more than tick all the boxes in every other area. Its just this one thing that is concerning us. Thanks again.

[ouflak1]

Thanks for the advice. Fingers crossed. We more than tick all the boxes in every other area. Its just this one thing that is concerning us. Thanks again.

Hope things work out. If you can, do keep us posted on the result. This is a somewhat rarer situation and it may help others in the future. And there may be others on here with experience who might yet post advice for you on this thread.