hashemp wrote:i was told on the letter from TFL its under s. 5(3) of the Regulation of Railways Act 1990s. I was told its a non-recordable offence by the clerk when i came out of the courtroom and i don't have to declare it when i am applying for visa or employment. i don't know about naturalisation application.. shall i get a letter from magistrate court to confirm its not a non-recordable offence
My understanding is that s. 5(3) fare evasion is recordable. Regardless, whether an offence is recordable only determines whether or not it ends up in the Police National Computer.
If you do apply before your conviction becomes spent, then you must declare the conviction. If you do not declare the conviction and the Home Office learns of it in considering your application, then your application will be refused and you will be told that you will be very unlikely to be approved for naturalisation for the next ten years.
Whether or not you are approved depends on whether or not the Home Office considers your offence to be sufficiently minor to be disregarded. There are various motoring offences that are matters of strict liability, such as driving without insurance, that the Home Office does not regard as minor offences. As fare evasion under s. 5(3) involves intent not to pay the fare due, I suspect that they would not regard it as minor.
Whether or not you should apply now depends on whether you are willing to take a very real risk of losing £780. Whatever you do, don't make your situation worse by failing to declare the conviction if you apply before it is spent.
Keep in mind that there is a bill being considered in Parliament that, if passed in its current form, will reduce the rehabilitation period for convictions that result in small fines so that they will be deemed spent after one year. You may want to track the progress of
that bill and write to your MP in support of it.
