Road Tax - ILR Application -unspent conviction - PLEASE HELP

[rushabhjvora]

Dear Friends,

Your help will be valuable for me and my family. I have to apply for my ILR on 15th August 2012.

On 16th November 2007, I was convicted for not paying road tax. The car was tranfered to my friend and he did not post the papers to DVLA but we wont go into that at this stage.

I move house as I was a student and I never recieved any letter so that I could pay the fine in time and prevent the court to send out an order to enforcement officers. In July 2011, enforcement offices came to collect the money - 189GBP. I was afraid at that time, so I just paid. At that time I relised that my friend did not post the papers and also did not pay the road tax.

I called the HMCS and explained the situation. I was told that this is a CRIMINAL OFFENSE. I was also told that as the case is too old, and you have paid the fines, it wont show up in PNC checks.
My question is:
1) The offense is unspend for me by 2 months as I'll be applying on 15th August 2012 and 5 year rehab period ends on 16th November 2012. Are we sure that its 5 years rehab period for not paying a Road Tax??

2) What can I do in this case, I'll also complete 10 years in the UK on 15th Sept 2012, but how to extend my current visa which ends on 15th August 2012?

3) Shall I do a CRB check? Also, I have asked for memorandum of conviction from HMCS to know what exactly is the crime and I am thinking to attach that when I apply.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Rushabh

[ilrdec11]

UKBA says one should not have any unspent convictions.

Proof of No unspent convictions is CRB. so apply CRB through disclosure scotland.

I am pretty sure , there will no trace in CRB as arrest in involved.

If I were you, I will declare it in the application and mention that I don't have any unspent convictions according to the CRB (if no trace in CRB).

[rushabhjvora]

Thanks mate,

You said go apply to CRB Through disclosure Scotland. Is there any particular reason or it's just to avoid CRB England?

I also called Liverpool CRB and explained the situation. they said this is not a criminal offense, it's a civil offence. I also called darwen CRB office and guy said most probably it's a civil offence, so I m not sure y hmcs Loughborough said its a criminal offence.

I hope if it's a civil offence, I m OK


Thx again for yr help

Rushabh

[ilrdec11]

only organisations can apply CRB in england . Individuals can apply through disclosure scotland. ( disclosure scotland checks all UK police records)

[rushabhjvora]

Thanks again.

And thanks to immigrationboard forum.

I'll keep you posted against what happened with my CRB.

Rushabh

[rushabhjvora]

got a reply from NACRO -

My offense was in 16th Nov. 2007, I recieved a letter from DVLA for not paying road tax. At that time, I sold my car to my friend who did not post the papers (my mistake, pointless to discuss now), he left the country and scrapped the car. In July 2011, enforcement officers came to my home with a fine of 189GBP. I was unaware of the entire incident (my friend not posting vehicle papers and not paying road tax), but I still paid the fine to close the issue.

I am applying for ILR in 15th August 2012. NACRO has been extremly helpful. Please read their reply:

"
It is a criminal offence, albeit a minor one, and the time it takes to become spent is five years from the date of conviction. I would have thought that the UKBA would make allowances for this offence given its minor nature and the circumstances, but I don’t know this for sure.

Because the offence is a minor one, I think it is non-recordable, so it should not be on the Police National Computer. Therefore, if you carry out a basic disclosure check with Disclosure Scotland, it shouldn’t appear.
"
MY QUESTION:

If a 'CRB check' or 'Disclosure Scotland' does not show my offense, can I assume that I should be OK with my ILR and my offense is a minor one. Could you please correct me if I am wrong?

Regards,

Rushabh

[ilrdec11]

according to UKBA , these two are major offences.
1) Drink driving
2) Driving without insurance

May be caseworker can give discretion to this and treat as minor offence.

[normal_human]

May be caseworker can give discretion to this and treat as minor offence.

You are going to take too big risk by assuming may be caseworker will ignore it. Hiding unspent conviction from UKBA is another offence and will start another counter of 5 years.
I am not sure about CRB check as UKBA uses the data directly that is used to make CRB report and they have access to more data anyways. Probably some persons in the past have been rejected Naturalization even after having a clear CRB due to unspent conviction not shown by CRB certificate.

[rushabhjvora]

Thanks mate,

I am definately going to declare the offense in the application form in addition with a clear Scotland disclsoure certificate (CRB).

I got another reply from NACRO
"UKBA check only involves a check against the Police National Computer. As far as I am aware, the UKBA does not check other police systems."

I can always extend my Tier 1 Visa as I am on Tier 1 (HSMP) in the UK and apply for ILR after 16th Nov 2012 where I complete 5 years from conviction date.

Please note following point:

My conviction was on 16th Nov 2007.
Thereafter, I applied for my Tier 1 (HSMP) extension on 15th August 2009 and it was approved. On the application form, I said I have no criminal conviction as I was not aware of the offense untill enforccement officers came to my home on July 2011.

Therefore my next Tier 1 extension in 2012 should not be a problem.

[ilrdec11]

If this law (http://services.parliament.uk/bills/201 ... enthl.html
) gets approved before you qualify to apply , nothing to worry as for Fines rehabilitation period will be reduced to one year.

Only recordable offences will shown be in PNC. Recordable offences means driving ban and involving arrest. I am 100% sure there will be no trace in CRB.

That means "only recordable offences offences will be treated under ROA act". as basic disclosure shows unspent convictions based on ROA Act.

This is my assumption.

[rushabhjvora]

Thanks again,

I hope it gets approved....

If not, I'll just extend my Tier 1 as I did in 2009 (conviction date was nov. 2006).

I am not that worried now and hope this law gets passed soon

[rushabhjvora]

Hi mate,

I just checked the timeline of pervious meetings for rehabitation bill.
It will be years before the bill will be passed.

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/201 ... tages.html

[normal_human]

Hi mate,

I just checked the timeline of pervious meetings for rehabitation bill.
It will be years before the bill will be passed.

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/201 ... tages.html

Yes I have also contacted with the member of parliament regarding this and I feel the same that it is going to take too long time and will be a wastage of time for us if we rely on this.

[rushabhjvora]

I was told to continue in this link by moderator.

I have just found a case where even a clean disclosure scotland resulted into ILR refusal

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... sc&start=0

I was in an impression that if you have a clean SAR and clean disclosure scotland - you are OK for any non-recordle traffic offense.

Now I am again confused!

[ilrdec11]

Here is one case , driving without insurance and got the naturalisation.
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 939765cb7d

So its all depends on the caseworker deal the case.