Common Assult + Driving without insurance Can I apply?

[Smam]

Hi

To be perfectly honest with the aurthor of this thread I would love to follow your case for your BC. That's the beauty of this forum you'll gain lots and lots of knowledge after reading other people live experiences and the other difficulties they're coming accross.

Good luck for your BC.

[drdrjackbauer]

i am apply the BC in on 4/May which is 3 years from my last conviction

OK , i will keep everyone up to date

just one question tho:

if i got refused, is there a time gap i need to wait before the next application？

[msx2013]

I'm in a similar situation with the OP - please see thread: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=123631

I'm waiting for some info back from UKBA - but if I don't hear anything, I'm going to risk and apply sometime next week.

[Gagan1986]

i am apply the BC in on 4/May which is 3 years from my last conviction

OK , i will keep everyone up to date

just one question tho:

if i got refused, is there a time gap i need to wait before the next application？

You will be fine mate. Don't worry.

[sgc]

If you look at the wording, all they changed was basically to introduce more room for discretion. Okay, let me put things as simply as I can.

Your assault conviction will...

under the old regulations:
<5 years: cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

under the new regulations:
<3 years: cause refusal
3-5 years: probably cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

Do you think that it makes any difference to the 'probably' if it was a caution for common assault? Cautions are administered for relatively minor cases and are not technically convictions in the usual lingo (you don't even go to court), although the UKBA might still refer to or treat any offense as such.

Where are you getting the 'probably', anyway? I looked through the guide_an and this doc, and if anything it seems that the concept of an offense becoming spent no longer applies (e.g. see p.3 of the latter doc). Thanks for any clarification.

OP and/or others in a similar situation:
Please keep us in the loop with how your application goes. There aren't enough stats for how these applications tend to fare, and any indication could help.

[Amber]

If you look at the wording, all they changed was basically to introduce more room for discretion. Okay, let me put things as simply as I can.

Your assault conviction will...

under the old regulations:
<5 years: cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

under the new regulations:
<3 years: cause refusal
3-5 years: probably cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

Do you think that it makes any difference to the 'probably' if it was a caution for common assault? Cautions are administered for relatively minor cases and are not technically convictions in the usual lingo (you don't even go to court), although the UKBA might still refer to or treat any offense as such.

Where are you getting the 'probably', anyway? I looked through the guide_an and this doc, and if anything it seems that the concept of an offense becoming spent no longer applies (e.g. see p.3 of the latter doc). Thanks for any clarification.

OP and/or others in a similar situation:
Please keep us in the loop with how your application goes. There aren't enough stats for how these applications tend to fare, and any indication could help.

A caution is an admittance of guilt, depending on the offence it may still create a decision that you have not met the good character requirement even after 3 years. E.g. An offence for dishonesty, recklessness or a sexual or violence offence.

[sgc]

A caution is an admittance of guilt, depending on the offence it may still create a decision that you have not met the good character requirement even after 3 years. E.g. An offence for dishonesty, recklessness or a sexual or violence offence.

Cheers for reiterating that it's an admittance of guilt; that is understood.

I realise that offenses involving those factors are still considered after the threshold. But I'm unsure if the spent status has any effect (as the guy I quoted claimed), as it's no longer a criterion per the UKBA doc. I also wonder if there's any variance in application success between having a technical conviction or a caution, although the UKBA may group these together in the docs.

In general, I wish to ascertain a rough probability of refusal of an application if submitted after the threshold has passed, because although the docs technically say that offenses involving the aforementioned factors should normally not be disregarded, there is no mention of such a probability, and it may help for applicants to know.

A good way to find this out is to look at stats. Unfortunately it looks like there are none - published, anyway - so if people could post their results as they come, that would be great.

Or, if someone happens to have insider knowledge about this, your input is welcome, but please mention how you know this.

Thanks!

[Amber]

A caution is an admittance of guilt, depending on the offence it may still create a decision that you have not met the good character requirement even after 3 years. E.g. An offence for dishonesty, recklessness or a sexual or violence offence.

Cheers for reiterating that it's an admittance of guilt; that is understood.

I realise that offenses involving those factors are still considered after the threshold. But I'm unsure if the spent status has any effect (as the guy I quoted claimed), as it's no longer a criterion per the UKBA doc. I also wonder if there's any variance in application success between having a technical conviction or a caution, although the UKBA may group these together in the docs.

In general, I wish to ascertain a rough probability of refusal of an application if submitted after the threshold has passed, because although the docs technically say that offenses involving the aforementioned factors should normally not be disregarded, there is no mention of such a probability, and it may help for applicants to know.

A good way to find this out is to look at stats. Unfortunately it looks like there are none - published, anyway - so if people could post their results as they come, that would be great.

Or, if someone happens to have insider knowledge about this, your input is welcome, but please mention how you know this.

Thanks!

For the purpose of the rehabilitation of offenders act a simple police caution becomes 'spent' as soon as it is given. After the offence is deemed to no longer automatically affect the good character requirement it will be viewed more favourably. The most important factors will be, 1. The time since the offence took place, 2. The sentence imposed, 3. Whether there are aggravating factors I.e. racially or religiously motivated and 4. Whether the applicant is a repeat offender.

[aliq09]

Hi ,

Kindly see below a general over view .. we have to be carefull in all these matters

***********************************************************

Offences caught under the non-custodial offence threshold?
Most commonly, unpaid fines and notices that have been referred to a court due to non-payment where the court orders the fine to be paid are treated as a conviction and will be assessed by the Border Agency against the sentencing threshold for a non-custodial offence. For example, where an individual has been ordered to pay a court fine of £100, he or she will be able to make an application for naturalisation as a British citizen only after a period of three years from the date of the conviction.

Police cautions are now also considered when assessing the good character requirement for a naturalisation application and will be assessed against the non-custodial sentencing threshold. Interestingly, where an individual has received an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), it will not be assessed as a non-custodial offence. However, the breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence.

These changes now make it mandatory for individuals to declare any offences or convictions ever received, either in the United Kingdom or abroad. Where an offence occurred abroad, it will be considered in line with the equivalent UK offence and the relevant sentencing threshold will apply.

Further considerations
Criminality is only one aspect of the ‘good character’ requirement in naturalisation applications. When considering this requirement, the Border Agency will look at the application in its totality and will also consider such things as fixed penalty notices. Essentially, depending on how many an applicant has and how recently he or she received them, the Border Agency may view them as an indication that the applicant is not of good character.

Similarly, with regard to finances and dealings with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Border Agency can check to ascertain that all of the applicant’s financial liabilities are up to date. In particular, where individuals are self-employed the Border Agency will want to see evidence that all taxes have been paid. For applicants that are behind on payments or have made no payments, the Border Agency can look at this as an indication that they are not of good character.

Bearing this in mind, it is important that applicants’ council tax payments are up to date and that the local council has been kept informed of the number of people living on the applicant’s property. Payment of council tax is a legal requirement and failure to pay it will result in an individual’s failure to meet the good character requirement.

Applicants are advised to seek legal advice to determine their eligibility for citizenship if they are not certain whether they meet the criminality threshold.


Thanks

[Kust84]

If you look at the wording, all they changed was basically to introduce more room for discretion. Okay, let me put things as simply as I can.

Your assault conviction will...

under the old regulations:
<5 years: cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

under the new regulations:
<3 years: cause refusal
3-5 years: probably cause refusal
>5 years: not cause refusal (conviction spent)

so it is safe to say, if i wait another 2 years which is 5 years in total. the conviction will have no impact on my application any more , that is cool

but on the ukba website, the ROA has nothing to do with this anymore. the ukba use its new rule ...

Hi that means after 5 year the case worker will just ignore the matter ??
thanks.

[ouflak1]

Hi that means after 5 year the case worker will just ignore the matter ??
thanks.

More accurate to say that they are allowed to ignore if it obviously not a sign of repetitively bad character. If it's just a one time thing, and nothing else, even trivial or unrelated has happened since, then the case worker can just decide upon the other merits of the application as if it never happened.