British Citizenship – Good Character Requirement FAQs

[Jonriker]

not really. She mentioned Disclosure Scotland and SAR, but acknowledged she was not an expert. 'Edward Snowden', anyone?

She did feel that, if I try to get a Disclosure and/or SAR, I've tried my best and thus, no matter what happens -> it is to the best of my knowledge.

Hi Amber, she disagreed when I put to her, is it possible to be convicted without going to the courts?
A major disagreement here, but I guess that's between two different immigration agents (her and you -> I kind of assume you are an immigration advisor/agent? no offense intended.)

[Jonriker]

by the way people, I PAID for this advice....

Hope it's worth it!!! Sigh.... she did say it's her interpretation of the UKBA guidelines, and thus, ultimately up to the discretion of the case worker.

[Amber]

You need to ask her then how can people plead guilty by post to a magistrates summons and what is the result if you do?

[tronca33]

HI
I have important question.Im ready to have app.with NCS for a naturalisation but Im not sure If I should .
Am a permanent resident in the uk sińce April 2012. if i claim benefit can i still apply for british citizenship?
Im sell employed,working And paying my taxes And NIC since 2007,Just due to work problems claiming WTC And HB around 16 month.single,live alone SO No Help from a partner.
Please i need to know IF for thin reason my application can be refused.
THank you SO much.

[Amber]

Tornca33 you've got nothing to worry about. Best of luck.

[Derivaz]

by the way people, I PAID for this advice....

Hope it's worth it!!! Sigh.... she did say it's her interpretation of the UKBA guidelines, and thus, ultimately up to the discretion of the case worker.

I'm not an expert, but I think I've heard cases of people that have had a conviction without going to court, because the pleaded guilty and paid the fine, so I think Amber is right.

the rest she told you sounds correct, but she hasn't really told you anything new or told you how to get a SAR or Disclosure Scotland, etc... so she doesn't seem to be very useful; she's just interpreting the UKBA guide, which is what we do, but doesn't give you anything extra, so in my opinion, she's not worth the money. How much did she charge you?

[Jonriker]

yeah, I checked with her with regards to conviction without going to court.

She says she has not met such a case of conviction via post, and wants me to show her a direct case (obviously I don't have that).

In any case, it follows who issued the letter in the first place. Is it the (traffic) police? If yes, it's the equivalent of you being stopped by a traffic police.
Because in my situation, I was caught on a speed camera (where there isn't any police around), they couldn't give me a FPN on the spot. A letter sent by the traffic police subsequently is equivalent to being stopped by the traffic police.

So, if the letter was issued by the traffic police, it is a FPN, UNLESS you dispute the 'conditional offer', in which it then moves to court.
If it was issued by the court (i.e. summons), that means your speeding was quite excessive and the police wants to move it to court directly.

In both cases, I guess it's possible to have a 'conditional fixed penalty' offered. I'm not sure.

For Disclosure and SAR, she said I could 'google' it... (!!!!!!)

[Derivaz]

yeah, I checked with her with regards to conviction without going to court.

She says she has not met such a case of conviction via post, and wants me to show her a direct case (obviously I don't have that).

In any case, it follows who issued the letter in the first place. Is it the (traffic) police? If yes, it's the equivalent of you being stopped by a traffic police.
Because in my situation, I was caught on a speed camera (where there isn't any police around), they couldn't give me a FPN on the spot. A letter sent by the traffic police subsequently is equivalent to being stopped by the traffic police.

So, if the letter was issued by the traffic police, it is a FPN, UNLESS you dispute the 'conditional offer', in which it then moves to court.
If it was issued by the court (i.e. summons), that means your speeding was quite excessive and the police wants to move it to court directly.

In both cases, I guess it's possible to have a 'conditional fixed penalty' offered. I'm not sure.

For Disclosure and SAR, she said I could 'google' it... (!!!!!!)

I think it depends on the speed, if you were going over 90mph or so, you get a summon (conviction); otherwise, a FPN; it's on gov.uk you can check that there; so check the fine and see who sent it so you know if it's a conviction or not; do you remember the speed?

[Jonriker]

yeah..... it was really low!!!!

I found the original letter.... The speed limit was 30mph (!!!!) ... and the speed camer claims I was travelling at 38mph.

I googled speed limits.... There is a traffic police threshold and summons threshold. traffic police threshold is 35mph by which you get a fpn if you breach it.
50mph is the threshold when you get a court summon. To be clear, this is based on a speed limit of 30mph....

should I start charging money for these posts?

but, I think we can discuss all we want..... I take my agent's call that ultimately, it is still up to the discretion of the case worker (or the government? ).

[Amber]

I'm afraid the guidance is quite clear that a conviction (however given) will be a bar for 3 years.

However, it would appear you would have a standard FPN. I would be cautious with your 'agent' as she did not know that a summary conviction could be given without attending court

All you have to do is read a summons (click)[open in word] which clearly states:

If you plead guilty by post, you will normally be convicted by the court on the date shown in the summons. The court may put the case back for up to four weeks without having to tell you. The court will write to you soon after the hearing to tell you what sentence the magistrates have given you.

[Derivaz]

yeah..... it was really low!!!!

I found the original letter.... The speed limit was 30mph (!!!!) ... and the speed camer claims I was travelling at 38mph.

I googled speed limits.... There is a traffic police threshold and summons threshold. traffic police threshold is 35mph by which you get a fpn if you breach it.
50mph is the threshold when you get a court summon. To be clear, this is based on a speed limit of 30mph....

should I start charging money for these posts?

but, I think we can discuss all we want..... I take my agent's call that ultimately, it is still up to the discretion of the case worker (or the government? ).

It seems like you have a FPN, so you should be fine then; but you don't need to pay for that info you can find it on gov.uk I checked it a while ago.

[tronca33]

Thank you D41,,,
I have one more question ...
Someone know what you mean:
You must have been physically present in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern
Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands on the day 5 years before the
application is received by the Home Office.
For example if your application is received on 20/1/2010 you should have been
physically present in the United Kingdom on 21/1/2005.

So how many days,weeks or months I must been present physically?
Just on this day or days after???The problem is I dont know how many days take to NSC to send my documents etc....
So This mean I must been in UK all month of October 2008 yes???
Thank you again.

[Derivaz]

I'm afraid the guidance is quite clear that a conviction (however given) will be a bar for 3 years.

However, it would appear you would have a standard FPN. I would be cautious with your 'agent' as she did not know that a summary conviction could be given without attending court

All you have to do is read a summons (click)[open in word] which clearly states:

If you plead guilty by post, you will normally be convicted by the court on the date shown in the summons. The court may put the case back for up to four weeks without having to tell you. The court will write to you soon after the hearing to tell you what sentence the magistrates have given you.

I find it quite shocking that his solicitor that is supposed to be an expert and charges for it (and probably quite a lot) doesn't know that you can have a conviction without going to court; something that I found out just be checking the gov.uk website for free.....

Hopefully, it will go well for him/her...

[Jonriker]

no, that wasn't what I got (quite a long letter!).

Mine was a one-pager (from the Traffic Police, Camera Division) stating the alleged offense.
There was a slip attached to the bottom, where I just put in the cheque and driver's counterpart.

She sounds quite confident though... oh well....

So, are you suggesting I should go to Amber or Deriv, for consultation fees?

[Amber]

If you didn't get a summons then it's just a regular FPN thus not a conviction and not a bar (unless you've got more than one in the last 12 months).

[Amber]

If the NCS send the application it'll be received the next working day after sent via special delivery. Thus, you must have been physically present in the UK when the Home Office receive your application counting back 3 or 5 years.

[Derivaz]

no, that wasn't what I got (quite a long letter!).

Mine was a one-pager (from the Traffic Police, Camera Division) stating the alleged offense.
There was a slip attached to the bottom, where I just put in the cheque and driver's counterpart.

She sounds quite confident though... oh well....

So, are you suggesting I should go to Amber or Deriv, for consultation fees?

I suggest you take Amber's advice rather than that solicitor's haha; I know somethings, but she knows almost everything; although, nothing is 100% srue with the HO, but I'd take her advice.

What are you finally going to do?

[amali]

How can I know that I have a caution or not with police?

[amali]

I have a conviction dated Aug 2013 as I challenged a FPN for using mobile while driving. After that I got ILR but now I am advised not to apply for naturalization.
When the Laspo Bill amemdment for naturalization purposes will be in effect?

[Amber]

You'll have to wait until at least 2016, forget about LASPO. To find out if you've got a police caution, a SAR from ACPO or your local police station for PNC data.

[Derivaz]

I have a conviction dated Aug 2013 as I challenged a FPN for using mobile while driving. After that I got ILR but now I am advised not to apply for naturalization.
When the Laspo Bill amemdment for naturalization purposes will be in effect?

if you have a conviction it's a 3 year ban, but if you won the case and the charges were dropped; I think you are fine.

[Amber]

Derivaz s(he) means that s(he) challenged the FPN, lost and ended up with a conviction. If s(he) had not challenged the FPN then it would not have been a bar.

[Derivaz]

Derivaz s(he) means that s(he) challenged the FPN, lost and ended up with a conviction. If s(he) had not challenged the FPN then it would not have been a bar.

Ah ok, then it's a conviction, because it went to court; not a good idea if s(he) was going to apply for BC, but it can't be undone.

In any case, if you drive and speak on the phone and get caught, better to accept the mistake, pay and move on, i think...

[amali]

SAR is from UKBA and ACRO is from police. For UK naturalization application which check should I use?

I know the 3 year waiting will become one year by the end if this year. Home office is working on that.

[Amber]

SAR is from UKBA and ACRO is from police. For UK naturalization application which check should I use?

I know the 3 year waiting will become one year by the end if this year. Home office is working on that.

Please provide a link for that. If anything, LASPO makes nationality applications exempt from rehabilitation time periods.