Traffic offence - British Citizenship application

[ilrseeker]

Hi,
I am due to apply next month (Feb 2011) for british citizenship ( 5yrs + 1yr ILR).

In May 2008 while coming out of a parking in hurry, I hit a car behind and failed to report. I was noted by someone & reported and later summoned to court and paid fines 350 /- plus court charges and 5 points on license in Oct 2008.The charges were failed to report and driving without due care.

After this event , I had one Tier 1 extension and then ILR applications successfully approved ( in both I had declared the above offence clearly with all details submitting all paperwork received from court etc)

As per the HO guidelines, the above offence isnt listed in major offences.
Could you guys please share your experience , knowledge etc in this regard and any advice etc will be highly appreciated?
what are the chances of my application getting approved or rejected?

Many thanks
ilrseeker

[KC8010]

I think to be safe you would need to put this on your application form as you attended court albeit not a major offence...

[lanr3e]

Leaving the scene of an accident or driving without due care is not regarded as a minor offence as stated in AN guidance. It is likely that your application for Naturalization will be refused until the fine has been spent as defined in the rehabilitation of offenders act (5yrs from date of conviction).

[ilrseeker]

thanks KC8010 and lanr3e,

2 things - first of all AN guide does state some major driving offences example , but there is no mention of driving without due care or failing to report an accident.

Secondly , these rules were all the same when I applied for tier1 extension and ILR, why would they grant those and refuse the citizenship application?

ILR is as good as citizenship in terms of you can live as long as you want in the country, get the state benefits etc, although one cannot apply for a passport.

Your comments most appreciated please.

Many thanks
ilrseeker

[dex123]

In case there is no reply from someone with a similar experience your options are either to contact a solicitor (they may have seen similar cases) or apply for citizenship anyways (duly declaring the offence) and take the risk that it might be rejected and you will lose the application fee. If you are in a hurry then you may want to take this risk because it will take another 2.5 years for it to be spent.

[lanr3e]

Agreed....AN guide does not state examples of major driving offences but it gave examples of minor offences...meaning that offences not stated are potentially regarded as major offences.

Like I said earlier, it is likely that your application will be refused...it's not a definitive statement. If you wish to apply, u should by all means do and I wish you goodluck with it.

[ChetanOjha]

In my opinion, OP has to spend 5 year time from the day he was fined by court. Not reporting a offense and running away from scene of accident(in hurry or otherwise) is considered as major offense and doesn't say good about the character. I am not questioning the character but it is not seen as good character.

Best way is to contact a solicitor. It is worst spending £80-£100 and contacting solicitors instead of risking over £1000+ on the application.

[wunder]

Secondly , these rules were all the same when I applied for tier1 extension and ILR, why would they grant those and refuse the citizenship application?

Citizenship rules are stricter (but there are plans to change this by making ILR just as strict from April 2011).

[ukpl]

ILR is as good as citizenship in terms of you can live as long as you want in the country, get the state benefits etc, although one cannot apply for a passport.

If ILR is as good as BC then why do you want to apply for BC?
IMHO, it is not as good as BC and I could list a lot of advantages of having BC over ILR/PR for someone who wants to stay over here.
The main difference (for me) is with ILR/PR you are a guest. With BC you are at home.

Anyway, you have been sentenced by court, hence you are convicted.
Whatever caused conviction and regardless if it is seen by public (and you) as minor or major, it is a serious matter by the very simple fact it ended up in court.
If you really need (want) BC, and you can afford losing a lot of money, then by all means you are free to apply.
You may hovewer find it difficult to find referees willing to endorse your application.
Good Luck.

[geriatrix]

See Annex D: The good character requirement (page 29 onwards, in particular).


regards

[ilrseeker]

Thanks for the comments guys,

A mistake done cannot be reverted,
I would appreciate if some one who got rejected a British Citizenship due to a traffic offence to please write his experience.

It would be very helpful.


Many thanks

[salmanakram]

Thanks for the comments guys,

A mistake done cannot be reverted,
I would appreciate if some one who got rejected a British Citizenship due to a traffic offence to please write his experience.

It would be very helpful.


Many thanks

Did you apply or not?

[gidoc]

Anyway, you have been sentenced by court, hence you are convicted.
Whatever caused conviction and regardless if it is seen by public (and you) as minor or major, it is a serious matter by the very simple fact it ended up in court.
If you really need (want) BC, and you can afford losing a lot of money, then by all means you are free to apply.
You may hovewer find it difficult to find referees willing to endorse your application.

Good and correct advise. For now you do not fulfil the ' good character' requirement which is an important criteria for approval of naturalisation.