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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    4

    Default What Will Happen if You Forget an Open Container Ticket on a Naturalization Petition

    What a great resource this site is, fantastic. I'm a second year law student and it's a lot of fun just to read through old threads.

    Here's a bit of a head-scratcher my neighbor/friend is dealing with.

    He's a permanent resident who has filed for naturalization, with no appointment date yet received. He filed a month or so ago. A few days ago, he realized that she had unintentionally misrepresented his criminal history of the filing, when he checked that he'd never been arrested or cited for anything. Turns out that he plum forgot about a federal park service citation for open container that he received in 2013. The trick here is that back then, he mailed in a payment using the self-addressed envelope provided, but it was returned to him, and he put it in a folder somewhere to follow up on but forgot about it. He never received any sort of notice to appear in district court (we're here in the Northern District of California). So now he's in a panic. He went onto the online or automated system that the government has for all federal citations (called violations) to check the status and there's no record of the ticket or his name. That could be good for him (the ticket never entered the system) or bad for him (because things stay in the system only so long and it'll make tracking down the disposition more difficult). He's just done his FBI fingerprinting and he figures that it'll come up on his record.

    SO, for him, I have three questions that someone might perhaps help out with:

    First, and not really immigration-related, how would he track down this ticket? I thought of trying to use the PACER system to check the docket back in 2013, to track down whatever happened there, does that seem like a good place to start?

    Second, does a US District Court violation matter to the naturalization process? I've read conflicting accounts, and I'm certain someone on here knows exactly what's what. Will it prevent him from even getting to an interview?

    Finally, related to naturalization, can he file some sort of amendment prior to the interview, or should he wait and raise the issue during the interview? I assume he'll need to bring evidence of how it was disposed.

    Thanks a bunch, folks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: What Will Happen if You Forget an Open Container Ticket on a Naturalization Petit

    Your friend should talk to an immigration lawyer (and we don't tend to like to answer questions for "friends"). I'm not sure PACER is going to be of much help. He can try contacting the central violations bureau for the area where the park was and see if they can dig up the record. Barring that, he needs to compile to the best of his ability the date, location, nature of the charge, and the punishment sustained.

    A federal citation very much matters to the immigration process, though this one if disclosed is not likely to be a problem. Failure to disclose would be a bigger issue. N-400 is clear that they want EVERYTHING.

    But all is not lost. Indeed, when he gets his application if he brings all the stuff he has and discloses it, it likely isn't going to derail his naturalisation. Of course, if CIS recognizes the ommission earlier, they will send a letter to him demanding the information. He needs to respond to that in a timely manner, so get the documentation NOW.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: What Will Happen if You Forget an Open Container Ticket on a Naturalization Petit

    Pretty much what I figured. Thanks for the response. Flyingron, you and a few others are super active around here with loads of good notes. Again, what a great resource this is.

    So, a follow up. It turns out that the citation was dismissed in the interest of justice by the Assistant US Attorney some time ago. To answer my first question, this info was obtained by simply calling the park service police court liaison.

    I'll try to update the rest as info becomes available.

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