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Hello,

I am planning to apply for Naturalization as a British Citizen in the next few weeks. I have a few questions regarding item 3.6 Criminal Convictions/Civil Judgements of the form AN. I have reproduced the clause below.

Criminal Convictions: Civil Judgments
3.6 Do you have any criminal convictions in the UK or any other country (including traffic offences) or any civil judgements made against you? Yes No
If you have answered Yes above please give details below for each sentence starting with the most recent one. If you have received more than two sentences you should continue on page 13. Convictions spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 need not be disclosed (see page 16 of the Booklet AN). If you have answered No please go to question 3.7.

Around two years back I was issued a fixed penalty notice by the police with a fine of £200 and six points on my license for driving without insurance. I payed the fine within the given time and also accepted points on my license. Please note that I did not go to court for this offence and the penalty was issued by police and not by a court. I surrendered my license and counter part at the police station and it was returned by a court with the points endorsed. The counterpart of my driving license says Fixed Penalty notice and the "data of conviction, fine, disqualification period and other" columns of the counterpart are blank.

I would be grateful if someone could you please answer the below queries,

1. Is the above fixed penalty notice classed as a criminal conviction? If no is the answer to the above question "NO"?.

2. I intend to state the fixed penalty notice in the "Further Information Not Covered In Other Sections" on page no. 13 of the Form AN and I shall include the counter part of my driving license along with my application. Will this be acceptable or with "NO" to question 3.6 I need not state this in the form and only include the counter part?

3. This fixed penalty is around two years old and i dont have any penalties during the last 12 months. Even if i disclose it, is it likely to have an impact on my application as guidance Booklet AN under section 9 says that driving while uninsured is not a minor offence?

I look forward to replies and thanks in advance.

Regards,
AA

You have to disclose FPNs. Normally, a single FPN will not adversely affect your application, but even so it is an offence, and you must declare it. I think it belongs under section 3.12.
Since your offence was driving without insurance, it is - as you noticed - much more serious in the eyes of HO than a simple speeding ticket and not a "minor offence". There is a lot of information in this and in this thread. Do not conceal it and do not play it down, or you get yourself in trouble. However, FPNs are not convictions. If this is the only problem in your application, I think you should still be able to pass ("Fixed penalty notices will not normally be taken in to account."), despite HO's hard line on DWI. However, if you want to play it save, wait until the offence becomes spent (which means here: removed from your licence).

Dear Gyfrinachgar,

Thanks a lot for your prompt response and referring me to the other posts.

I shall answer "NO" to question 3.6 CC's /CJ's and then can answer "YES" to question 3.12 and provide details of the FPN.

3.12 Have you engaged in any other activities which might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character ?

As noted earlier I do intend to disclose the FPN and attached my counterpart.

However do you think it would be better if I disclose it on page no. 13 under FURTHER INFORMATION NOT COVERED IN OTHER SECTIONS? I am just thinking if by answering "YES" to 3.12 i am admitting to the caseworker that i am guilty of the offence (although not convicted) and thus highlight and provide greater significance to the FPN than it is?

Once again thanks for your reply and I look forward to your advise.

Regards,
AA

I believe it belongs in 3.12, as this is the section that deals with the good character requirement, in particular with everything that doesn't fit in one of the previous sections. Answering 3.12 is not an admission of guilt, and I am sure that the caseworker will just ignore it once he/she reads "single FPN" anyway.

In the end, it probably doesn't make much of a difference whether you put it on page 10 or 13. If you mention it somewhere, you have done your duty. Regulations state that "caseworkers should count heavily against an applicant any attempt to conceal the truth" - but nobody will blame you for putting it here or there.

That being said, I believe that HO should overwork the form to have a single question (3.13?) just for FPNs. FPNs are getting more and more common (since it is such a convenient way of boosting the public purse....), so more and more naturalisation applications are affected by them. They causes a lot of uncertainty and confusion for many applicants (as seen here in the forum). Form AN should be adapted accordingly to reflect that. Well, one can always dream...

Dear Gyfrinachgar,

Thanks a lot for your advice. It has relieved all of my concerns.

I totally agree with you. HO need to update the form as there is so much confusion regarding this section of the form.

I shall disclose the FPN and apply soon. I will definitely update you once I get the approval (hopefully)

Regards,
AA

Gyfrinachgar wrote:FPNs are getting more and more common

Mmh, seems I was mistaken. According to HO statistics, numbers increased until 2005 and actually show a steady decline since. Even so, for England and Wales the number is still close to 2 million FPNs per year (54% for speeding offences, 4% for insurance/licence offences). Considering that there are circa 31 million licenced vehicles (29.1 in England + 1.7 in Wales), on average nearly 6% of the vehicles are getting an FPN every year. Rather impressive, thinking about it.

In any case, good luck with your application! Looking forward to your update.

Thank you so much aa188 and Gyfrinachgar for providing such valuable insights.

Could I please ask you a188, if you got your naturalisation application approved? I am in exactly same situation as you : 2 years back, I got an FPN with 6 penalty points and £200 fine (which i promply paid, never went to court) for driving without insurance (although it was unintentional).

So it would be extremely usefull for me to know if your application was approved and whether/where you mentioned this on the form or not?

I would be really greatful if you can please reply me on this forum [email address deleted by Moderator]. Thank you.