Conflicting Information On The Forum: Fixed Penalty Notices

[ocean123]

Hello All,

I am preparing my ILR application. I have searched the forum for information regarding fixed penalty notices(FPN), whether or not they should be declared in section 9 of Set(M) where it asks "have you ever been convicted".

I could find both YES as well as NO.

1) There are people saying always declare FPNs no matter what.
2) But, then there are people saying, there is no need to declare them when they haven't been issued in court because they arent convictions in first place. Ministry of justice website appears to support this opinion "Fixed Penalty Notices and Penalty Notices for Disorder do not form part of a person’s criminal record as there is no admission of guilt and they therefore do not need to be covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act."

So, I would just like to know, do we have any established opinion that everybody has consensus upon? I am quite confused if I should mention couple of old FPN's or not. They were issued couple of years ago overseas, not in court though!

Could all immigration advisors kindly advise?

Thanking you in advance!

[Gyfrinachgar]

I am not entirely sure about ILR applications, but for citizenship applications they definitely have to be declared. The "good character" pages on both forms (page 20/21 of SET(M) and page 9/10 of form AN respectively) look extremely similar, so I am pretty sure that for ILR applications FPNs also must be declared - just like for citizenship applications.
While FPNs are different from court convictions and do not automatically constitute an admission of guilt, they are issued for traffic offences and are relevant. Some more than others, for example drink-driving and DWI FPNs will count much heavier in the eyes of HO, while speeding tickets are virtually always ignored (except there are too many of them, as this would indicate a "pattern of offending"). This becomes clear in the caseworkers manual, which specifies which kind of FPNs caseworkers should take into account for the good character requirement and which not (e.g. chapter 3.2.4). Also, if you have two FPNs in the last year your chances of successfully applying are very slim. => FPNs matter.

[stokbrig]

1-Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) were introduced in Britain in the 1950s to deal with minor parking offences.They are designed to reduce paperwork on police and council officers by allowing low-level anti-social behaviour to be dealt with on the spot.
2-A fixed penalty notice is not a fine or criminal conviction and the recipient can opt for the matter to be dealt with in court instead of paying.
3-Penalty notices don’t appear on your criminal record, but if you don’t pay, you might get a higher fine, or be imprisoned.
4-If you accept and pay the FPN, no further action will be taken and you will not get a criminal record. A criminal record can only be obtained if you are convicted through the courts for a criminal offence.
I was wondering if the following part of paragraph 322 in the new rules(13 December 2012) is related to FPN??
(iv) they have, within the 24 months preceding the date of the application, been convicted of or admitted an offence for which they have received a non-custodial sentence or other out of court disposal that is recorded on their criminal record.”

Hello All,

I am preparing my ILR application. I have searched the forum for information regarding fixed penalty notices(FPN), whether or not they should be declared in section 9 of Set(M) where it asks "have you ever been convicted".

I could find both YES as well as NO.

1) There are people saying always declare FPNs no matter what.
2) But, then there are people saying, there is no need to declare them when they haven't been issued in court because they arent convictions in first place. Ministry of justice website appears to support this opinion "Fixed Penalty Notices and Penalty Notices for Disorder do not form part of a person’s criminal record as there is no admission of guilt and they therefore do not need to be covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act."

So, I would just like to know, do we have any established opinion that everybody has consensus upon? I am quite confused if I should mention couple of old FPN's or not. They were issued couple of years ago overseas, not in court though!

Could all immigration advisors kindly advise?

Thanking you in advance!

[ocean123]

Gyfrinachgar, Thanks for your response.

A lot of people have told me that FPN's do matter for citizenship application but not for ILR application. Could someone with more experience with ILR applications please respond ?

[ocean123]

Anyone can you please help. I am quite confused about it.

Your help will be much appreciated!

[Simi UK]

Anyone can you please help. I am quite confused about it.

Your help will be much appreciated!

Hi, The rules deciding the criminal conviction declaration are changing tomorrow i.e. 13 Dec'12 and they will be more clear as of who needs to declare and which crimes will be termed as criminal conviction. I think we will even get new forms for ILR today or tomorrow. So I will suggest wait for a day and you will get the answer clearly.

As of now you don't need to declare your FPNs if not convicted through court.

All the Best!!!

[ocean123]

Thank you Simi for your response.

As far as I know only Set (O) forms are changing, and Set (M) forms would remain the same. Is that correct?

Also, Did we get any more information on criminality threshold today?