British Citizenship - Good character question

Dear members,

I am currently in the process of applying for British Citizenship through naturalization.

My situation is as follows, around 5 years ago I pleaded guilty for travelling without a ticket (yes , TFL prosecuted me).I paid the fine (around 300 pounds).

As far as I understand, I will be asked during the application process to declare fines.

However, I checked both my DBS and PNC and there is no trace of anything. Clean record.

I read an explanation that once you pay the TFL fine it actually doesn't go towards any criminal record (someone offered a legal explanation on another post).

With this being said, I have 2 questions:

1. Do I have to declare something which doesn't show up on any record?

2. Based on my research, others had simmilar issues and did not declare them and their application was accepted with no issues. Does Home Office checks other details other than PNC / DBS ?

Thank you very much for your assistance!

You are misunderstanding what gets on your criminal record. Only recordable offences get on that (recordable offences are serious offences that could carry a prison sentence). A Basic DBS check only shows unspent recordable offences anyway. Minor offences like the one you described never ever end up there and will not even be on the PNC database. Fines for minor offence are left to be enforced by local authorities and you should face no issues unless you challenge it/do not pay and you end up in court. I suggest to declare it but it has no effect

Declaring it is unlikely to have a serious effect.

Not declaring it could land you in a world of trouble for non-declaration.

Amanda

I don't agree with # avjones
Not declaring that shouldn't affect your application

It is better to declare it. It will not cause any harm to your application, especially when it's five years ago.
So I will also advise that you declare it.

Thank you for your replies.

I am inclined not to declare it, reason being is that to my knowledge the Home Office does not check other records other than the Police National Computer which in my case the record is clean.

I don't see how would they find out about the fine.

On top of that, even if I want to declare it I no longer have the documentation so I don't know how much I paid, when the fine was issued etc. I have no trace of it, I can only offer approximations.

toto33 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:42 pm

Thank you for your replies.

I am inclined not to declare it, reason being is that to my knowledge the Home Office does not check other records other than the Police National Computer which in my case the record is clean.

I don't see how would they find out about the fine.

On top of that, even if I want to declare it I no longer have the documentation so I don't know how much I paid, when the fine was issued etc. I have no trace of it, I can only offer approximations.

It's your choice if you decide not to declare. You might be fine, but don't underestimate the amount of data the HO have access to

toto33 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:42 pm

Thank you for your replies.

I am inclined not to declare it, reason being is that to my knowledge the Home Office does not check other records other than the Police National Computer which in my case the record is clean.

I don't see how would they find out about the fine.

On top of that, even if I want to declare it I no longer have the documentation so I don't know how much I paid, when the fine was issued etc. I have no trace of it, I can only offer approximations.

It has no effect whether you declare it or not.