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Hi Everyone,

It's almost time for me to apply for naturalisation, however I am worried about the 'Good Character' requirement.

The form asks you to declare all 'criminal' convictions including FPNs (where as Ancestry and ILR only asked for criminal, not FPNs)

During my time in the UK (6+ years) I've keep a completely clean driving (and criminal!) record, however prior to moving here from Australia I had a bit of a lead foot which meant over the course of 10 years (2005-2015) I received 9 traffic fines (6 speeding, 3 other). None of these resulted in a court date or conviction of any kind, with the 'worst' being speeding by 12-18mph. None of them were due to/caused by accident, drink, etc. I also have no criminal convictions of any kind.

That said, I am now really worried that the number of them would cause me to be rejected... has anyone been in a similars situation?

They have a demerit point system in Australia. So they will also probably be interested in the points incurred.
You can read these official guidelines, in particular the section about Persistent Offenders
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf
But you have a clean record since arriving in the UK in 2015, which will greatly aid your case.

I have read the guidelines and the section on 'persistent offending' is what worries me the most. Other than waiting for more time to pass I don't know what else I can do to prove that I am no longer a leadfoot!

Obviously I was an idiot for speeding, etc. However all of the offences took place between the age of 17-26, so I'd hope the fact that I was young and stupid, and the fact I've been well behaved ever since would count in my favour.

If they happened abroad and didn't lead to a criminal conviction (like driving drunk for example) I would just avoid mentioning them at all in the naturalisation form.

If applying for citizenship wasn't so expensive I would just say 'go for it.' But it's a lot of money!
My feeling is that it might go either way. You were a persistent offender in the past. No getting around that. But they were minor offences, and you have a perfect record since 2015.
I don't think anyone can advise you whether it is best to wait, or apply now and risk losing the application fee. It is a real dilemma.

magicsign wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:07 pm

If they happened abroad and didn't lead to a criminal conviction (like driving drunk for example) I would just avoid mentioning them at all in the naturalisation form.

Risky. The instructions are clear. If they discover the offences they may consider it deception, which will lead to OP not being able to apply again for 10 years.

From reading the guidance, etc not declaring seems like a very bad idea with the risk of a 10 year ban.

I think I will have to get a lawyer to at least help me with a covering letter. I was just hoping someone might have experience with a similar poor traffic history