Naturalisation application, but with a pending...?

[zezezee]

Hello everyone,

My situation is somewhat unconventional. But I am certain I am not the first person to be in such a situation.

The police stopped me while driving on the 22 Oct 2012 and that my Car Insurance was not showing up on their system. My auto-renewal was 3 days earlier (which I was sure to have renewed). Because the Certificate of Motor Insurance was at home, the officer asked me to present it at the station in a week, which i did the next day. I thought all was sorted out.

To confirm my insurance was active and all, I called the insurance company the next day and the lady on the phone checked their system and confirmed my insurance was still active. I then went ahead and cancelled it, to take up a new policy (CHEAPER OFFER, WITH THE SAME COMPANY, ON THAT SAME DAY). All good (or at least so I thought).

The police officer then tried to confirm my insurance and 2 things happened: the policy number came up differently for my name (because I was now on a new policy, which only started after I had been stopped) and that the insurance company claimed my old policy had been retrospectively cancelled due to an unsuccessful direct debit hit to my account on the renewal day. This then means I was basically driving uninsured. I still do not accept this BTW, but please read on.

Now, its been about 3 months since this all happened. I STILL HAVENT HEARD FROM THE POLICE and my naturalization is coming up my March 28 2013. This is where I have a big confusion.

I am planning to take the case to court because I honestly think the insurance company is unfairly treating me. They are only vindicating me to charge me more on my policy, which they have made very clear to me. I have collected evidence (in the form of the support call recording) on which my insurance policy was mentioned to be still active the day after I was stopped and I am planning to take the case to court to argue my situation and hopefully put this all to rest.

Now, because I still have not heard from the police (and I am almost certain about hearing from them), I do not have a PENDING CONVICTION, now do I? Should I mention this on my application form at all? What if I don't mention it and it becomes a pending or probably full conviction (if I loose the case in court) after I have submitted my application and before processing is complete?

Does anyone know when a conviction becomes pending and how I can check to see if I have one already?

Any information or help regarding my situation would be highly appreciated!

Thanks!

[ban.s]

My auto-renewal was 3 days earlier (which I was sure to have renewed). .....To confirm my insurance was active and all, I called the insurance company the next day and the lady on the phone checked their system and confirmed my insurance was still active. I then went ahead and cancelled it, to take up a new policy (CHEAPER OFFER, WITH THE SAME COMPANY, ON THAT SAME DAY). All good (or at least so I thought).

The police officer then tried to confirm my insurance and 2 things happened: the policy number came up differently for my name (because I was now on a new policy, which only started after I had been stopped) and that the insurance company claimed my old policy had been retrospectively cancelled due to an unsuccessful direct debit hit to my account on the renewal day. This then means I was basically driving uninsured. I still do not accept this BTW, but please read on.

what do your bank statements show? was there any direct debit deduction? if yes, then you had continuous insurance, if no, then you were driving uninsured.

also, assuming your auto renewal went fine - so when you cancelled your insurance, did you get refund from the insurer? or did they adjust that with your new insurance fee and refunded the balance amount? does that show up in your bank account?

[zezezee]

Thanks for the reply Bans.

As I mentioned, the DD did hit my account unsuccessfully. Which means the payment was not taken out and I was charged by my bank for a failed DD. But I have never known a failed DD payment to invalidate a motor insurance. This case is also mentioned on their policy document BTW.

But this is not really my question or concern. Its just whether or not I should state this on my up-coming application. I am not trying to conceal it but neither do I want to mention what does not exist yet, as I have not received any official communication from the police to that effect.

[ban.s]

well, if you haven't heard anything formally from the police yet, then there is nothing to declare. However if that situation changes, whilst your application is under consideration, then you need to inform UKBA.

[BigSam]

If you haven't heard anything then perhaps from your point of view there is no pending prosecution. That said, if I was you, I would either declare it on my application and elaborate on an additional sheet or if not in a hurry to apply, them wait until this is settled first before applying.

See below extract from the Guidance Notes

"4.1 Pending prosecutions
4.1.1 Caseworkers should be aware that impending prosecutions may be self-declared by an applicant or may become known through information passed to UKBA. Insufficient evidence to bring a case to court need not preclude refusal.
4.1.2 Caseworkers should not normally grant citizenship to someone who has a prosecution pending. This does not prevent caseworkers from making enquiries to establish that the other requirements for naturalisation are met and, if a refusal is indicated without reference to the latest offence, that action can be taken.
4.1.3 If nothing is heard regarding the determination of the prosecution within three months of the initial consideration of the case then caseworkers should contact the records section of the court or the police force for the area. Thereafter caseworkers should make monthly enquiries until the criminal case is resolved. Caseworkers should explain the reason for the delay to the applicant.
4.1.4 Where it is known that an applicant has attempted to conceal criminal charges caseworkers should follow the guidance at Section 10.
4.1.5 If caseworkers refuse an application for other reasons then any further application for naturalisation whilst the criminal charge is still pending should be discouraged."

If a prosecution turns out to be underway while you apply, your application may very well be defered for a long time before a decision is made.

You might also apply and get approved quickly. The choice is yours, those are the notes that caseworkers go by though.