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More About How Traffic Offences Can Impact Citizenship Applications
Will a bad driving record prevent me from getting Australian citizenship?
This is a very common question, of course.
It is likely that at some point in their driving history, almost everyone will commit some form of offence. Even I did! Several years after our family moved to Australia I managed to cruise right through two speed cameras faster than the speed limit. Even though I am supposed to be able to understand English, the clear warnings about the speed cameras didn’t register in my mind! So epic fail, or “rip” (rest in peace!). Boom! But luckily for me, I just paid the fines, so the incidents didn’t result in a record of conviction. And they didn’t prevent me from getting Australian citizenship (neither did my inability to answer the question: “What are the benefits of Australian citizenship” at my interview, without prompting – these were the “good old days” before the introduction of the Australian citizenship test (readers are of course required to accept that notwithstanding these admissions of nefarious conduct, I truly am a person of “good character” and the Department did not make a grave error when it approved my citizenship application!!!).
The favourite lawyer’s answer to the question of whether a bad driving record would be an obstacle to a successful citizenship application is, of course, that it “all depends”.
And a recent case that was heard before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Kumar and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Citizenship) (2017) AATA (29 June 2017) provides some useful guidance about when bad driving will become a problem.
This was the applicant’s driving record in the Kumar case:
* In December 2007 he was fined $318 for disobeying a traffic light;
* In December 2008, he failed to pay a speeding fine of $243 for speeding, which resulted in the suspension of his driving license in May 2009
* On 17 January 2010, he was cautioned against driving with a suspended license, and was ultimately convicted in the Dubbo Local Court in July 2010 of offences involving using an unregistered motor vehicle ($100 fine); and using an unregistered motor vehicle (another fine of $100).
* On 4 May 2010, the applicant was again detected using an unregistered motor vehicle, driving while suspended, and using an uninsured motor vehicle – these offences resulted in further convictions in the Dubbo Local Court and fines of $700 and another period of disqualification of his driving license;
* In February 2011, his driving license was suspended again for failure to pay fines;
* In January 2012 he received another fine for failure to “dip” his headlights; and
* In March 2015, he received another speeding fine, in the amount of $254.
What do you think, was this list of traffic offences enough to cause the applicant to fail the character test of section 21(h) of the Australian Citizenship Act?
The applicant argued that, while his driving record was admittedly “not very good”, it had “improved in recent times”; that the traffic offences were not of a serious kind, and that no one was injured; that he had a positive record of employment as an accountant, and that he had obtained a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accountant and that was therefore evidence that he would make a positive contribution to the Australian economy; and that his good character was established through a number of character references that he presented to the Tribunal. He claimed that he had “learned a lesson” from his past mistakes, and claimed that he should be “forgiven” for committing “minor traffic offences”.
Here was the first major problem:
The applicant did not disclose his history of convictions on his citizenship application, answering “no” to a question on the application form that asked if he had been convicted of any traffic offences which went to court.
The applicant tried to explain this omission by stating that the offences had occurred almost 6 years before his citizenship application, and that they had “slipped” from his memory.
The Tribunal was plainly troubled by this “explanation”, especially in light of admissions that the applicant made in the course of his evidence before the Tribunal that he recalled attending Court and that he had represented himself. The Tribunal was also troubled by the applicant’s claim that the offences were a “one-off” mistake, when in fact there had been two separate instances where he had been caught using an uninsured and unregistered vehicle, and the incidences happened in quick succession, the first in January 2010 and the second just months later in March 2010.
The Tribunal also had difficulty with the applicant’s explanation of the most recent speeding offence that the applicant had committed, in March 2015. The applicant claimed that he had been taking his family to the airport, and that his brother had forgotten his passport, which caused him to speed. The Tribunal took the view that the applicant had placed a higher priority on his own interest in retrieving the passport than in the safety of other road users and compliance with Australian law.
This circumstance, coming relatively shortly before the making of the citizenship application, prompted the Tribunal to take the view that the applicant lacked insight into his offending conduct, and that his acknowledgement of wrong-doing and expression of remorse was “hollow”.
Also harmful to the applicant’s case was that he had not disclosed his entire driving record to his character witnesses, which caused the Tribunal to assign less weight to their evidence than it otherwise might have.
So, in the end, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant’s record of traffic offences stood in the way of its being able to make a finding that the applicant was a person of good character.
The Tribunal thus affirmed the Department’s refusal of the citizenship application,
A few useful lessons can be taken from the outcome of this case:
* It will be harmful to a citizenship application if the applicant does not fully and frankly disclose any record of traffic offences, however “minor” they may appear to the applicant;
* An applicant who re-offends shortly before the citizenship application is made, against a background of numerous similar offences, will likely have difficulty persuading the Tribunal that she/he should be considered a person of “good character” for the purposes of being granted citizenship;
* Failure to inform character witnesses of one’s full criminal history can seriously undermine the value and persuasiveness of the references they provide.
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Comments
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Friday, 15 December 20173 years ago I was fined for speeding may this year I apply for Australian citizenship and they aloe me to take the exam, luckily I passed the exam. 3 months later a immigration officer called me asking why I dint disclose all my traffic offences, my answer is these I was not the one who filled up the form and my wife did for me. I notice from my wife that there was no question on the form asking if I had a traffic offences. My question now, Is these traffic offences effect the dicision of my citizenship? Which was I paid the penalty? Thanks
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Friday, 16 August 2019
hi angelito
what happened of ur citizenship application? -
Friday, 30 March 2018
Hi. angelito,
I.mad e same mistake and I submitted declaration of incorrect responses
Then I got a copy of my driving record and submitted that to the immigration office as well
Unfortunately, driving offense. Comes under Criminal category, But with only one such before Citizen app, should not affect , however you must submit above mentioned documents...Good luck, -
Friday, 30 March 2018
Hi. angelito,
I.mad e same mistake and I submitted declaration of incorrect responses
Then I got a copy of my driving record
Unfortunately, driving offense. Comes under Criminal category
But with only one such before Citizen app, should not affect
Good luck, -
Monday, 30 April 2018
Hi all, I am really worried cause i have done a terrible mistake yesterday, when i decided to drive my car after i had some beers.I have been stopped by the cops because my driver license got apparently suspended (thing that i didn't know) because of an unpayed fine. I have seen after that my address wasn't the good one, and that's why i never noticed this fine (parkin infragment). Anyway i had a breath test and reach the amount of 0.109 gr of alcool. Never had any criminal record in the past, in Australia or France (where i come from), I have been living in Australia since 2013, and I am now under the 457 visa at the moment and i am supposed to apply for the permanent residencey in a couple of months. My question is obvious: Is this event, can affect my visa application? Any advice or experience are more than welcome.
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Sunday, 09 February 2025
Did you get convicted on the court?
How did it your citizen app? -
Sunday, 13 January 2019
The question worded as follows: “Has the applicant been convicted of, or found guilty of, any offences overseas or in Australia (include all traffic offences which went to court, including offences declared in your permanent residence application, and any 'spent' convictions)?”
My question why should I disclose traffic offences that didn’t went to court e.g. traffic light, speeding or using the mobile? -
Saturday, 29 June 2019
Hello Ahmed,
How did it go? did you update citizenship application or left as is?
Cheers,
Sam -
Sunday, 24 March 2019
What if I answered no to traffic offends but found out after i applied for my citizenship of my pending fines as my address wasn’t updated with vic roads. Should I be now amend my form?
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Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Thank you, that is very infromative.
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Sunday, 22 December 2019
i recently got charged with a driving offence aswell (under the category of reckless driving ) my first offence. will i get rejected if i applied for citizenship? i am currently a PR.
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Tuesday, 14 July 2020
Hi my question is while truck driving I entered the road where road limit only 12 tonne but my truck was around 20 tonnes council inspector gave me court notice and when I went to court magistrate gave me fine and convicted me agains traffic offence.
Can I apply my citizenship or not? -
Monday, 23 August 2021
I got charged with reckeless driving last year in march and license got suspended for 6 months i am on student visa right now will it affect my future visa applications???
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Thursday, 17 August 2023
Hi, Hi, I am having a question that concerns me a lot that I have lost 12 demerit points on the drivers licence, I license has not never been suspended. would it affect citizenship outcome?. Could anyone please answer based on your experiences will be appreciated. Thank you.
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Friday, 14 February 2025
Hi Venky, I am in the exact same situation. My license got suspended for 3 months due to going over 12 demerit points. I will be applying for my citizenship later this year.
Did your suspension affect your citizenship application? Did you have to disclose all the traffic violations leading to your suspension on your suspension?
Can you please help with this information? Thank you !!
Immigration blog
I am on a P1 license and I got caught speeding today with overspeed km/h. I explained to the police that I was late for work and sorry about the incidence. No one was injured during the incidence and I am definitely going to pay for the fine.
I submitted my citizenship application 2 weeks ago. Before that I have never committed any criminal or traffic offences. The police gave me a ticket but gave me my license back.
I am in the process of waiting for my citizenship to be approved. Will this traffic offence affect my application in any kind?
Thank you so much for your answer.