Traffic related tickets / spouse visa application

 Hey all,

Me and my wife are looking into relocating back to the UK. My wife is a USC and had some previous driving tickets/fines, in terms of criminal background check for the application it brought up three things related to past traffic tickets. We did one of those online background checks you can check yourself and these traffic related fines came up

1-  Speeding ticket

2- Driving without a MN license after being resident
for 60 days (was unaware of this when she relocated there)

3- Accidentally drove on a MNPass lane

4- Speeding ticket last year in a different state from when we were going on a road trip.

Number 1-3 occurred about 3-4 years ago, I believe #2 is a misdemeanor and the rest were petty misdemeanors. She paid the fine for each of these and never had to go to court as all were payable with no appearance. This has never stopped her gaining employment in the US etc when her past jobs have done background checks as they are all traffic related. Will these traffic related tickets/offenses come up in the visa application process that she will need to write them in OR do they conduct their own background check?

Additionally, my wife recalls when she was a teen and on her mom's insurance, her mom forgot to update their tabs and my wife was the one who got pulled over. In the end she had to get her tabs renewed and co to the courthouse to show that has new tabs.

We are panicking and worrying in case this is something that will prevent my wife from moving to the UK, I assume there must be other US applicants who have had traffic related tickets and went on to move to the UK?

On the application for this section I believe there are three questions which can pop up

1-"A penalty for a driving offence, for example disqualification for speeding or no motor insurance"
2-"A caution, warning, reprimand or other penalty"
3-"No, I have never had any of these"

I assume it is either 1 or 2, hopefully those who are familiar with this can provide some input as we are worried that our hopes of moving back may be effected by these traffic related tickets.

I have had several traffic related incidents in the US exactly like the ones your wife had. I even got arrested once for failing to get car insurance. Paid all fines, etc. It has not affected my visas at all, I am currently waiting on a decision about my ILR. I did include them on all of my applications though, this was recommended by my immigration advisor, on the grounds of full disclosure. I don't see how it would be a problem, as long as you disclose everything, and try to remember the dates of when they all occurred.

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Yes, they won’t affect the visa application but you to need to disclose them all, and include all the paperwork from them, your driving record and/or police record (if any show up on it). This is to show you are being honest and transparent.


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I have had several traffic related incidents in the US exactly like the ones your wife had. I even got arrested once for failing to get car insurance. Paid all fines, etc. It has not affected my visas at all, I am currently waiting on a decision about my ILR. I did include them on all of my applications though, this was recommended by my immigration advisor, on the grounds of full disclosure. I don't see how it would be a problem, as long as you disclose everything, and try to remember the dates of when they all occurred.

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This is good to know and reassuring,  we were worried that these would mean that her visa would be rejected. Did you just write everything down to the best of your knowledge with month/year. Additionally, did you try and obtain your driving record for all states you lived in and provided this with each application?

Yes, they won’t affect the visa application but you to need to disclose them all, and include all the paperwork from them, your driving record and/or police record (if any show up on it). This is to show you are being honest and transparent.

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Thank you for the reply, this is a relief as we thought our hopes of returning to the UK may be dashed because of this. What we are going to do is obtain a driving record for the state we live in and the other state my wife drove in. When applying do you provide a police certificate/record or do they conduct their own background checks etc? We went online to one of these background check sites to see what would come up and only 3 of the tickets that were in the state we lived in came up 2 of them are classes as petty misdemeanors and one as misdemeanor for driving with a different state license after residing for over 60 days in current state (something she was unaware of at the time). All tickets were payable and paid on time, though the one time she remembers something from when she was young and had to go to court to show she that her mom got new tabs on the vehicle and that was it but this never came up on report??

When attaching this or a cover letter can this be done if applying outside the UK as I believe nthe application is done online. Additionally, the section that asks this question is it an open field text box or is there three options to input information in (the three I listed in original post I quoted from a different topic)

I believe I found the question form a YouTube video and it asks in relation to the criminal record history Question:

1- Criminal conviction
2- A penalty for a driving offence, for example disqualification for speeding or no motor insurance
3- An arrest or charge for which you are currently on, or awaiting trial.
4- A caution, warning or other reprimand/penalty
5- A civil court judgment against you, for example for non payment of debt, bankruptcy proceedings or anti-social behavior
6- A civil penalty issue under UK immigration law
7- No, I haven't had any of these

From what I noted above what would it fall into a criminal conviction or the second one? My wife has never had her license suspended or taken away.

I believe I found the question form a YouTube video and it asks in relation to the criminal record history Question:

1- Criminal conviction
2- A penalty for a driving offence, for example disqualification for speeding or no motor insurance
3- An arrest or charge for which you are currently on, or awaiting trial.
4- A caution, warning or other reprimand/penalty
5- A civil court judgment against you, for example for non payment of debt, bankruptcy proceedings or anti-social behavior
6- A civil penalty issue under UK immigration law
7- No, I haven't had any of these

From what I noted above what would it fall into a criminal conviction or the second one? My wife has never had her license suspended or taken away.

I'd say it was the second one.

On my application, I just wrote the month and year, where it was and a brief description of the penalty received. I've attached a screenshot of one of the ones on my application.

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I'd say it was the second one.

On my application, I just wrote the month and year, where it was and a brief description of the penalty received. I've attached a screenshot of one of the ones on my application.

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Thank you that is very helpful, we will work on obtaining the driving records for the two states that my wife drove in to get the dates and to confirm what is on record. For the time when my wife was young and got pulled over for not having valid tabs, from what she remembers she had to get new tabs and go to the local driving court to show that she got new tabs and potentially pay a small fine would I be correct in saying this would be the second option?

Thank you that is very helpful, we will work on obtaining the driving records for the two states that my wife drove in to get the dates and to confirm what is on record. For the time when my wife was young and got pulled over for not having valid tabs, from what she remembers she had to get new tabs and go to the local driving court to show that she got new tabs and potentially pay a small fine would I be correct in saying this would be the second option?

Yes, I had the same type of offence, it falls under the same category, penalties. I believe criminal convictions refer to an instance where you committed a crime and were convicted in court. So any traffic offence, unless its something severe like drunk driving or dui, would be considered a penalty notice over here.

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In the description for the expired tabs, just write there what you've said here. That she went to court to prove she had gotten new tabs, etc..

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Yes, I had the same type of offence, it falls under the same category, penalties. I believe criminal convictions refer to an instance where you committed a crime and were convicted in court. So any traffic offence, unless its something severe like drunk driving or dui, would be considered a penalty notice over here.

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Yeah that's right it was to prove and show receipt of new tabs at a traffic court, no conviction or sentencing for a severe offence like you mentioned.

In the description for the expired tabs, just write there what you've said here. That she went to court to prove she had gotten new tabs, etc..

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What you said is right and thank you again for all your response it has been greatly appreciated. From your image for all traffic tickets is there additional boxes to allow the #2 option to be repeated multiple times or do you just enter it all together in the one text box from your memory.

There is the option to add multiple entries, so you make a new entry for each offence.

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