Charged for driving offense - awaiting citizenship ceremony.

[cricfor]

Hello people. I was granted citizenship on June 13th and am awaiting ceremony on 13th August.

I was charged with careless driving causing injury offense yesterday and was awaiting court trial next month, the incident happened on Feb this year.

When I applied for my citizenship I didn't disclosed this as at that time I wasn't aware of the charge obviously and the police officer at that time was checking with me on the Insurance claims to the affected party which was in progress. I was also told that this might not go to court at that time, hence I didn't disclose anything.

1. I'm assuming my police checks for citizenship grant showed no police records at that time and so was granted..

2. What should I do now? Should I be letting know anyone of the charge?

I'm worried what will the outcome coz of this scenario..

Now I'm also worried if I'll be seen as non disclosure of police charge, but remember at that time no charge was made and I have no idea I'll be charged when I applied for my citizenship.

Any thoughts on what's the right approach to be taken in this situation?

[Kelerei]

This is a material change of circumstance that could potentially affect your eligibility for the grant of citizenship, and hence you are obligated to inform the Citizenship Office. It is almost certain that your ceremony will be placed on hold, as if you are convicted of an offense you will be disqualified from the grant of citizenship for a prescribed period of time (see Section 9A of the Citizenship Act 1977) and your invitation to a ceremony cancelled. Once the disqualification period ends, you may reapply but will need to convince the Citizenship Office that you are of good character: the Citizenship Guidance Document has extremely useful information on what to expect in this regard.

If you do not inform the Citizenship Office and they find out themselves later, the potential consequences are more severe. You may be charged with an offense under Section 27, deprived of citizenship under Section 17, or both.

[cricfor]

Thank you for the information, Kelerei.

I'm going to let citizenship office know on this. May I please know after how many years will I become eligible again?

Will this apply even if I'm not convicted of offense in the court?

Will this affect my PR status?

I started to think will this be seen as hiding information while applying for citizenship? As I was charged 2 days ago, I presume no, but the fact that actual incident happened in Feb and I applied in May make me think so. Some clarity on that please.

[Kelerei]

May I please know after how many years will I become eligible again?

The maximum penalty for this offense appears to be three months imprisonment (see Section 38 of the Land Transport Act 1998). So:

• if you're convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, it would be less than 5 years imprisonment, and you'd therefore be caught by Section 9A(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act 1977: the disqualification period will be 7 years from date of conviction.
• if you're convicted but not sentenced to imprisonment, you'd be caught by Section 9A(1)(c) instead: the disqualification period will be 3 years from date of conviction.

Will this apply even if I'm not convicted of offense in the court?

If you're not convicted of an offense (e.g. acquitted, diversion, discharge), you will not be caught by Section 9A, but may still be requested to provide additional evidence of good character as detailed in the previously-mentioned Citizenship Guidance Document. The Citizenship Office may yet revoke the approval of the grant of citizenship to you if they form the view that you are not of good character.

Will this affect my PR status?

It could in some circumstances. As already mentioned, the maximum sentence for this offense is three months imprisonment -- if this offense was committed by a residence class visa holder when said holder was unlawfully in New Zealand, holding a temporary entry class visa, or within 2 years of first holding a residence class visa, that person would be caught by Section 161(1)(a) of the Immigration Act 2009 and thus made liable for deportation.

Given the timeframes that you have posted and the maximum sentence for this offense, it appears that you may not be caught by Section 161. However, I must mention Section 161 for completeness, in case a future forum member finds themselves in a similar situation but with timeframes such that they would be caught by Section 161.

I started to think will this be seen as hiding information while applying for citizenship? As I was charged 2 days ago, I presume no, but the fact that actual incident happened in Feb and I applied in May make me think so. Some clarity on that please.

I can't say for sure, but I would presume not. As you stated, this incident occurred before you applied for citizenship, and hence one could argue that the Citizenship Office did not receive any detrimental information concerning your character from the Police during your application.

[Torki]

This is a material change of circumstance that could potentially affect your eligibility for the grant of citizenship, and hence you are obligated to inform the Citizenship Office. It is almost certain that your ceremony will be placed on hold, as if you are convicted of an offense you will be disqualified from the grant of citizenship for a prescribed period of time (see Section 9A of the Citizenship Act 1977) and your invitation to a ceremony cancelled. Once the disqualification period ends, you may reapply but will need to convince the Citizenship Office that you are of good character: the Citizenship Guidance Document has extremely useful information on what to expect in this regard.

If you do not inform the Citizenship Office and they find out themselves later, the potential consequences are more severe. You may be charged with an offense under Section 27, deprived of citizenship under Section 17, or both.

Can I ask a question? Why cant people make mistake sometimes?! Do original NZ citizens have not any offense in their life and why their citizenship is not deprived!?

[JandM]

It's on the lines of, "You can choose your friends but not your family." Any country has to cope with its born nationals, even if they turn out to be criminals or misfits, and doesn't have the right to deprive them of citizenship and leave them stateless. However, they CAN enforce strict conditions on those from outside who want to be citizens. Those who want to join have to keep to those (very strict) rules.

[Torki]

Hello people. I was granted citizenship on June 13th and am awaiting ceremony on 13th August.

I was charged with careless driving causing injury offense yesterday and was awaiting court trial next month, the incident happened on Feb this year.

When I applied for my citizenship I didn't disclosed this as at that time I wasn't aware of the charge obviously and the police officer at that time was checking with me on the Insurance claims to the affected party which was in progress. I was also told that this might not go to court at that time, hence I didn't disclose anything.

1. I'm assuming my police checks for citizenship grant showed no police records at that time and so was granted..

2. What should I do now? Should I be letting know anyone of the charge?

I'm worried what will the outcome coz of this scenario..

Now I'm also worried if I'll be seen as non disclosure of police charge, but remember at that time no charge was made and I have no idea I'll be charged when I applied for my citizenship.

Any thoughts on what's the right approach to be taken in this situation?

I believe you will be all good specifically as your citizenship given. Obviously it is checked.