My question is related to answers on DS160 in case of a traffic violation

[AAAA1985]

Hi, 

I was charged with a Class B Misdemeanor for speeding in a 70 mph zone in Illinois. I was not arrested or photographed. I received the ticket and was asked to show up in court. I worked with an attorney to reduce/amend charges to a petty offense and plead guilty to the reduced charge. I got a 12 month court supervision which will end in July. I have to visit my home country before that to get my VISA stamped. My questions are as follows 

1) Since the misdemeanor charges were amended to a petty offense, will I have a criminal record? 
2) Since I was neither arrested nor convicted (received supervision instead) what should my response be to the DS160 question about ever being arrested or convicted of a crime or offense?

[jairichi]

1. Yes.

2. You are convicted for a lesser or reduced charge. No change in that.

[AAAA1985]

1. Yes.

2. You are convicted for a lesser or reduced charge. No change in that.

Thanks for the reply mate. Appreciate your help. Just need a couple of clarifications-

 

1) Is a criminal record created even for petty traffic offense?

 

2) I was not convicted of the lesser charge. I was charged with a petty offense and received court supervision. Does this change anything?

[jairichi]

1. Normally NO.

2. You should be fine as it wasn't of serious nature.

[itsmeusa]

Petty traffic offenses would not hamper your visa stamping process. But I am worried about this court supervision still alive when you go to visa stamping. To be 100% sure, you can do 2 things - get a character certificate from State Police and get a FBI background check complete. If both these things come clean, you can be 99% sure that this case will not impact your visa stamping chances. 1% - I am leaving to the luck! You can search web to find how these things are done. 

[immilkgukg]

Remember, it's always, I mean ALWAYS, the charges and conviction that matter for your records. Not the citation written by the cops. Cops can write about anything they want as they don't care about filing charges as it's done by DA/CA and court.

 

Were you convicted at a criminal court? What was the conviction? Was it still misdemeanor or just infraction?  If it's a misdemeanor conviction it will end up in your criminal record. Infraction doesn't stay on your criminal record. 

 

If it ended up in your criminal record, DoS can easily see/check that. But I don't think it will hamper your stamping chances even if it's seen by DoS as traffic offenses(mostly infractions) are not taken seriously.

[thunderbolt]

I have a similar case like yours.

Please let me know if you got your visa stamped and did you answer yes or no to DS160 question?