Good moral Character Time frame

[ajsanjose]

Hello and thank you for your comments in advance.

From what day does the 5 years good moral character start?

I had a DUI in Nov of 2014 and was wondering when can I apply for N 400? Does the 5 year of GMC count from the day of the charges or once probation ends?

The 5 year mark of that incident is coming up next month on the 14th and I want to apply for N 400 application, I really appreciate your feed back

Regards,
AJ

[N400questions]

The good moral character has two parts to it.

1) Serious things like murder are considered a life-long problem. Obviously....someone who murdered somebody 5 years and six months ago is still a murderer and not very desirable.

2) For anything "minor" then the 5 year period starts 5 years back from the time of your application.

Having a DUI is not like murder. However, having a DUI is not like having a parking ticket either.
If you murdered someone then it is highly likely that you would be rejected.
If you had a single DUI (even inside the 5 year period) this would not automatically mean you would be rejected.
If you had several DUIs then it might.

So there is no clear cut algorithm you can apply to predict one way or the other.
It is a continuous spectrum with "this guy is a repeat offender" at one end and "this guy messed up once but was only a tiny bit over the limit" on the other end.

The further back in history the offense (without repeating) then the more likely we can say "this guy has learned his lesson".

So in your particular case, applying in late November or (better still) December would make a lot of sense to push the offense outside the 5 year window.

Finally, any offenses AFTER applying are not going to help either.... so really the window is 5 years prior to applying and all time following the application up to the Oath ceremony.

Make sense?

P.S. You were asking about the date of the offense versus the date of the end of parole.....

I don't think there is a clear-cut answer. The longer you delay.. the further you can push things into the past.
Whether you wait 5 years after the offense or 5 years after the end of parole is up to you.
There's no black-and-white transition to my knowledge.
To play it as safe as possible..... wait 5 years after the end of parole..... but I don't think you need to.
After all... being on parole is not an "offfense".... the offense is the DUI that caused the parole in the first place.

Caveat.. I'm not a lawyer.

[ajsanjose]

Thank you for the reply.
No felony or murder involved.
It was a fist time and last time DUI offense. I will apply in December to try my luck.