Hello. So maybe just my brain being way too anxious for my own good.
How does Japanese immigration do background checks? I have a speeding ticket (from Ohio) just over 10 years ago, which counts as a criminal conviction in their state. Or is this more of a serious offense/FBI database thing? The phrasing is just super vague. The violation does not show up on my FBI record (did my fingerprints recently), if that matters.
My other concern is that this ticket was never a thing I ever really thought about. But the state considers any speeding ticket a criminal conviction, even though it never went to court, I paid the fine, etc. I only discovered this fact recently. Never came up in employment checks or anything, but different countries can have different rules/opinions so I wanted to be safe.
The big thing on my mind is that I've gone to Japan twice since, and during customs marked "no" on prior criminal history, because it was never something I thought I'd need to disclose (and honestly forgot about it until very recently). Which makes me concerned that when/if I say "yes" this time (if necessary) they'll use the past disembarkation cards against me.
As a note. I've never been arrested or gone to jail or anything. But different countries handle things differently, and search engines are terrible at parsing stringing questions.
by averytomaine