Immigration Corner | Criteria for assessing applications for British citizenship

Dear Mr Bassie,

I would like to understand what the British authorities take into consideration when persons apply for British citizenship. Thanks in advance for any assistance that you can provide.

– P.A.

Dear P.A.,

Applications for British citizenship are made in two ways.

The first are entitlements to register as a British citizen. These include all applications from adults who already hold some sort of British nationality to apply for British citizenship. It also includes applications from minor children (under age 18 years of age) who have British parents or who were born in the United Kingdom (UK) and are eligible to apply for British citizenship.

The second group are those applicants who are applying for discretion to naturalise or those children who do not have an entitlement to apply but have established enough connections with the UK to comply with the Home Secretary’s policy on the exercise of discretion to grant citizenship to minors.

The British authorities carry out enquiries in all cases to ensure that the requirements are met. Where the character requirement applies, checks are made with the relevant government agencies, which can share information about the applicants.

For most citizenship applications, the Home Secretary must be satisfied that the applicant is of good character. The policy on the application of the good character requirement is contained in the nationality staff instructions. While the policy is not an inflexible rule, the Home Secretary would not normally grant citizenship where there is a good character requirement and the applicant has an unspent conviction. In assessing the seriousness of criminal convictions, the Home Secretary is bound by the decision of the court. Any mitigation will already have been considered by the court as part of sentencing.

ENTITLEMENT TO REGISTER

Applications are checked to ensure that the applicants’ circumstances match the requirements for registration. Since there is no discretion to disregard the requirements, applications are refused if the requirements are not satisfied.

The British authorities also carry out checks to ensure that the supporting evidence has not been forged or fraudulently obtained. Where false documents have been produced, the application will be refused and the matter will be referred for possible prosecution. If documents cannot be verified or the applicant cannot prove his or her entitlement, then the application will be refused as there must be no doubt that a proper legal entitlement exists.

Where the entitlement depends on the applicant holding no other nationality, that is he or she is not a dual citizen, there must be convincing evidence that another nationality is not held.

Applications for discretion to naturalise adults or register minors

Once enquiries have been completed, the authorities will decide. Enquiries are carried out in all cases to ensure that the statutory requirements have been met. The extent of these and the time taken to complete them varies from one application to another depending on the applicant’s circumstances.

Once enquiries and checks have been completed, applications are considered according to the following questions:

1. Are the statutory requirements set out in the British Nationality Act 1981 met? If not,

2. Is there discretion not to apply the requirement or to vary the extent to which it is applied? If so,

3. Are the additional criteria set out in the Home Secretary’s policy on the exercise of discretion met? If not,

4. Has the Home Secretary previously granted citizenship to someone outside of the policy in the same circumstances? If not,

5. Are the circumstances sufficiently compelling and different from others that have been refused to justify consideration to grant and create a further precedent?

The following considerations will be applied in answer to those questions:

1. The statutory requirements are set out in the guides that accompany application forms. These are legal requirements. They cannot be ignored by case workers making decisions on behalf of the Home Secretary.

2. Discretion is limited to certain requirements. The rest must be satisfied in full. These are called “unwaivable requirements”. Again, this is fixed in law. If requirements have not been met and discretion cannot be exercised, then the application must be refused, and the decision cannot be reversed.

3. Where discretion exists, it must be applied in a consistent and rational manner. Due to the large number of applications being received, which are handled by a large team of case workers, the Home Secretary has agreed a policy on the exercise of their discretion that covers most eventualities. Just because discretion may be allowed does not mean that it must be exercised, and many applications are refused because they do not meet the additional criteria for the exercise of discretion.

The number of cases that are granted exceptionally is limited, and care will be taken to ensure that granting citizenship in such exceptional cases is not taken lightly. If the applicant’s circumstances are not sufficiently compelling, then the application will be refused.

Please be aware that it is up to the applicant to demonstrate that he or she does satisfy the requirements or additional criteria or merits exceptional consideration, and it is not for the Home Secretary to prove that he or she does not meet the requirements. If not satisfied that the requirements are met, then by law, the application must be refused.

Please note that if the application is unsuccessful, then a fresh fee must be submitted if a new application is made.

All the best.

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com