Referees
All applicants for British citizenship must provide 2 referees to establish their identity. You must only contact the referees if this could resolve concerns about the application and you have the authority from a senior caseworker to do so.
You must ensure that the following requirements are met:
The referee must:
have known the (adult) applicant for at least 3 years
a British passport holder and either a professional person or aged over 25 (at least one referee must be a professional person)
The referee must not:
be related to the applicant or the other referee
be the applicant’s representative
be employed by the Home Office
have been convicted of an imprisonable offence in the last 10 years for which the sentence is not spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
For child applicants at least one of the referees must be a person who has dealt with the child in a professional role such as a teacher, doctor, health visitor or social worker. Where a child cannot provide a referee who has dealt with them in a professional capacity and has provided documents to show that they have attempted to do so, you can accept 2 referees who meet the criteria for referees on adult applications.
Where the applicant is living outside of the UK and does not know a British citizen passport holder who is a professional or over the age of 25, a commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the country in which they are residing may complete and sign the form providing they meet the other requirements and the consul considers their signature to be acceptable.
Referees that do not meet the requirements
If it is clear from the information provided that a referee does not meet the requirements, you must ask the applicant to provide a different referee.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... essible--2
