Immigrationboards.com

Good afternoon

I am asking if anyone has any knowledge or experience where a case worker for your Citizenship Application has contacted a referee to confirm they know you.

I am wondering about whether they are allowed to ask if the referee has knowledge of a conviction that an applicant has - as part of assessing the "Good Character" of the applicant.

I am worried that if the referee doesn't know about the conviction and they are asked about it - it may look as if the applicant is being deceptive rather than protecting their own privacy.

Maybe Data Protection Laws answer this but I don't know whether it applies to the importance of the HOME Office

Any information appreciated.

You need to disclose your convictions to UKVI, not to your referees. They would only be asked the nature of their relationship to you and your ate of birth/address. Referees get contacted very infrequently anyway.

As far as we know referees are rarely contacted - reports of this are extremely rare, certainly during my time on this forum.
Referees give a declaration, they will not be questioned about your character, etc (again as far as we know).
If it turns out that an application was made fraudulently then I would expect that referees will be questioned as to their role in such a scenario.
Best not to overthink!