So called good character test being challenged

[London22]

Hi Everyone
Good news for people home office has blocked from applying for nationality on good character grounds.A law firm who works for children's related immigration issues have recently won a case in high court against home office sky high fees for children only ruled unlawful on grounds of welfare of children &now home office will have to reduce its fees for children.Same firm is going to challenge so called good character test being applied on children as well.Initially it is for children only but it can benefit others as I think high court may rule all this unlawful as many people think it is a tool home office is using inappropriately to block people from getting British nationality.Hope for good.The law firm is going to launch legal action end of January 2020.

[CR001]

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[secret.simon]

I would be very cautious in trying to give false hopes to others on these forums.

The charity that has filed these cases campaigns primarily for children who were born in the UK and have lived in the UK for the first ten years of their lives. And that distinguishes those cases from other applicants for British citizenship.

Firstly, the law provides that the "best interest of the child" needs to be taken into account when interpreting the law. And secondly, that form of acquisition of British citizenship is an entitlement.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that the good character requirements did not apply to some children with an entitlement to acquire British citizenship. But it is worth noting that case was argued all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The good character requirements for adults is provided for in the British Nationality Act 1981 (see Section 1(1)(b), Schedule 1 of that Act) and it is worth remembering that there is no best interests test for adults and that naturalisation for adults is entirely at discretion and not an entitlement, unlike registration for some children. Also, unlike the US and other countries, Acts of Parliament cannot be overturned by any court, including the Supreme Court.

So, I would not get too hopeful about the good character requirements for adults being changed through the courts.