British Citizenship – Good Character Requirement FAQs

[Rassel]

Any one receive approval after reconsideration.
Please share
Thanks.

[koch92]

Hello,

In one of the points you said if you didn't know you had conviction your 10 year ban should be removed?

this is my situation:

In 2011 I was attacked by my next door neighbour at 1 am after coming out of my car (we had more issues before), we had a fight, after it finished we both called the police. He said to the police I was throwing cat litter in plastic bags at his house (lol) and I told them what I mentioned above. Police sent us both to the court so we can sign a deal which said that if we both fight again we'd both get fined £200, it was called (Bind to Peace that last 12 months from date of issue). We didn't get fined or sentenced.

Now of course me being worried about my citizenship and going university, I asked at the police station prior going to court whether this situation will be a criminal record. The police officer told me no way this will be a criminal record.

Fast forward to 2013, after having the ILR for 2 years I thought I can apply for the citizenship, so, before applying I done a CRB check just to make sure that incident wasn't on my record. The CRB came back as clear! However, I found out I can't apply then cause I was only in the UK for 4 years and since I gained the ILR when I was 18 I needed to finish the 5 year term. So basically in 2014 I applied for British citizenship, I didn't declare anything since I thought my record was clear based on the reasons mentioned above - in no way it was intentional. But unfortunately I got rejected and banned for 10 years due to that incident. I was shocked! So I rang the company who done the CRB check and turned out the CRB check was only for Scotland! How the hell should I know this.

So given my case above, is it possible to appeal against the ban?

Oh and I did go to university, I finished my degree with first class and got a job in that field now. So that ended well. And the next door neighbour man still fights with different people in the neighbourhood.

I would appreciate your help, so for the long essay.

[Casa]

You can't appeal but you can apply for a reconsideration.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ed-form-nr

[avjones]

Hi, I would like ask big favour from you guys.

I enter to UK at March`06 as a student
then i applied for a visa extension but my passport and files are lost between post office and homeoffice
they gave me right to stay until it is sort out, then i prepare everything but refused at nov`08 and got letter say that i have to leave country in 28 days.
at february`09 applied for marriage with my partner and got certificate of approval, got married at 2010 and i got my eea5 visa at july`10 then i got 5 years visa at may`11, since september`10 im working full time with no gap. my wife passed away at dec`12 and home office ask me to apply for pernament residency card and i got it at october`13
now i want to apply for british citizenship but i am not sure if it is going to be successful because of 10 year good character rule? waiting for advices,
thanks.

Looks like a pretty clear gap in lawful residence to me.

[Manag]

Hello everyone,
I applied for my naturalisation 2 days ago but I found out yesterday that I had one verbal caution back on 01.01.2012,I didn't mention this one on my form and I totally forgot about this one and I didn't recieve any letter or fine but it's still in my history which one I got yesterday can anyone please help me what should I do now please please help me I'm panicking
Thanks in advance

[SHAHZAD7861]

Dear Guru's,

I have to clarify some issues for the application of naturalisation.

1- I have been cautioned by police back in 2011 (i am not sure if it was conditional etc). They took my details and put into the system and let me go without imposing any fines etc. I guess it wont effect my application as it was given over 3 years but i still have to declare it....right?(Can you please advise that from where i can get the exact details of the caution i.e., dates etc) ....

2 - i also want to be sure if there is anything else to my name which i am not aware of. Shall i ask this from police station requesting subject access or apply for CRB???

3- i have 6 penalty points and paid fines for Sp30's back in 2011 and 2014 but it was not through court. Do i have to declare it on the application form and since my last points were in 2014, do i have to wait for sometime or can apply.

Please advise.

Thanks

[Raza.raja]

Hello shehzad you have to make sure that you mention everything in your application form cautions,and your points if you try to hide something they will put your case under defamation and yeah it's called acro police subject access report you can apply online they charge you 10£ for it and if the points were given in 2014 I guess it should b fine wish you good luck

[chetand_mca]

HI Just phone home office call center regarding to parking ticket.

I have been told (or given the information by the Ho call center agent) that if there is one parking ticket in the last 12 month and paid off on time then i do not need to declare. it would not make any harm.

is this correct ?

Thanks

[mysteryteller]

Yeah it is correct, parking ticket is minor and need not be declared at all.

Anyone else could have been driving your car at the time of parking ticket, they dont take driver's details so it never gets registered against your name but car.

Only things you have to declare are those if you found guilty and got convicted / caution for regardless of going to court because it will show on your police records.

hope that helps.

all the best

[chetand_mca]

Yeah it is correct, parking ticket is minor and need not be declared at all.

Anyone else could have been driving your car at the time of parking ticket, they dont take driver's details so it never gets registered against your name but car.

Only things you have to declare are those if you found guilty and got convicted / caution for regardless of going to court because it will show on your police records.

hope that helps.

all the best

got it.

Car was driven by my family member but car is on my name.

I have paid parking tickets already.

I am confused, to declare or not to declare on the application form.

Thanks

[mysteryteller]

In simple words No but its entirely up to you if you feel you will be more relaxed by declaring more information then go ahead and do it but you will be complicated your application and clearly not following the guidelines.

[ohara]

You don't need to declare penalty charge notices (PCN). They go against the registered keeper of the vehicle, rather than the driver anyway, so you could have a bunch of them and it wouldn't even be your fault.

[chetand_mca]

You don't need to declare penalty charge notices (PCN). They go against the registered keeper of the vehicle, rather than the driver anyway, so you could have a bunch of them and it wouldn't even be your fault.

I am the registered as owner of the car.

thanks

[Raza.raja]

Hey guys I am due to apply citizenship in two months I have got no conviction or caution on my name only thing I like to discuss that I have been arrested once in 2007 for being with the group of guys in a car and got in a bit of trouble but no conviction or finger print taken or Dna they let us go hour later I have got subject access report confirming no conviction or cautions in my name a part from this arrest should I declare it in my application form?

[Raza.raja]

And second question is I just read the application form again there is section for cautions and convictions but no option for arrests what should I do in this case

[Katron]

Hi All,

I have visited this forum so many times over the years and appreciated the help it has given to my Husband and I so much but haven't posted until now. So, a big thank you to all the knowledgeable people here who give up their time to help people they're likely to never meet.

So I shall begin, my Husband is an Egyptian National with a complex immigration history and we can't figure out if his citizenship application will be immediately refused based on Character requirements if he was to apply now.

To explain:
In 2008 first entered UK on 6 month visit visa and overstayed until March 2010, including working for the last couple of months on a fake ID (it was when I found out about this I told him if he wanted to be with me he would have to leave and regularise his stay).
We married in December 2009.

He left UK for Egypt voluntarily in March 2010 but was stopped by immigration at airport after seeing his passport with expired visa.

Applied for spouse visa in 2010 - refused as he hadn't registered out marriage certificate with the civil status authority in Egypt. Meaning we couldn't appeal even, as we had effectively applied under the wrong visa type.

We reapplied in 2011 - with legal assistance and after registering the marriage certificate and again he was refused, however they made a mistake by banning him for 10 years due to overstaying and the fake ID use (they shouldn't have imposed a 10 year ban on a spouse visa application).

We appealed the 2011 decision and I attended a court hearing in October 2012, the judge allowed the appeal. The home office then tried to appeal that decision stating the marriage certificate was not valid. The home office's appeal was not allowed.

He was granted a Spouse visa at the end of November 2012 and he came to the UK at the end of December 2012.

In 2015 he applied for and was granted ILR with no issues. The ILR application took less than 6 weeks from start to finish.

Now in January 2016 he is in theory eligible to apply for Citizenship as he has been here for three years as my Spouse (applying for his Spouse visa under the "old rules") and coming up to one year on ILR, my question is, will his past idiotic errors immediately constitute a refusal and a ban from applying again for 3 or 10 years, or will the 2012 appeal ruling be taken into account and effectively lessen the impact of his overstaying and fake ID use?

Then if it seems there would be an immediate ban, what date should we work from to get to the 10 years to apply without past immigration offences blotting his record, 2018, 2020 or 2022?

We actually sat through 2 hours of a NCS appointment (£80 paid up front) for the lady performing the check to tell us he couldn't apply. She called the home office who said he couldn't apply until 2022 at the earliest. The call for whatever reason was cut off and after calling back and speaking to another employee (explaining all again) they stated he couldn't apply until 2018.

There is so much conflicting information on the good character requirement and if the staff in the Home office can't agree on an answer what hope is there for people like us?

We have also had conflicting advice from three different immigration solicitors.

Does anyone here (who has bothered to read this essay length text - thank you to those who have) please have any advice for us?

Thank you for any responses.

[ohara]

The UKVI telephone helpline is probably the most unreliable source of information for immigration queries. The 10 year ban is from the date he became legal. This may well have been 2010 or 2012.

You could do a subject access request to UKVI and see what data they hold on him, as it may clear things up a little. You certainly don't want to put an application in too early and waste a substantial amount of money.

It might be worth talking to an immigration solicitor about it.

It's worth noting that the requirements are guidelines, and at the end of the day the decision to naturalise a person is at the discretion of the Home Secretary. The fact that he overstayed his visa and also worked illegally using false documents is not good, and they may very well bar him for naturalisation indefinitely.

[avjones]

I agree, do a Subject Access Request from the Home Office, see what his records say.

By "bad quality ID" I presume you mean, "fake / forged ID?" If so, say so! "Bad quality" sounds very coy when people actually mean "fake".

I think it'll be from the time he was last illegally present in the UK, therefore 2010, but depending on what the documents say, it could be 2012 (add ten years to that).

I reckon the chance at the moment is close to 0%

[CR001]

I agree, do a Subject Access Request from the Home Office, see what his records say.

By "bad quality ID" I presume you mean, "bad quality / forged ID?" If so, say so! "Bad quality" sounds very coy when people actually mean "bad quality".

I think it'll be from the time he was last illegally present in the UK, therefore 2010, but depending on what the documents say, it could be 2012 (add ten years to that).

I reckon the chance at the moment is close to 0%

The word censor automatically changes the word F A K E to 'bad quality'.

[avjones]

That is an absolutely bizarre thing to do, and my apologies to the previous poster for suggesting it was her coyness!

[erdogan1]

The overstaying may not be much of an issue if the caseworker is willing to overlook. even then it's a slim chance but along with fake ID and being caught ... I'd be concerned as chances drop dramatically

[SHAHZAD7861]

Hello shehzad you have to make sure that you mention everything in your application form cautions,and your points if you try to hide something they will put your case under defamation and yeah it's called acro police subject access report you can apply online they charge you 10£ for it and if the points were given in 2014 I guess it should b fine wish you good luck

Thanks Raza

[Katron]

Thanks all for your replies.

Believe me, I wasn't being coy, I had no idea about the word filter either. I assumed when others had written F a k e in their posts it was for emphasis

I've basically come to the same conclusion as you guys, that he would be refused if he were to apply now,but he can't seem to accept that idea. He's worried because the rules are changed so often that they'll bring in another exam to pass, or his current certificates will expire/become invalid (as was the case for many people who had taken English exams with now unapproved test providers), or that in 2018/2022 they will have changed the requirements to 15 or 20 years since any offences, the list goes on. And to be honest I suppose any of those things could happen.

For me the fee is a lot to lose, but anyone who applies, clean record or not could be refused and lose their money... My big fear for this application is them refusing and adding "you can never have citizenship" or something similar. All because he rushed in too soon.
All this stress is mainly (perhaps not the correct reason I know) for us to be able to go on holiday together outside of the UK or Egypt easier. Currently he has to apply for a visa everywhere we want to go and there's no guarantee of getting one. Despite the fact you need to have your holiday booked and proven before applying. For some countries you have to submit as much information for a weeks holiday as we had to provide for his Spouse visa application!

The solicitors we have contacted about his Citizenship all gave conflicting advice... one stated we have to wait until 2022 or there will be an immediate refusal, another that it's 50/50 chance of approval but better to wait until at least 2018 and the final one stated it was 50/50 to apply now but that we should apply as normal and then use the allowance of extra paper to explain everything, the WHOLE situation from the past (despite them having all of this in excruciating detail on file - especially for the Spouse visa appeal, our Judge was VERY through with his note-taking).

I agree with ohara and avjones that it would be good to try and get some information from the HO on what they hold on my Husband.
Any ideas of the best way to go about this? Should I email them with his BRP number/have him write a letter or are they unlikely to comment on individual cases, in which case would my local MP have any more clout for getting a response?

They surely have a duty to inform us of his chances for Citizenship and or status of his immigraiton offences? Or at least to clarify when he could apply with a clean slate!

Best to all,

KT

[CR001]

The rules are that he has to wait 10 years from the date his stay became legal, which is November 2022. He is highly likely to face a refusal if he applies before then and will lose his application fee.

For him to get a subject access request, see the link below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... mmigration

Please note that the HO call centre are renowned for providing incorrect information and they take no responsibility for giving incorrect information either.

I am not sure if you have read the first post by Amber in thin the link below but it is a good read to understand what the new good character requirement involves.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... l#p1171456

[ohara]

The solicitors we have contacted about his Citizenship all gave conflicting advice... one stated we have to wait until 2022 or there will be an immediate refusal, another that it's 50/50 chance of approval but better to wait

This is the problem with solicitors, they seem to care more about money than about you! Also there is no 50/50 with the Home Office, they read from set guidance and if you don't meet the criteria, you fail, it's as simple as that. The solicitor still gets paid though

As I said before you can request the information UKVI hold on you with regards to your immigration status/history by doing a subject access request (SAR): https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... mmigration

It costs £10 and they are obliged to respond within 40 days.