Legal protection insurance in case citizenship application gets denied

[julie03]

Hi!

I am in the process of applying for British citizenship, have been in the UK for 5 years and have all the documents more or less ready. However I am a bit hesitant to apply - the ~£1350 fee is a lot of money, and I am very afraid of being rejected, for possibly no valid reason, and then unfortunately I would not even be in a position to do anything, for example get legal aid and/or appeal the decision. Legal aid is not something I could afford on top of the hefty application fee, as I suspect such legal aid would very easily cost more than £500, £1000, £3000, or even more.

I am therefore wondering - I've heard that there is various things that one can get legal protection insurance for - for example for car accident related things, for personal affairs, etc. You pay a monthly or yearly fee to get a legal protection insurance, and in case anything happens, you are protected and the insurance will provide or pay legal aid. (of course the insurance needs to be set up before the incident happens). Usually these cost hundred or a couple hundred pounds per year, so it's something that would be affordable for a year or two.
Does such a thing exist to protect oneself in case anything goes not as planned with the UK citizenship application? For example, to receive legal aid in case the citizenship application gets rejected for no reason (or superficial reasons, if a reason is given at all).

If such legal insurances do not exist, is there any advice people could give me that are or have been maybe in similar situations?

Thank you very much in advance!

[Casa]

There is no legal appeal for a refused BC application. Your only option would be a reconsideration which is currently £372.

"Whilst there is no legal right of appeal or review of nationality decisions, you
may ask for it to be reconsidered if you disagree with the reason for refusal.
There is a small charge for reconsideration which will be returned (less the
citizenship ceremony fee where appropriate) if the decision is reversed and
your application is approved."

[julie03]

@Casa I see, thank you!

So basically that means there's some chance that the ~£1350 fees are just lost - they can reject you on no grounds (and the reconsideration could get rejected as well), and then you've lost £1350 (plus £372 if you do the reconsideration) and you have no possibilities whatsoever to do anything at all.
And you are saying that even somebody rich, who has a couple millions and could hypothetically afford the best lawyer, wouldn't be in a position to do anything about it? Even if no reason is given for the reject or it's a bullshit reason?

[CR001]

HO would give you a reason why your application is refused. If reconsideration is refused for same reason, then yes, there is not much you can do and HO would usually tell you when you can re-apply (depends on your particular circumstances/history - which you don't state so advice will be very generic).

Important to note that British Citizenship is a privilege and not an entitlement/right and falls under different laws to the UK immigration rules or the EU rules.

Using a solicitor, regardless of how wealthy you are, makes absolutely no difference. Everyone is required to meet the rules/requirements.

If refused, yes the fee is lost. You only get £80 back, which is the ceremony fee.

HO don't simply refuse for no reason.

Most applicants fail the Good Character requirement or for not disclosing something important, for being illegal or overstaying at some point, for breaches of immigration rules in the past or for failing to meet the residence requirement and physically present at start of residence period or due to excessive absence.

[julie03]

@CR001: Okay, thank you very much!
It's good to know at least a reason should be provided by HO. In the past two years you can read many stories about people who get declined without any obvious reason or any stated reason from HO. It seems like it can be a case of luck, depends on the officer that looks at your application, etc. - and the climate seems to have gotten very unfriendly. And they have the power, and with power, you can usually find _some_ reason to potentially reject any application, even if it satisfies all the requirements on paper. And sometimes these rules by HO are not even 100% clear to themselves, you call them twice about a particular question or interpretation of a passage in their documents, and you get two totally contradicting answers from the two HO people.

Thank you!

[CR001]

It seems like it can be a case of luck, depends on the officer that looks at your application, etc. - and the climate seems to have gotten very unfriendly.

Not, not 'luck' at all. Important to note that a lot of people who post on forums such as these never give the full details of their circumstances or exact reasons for refusals. They post and rant about refusals but often never post again once pushed for more history or information about their circumstances. We have 100s of such members on this forum. And this applies to immigration questions and citizenship questions.

And they have the power, and with power, you can usually find _some_ reason to potentially reject any application, even if it satisfies all the requirements on paper.

I don't believe so. The vast majority of applicants succeed.

And sometimes these rules by HO are not even 100% clear to themselves, you call them twice about a particular question or interpretation of a passage in their documents, and you get two totally contradicting answers from the two HO people.

Important again to note that the call centre is outsourced and they are not qualified immigration advisors or solicitors. My guess is they are trained up to Level 1 OISC probably.

[ajitk1]

@CR001: Okay, thank you very much!
It's good to know at least a reason should be provided by HO. In the past two years you can read many stories about people who get declined without any obvious reason or any stated reason from HO. It seems like it can be a case of luck, depends on the officer that looks at your application, etc. - and the climate seems to have gotten very unfriendly. And they have the power, and with power, you can usually find _some_ reason to potentially reject any application, even if it satisfies all the requirements on paper. And sometimes these rules by HO are not even 100% clear to themselves, you call them twice about a particular question or interpretation of a passage in their documents, and you get two totally contradicting answers from the two HO people.

Thank you!

Only out of interest and curiosity, could you tell if you are an EU or other national presently.
Have you already obtained PR or ILR at least one year ago?
The most difficult part is PR or ILR. After 1 year it is pretty much straight forward unless you have a criminal record, financial issues like bankruptcy or some immigration offence in the last 10 years including the number of days abroad during the last 5 years.
Now most applicants don't use forums like this. Imagine there are about 500 applications every day and not that many are even aware. And as CR said people rant and rave believing they are right, think their transgressions are too trivial to be denied citizenship.
The important thing is to realise that their decisions are not taken lightly. The rejection by the case worker is confirmed by a higher authority (much experienced) and then sent out. There is no need to panic if you do not have any kind of record. Employment history (exercising treaty rights) etc is not important like for PR.