United Kingdom | Good character requirement guidance updated

The Home Office updated their guidance on the good character requirement, specifically certain factors that are taken into account when assessing whether a person meets this requirement when applying for British citizenship.

Key Points:

• The requirement for a person to be of good character in order to naturalize as a British citizen originates from the British Nationality Act (BNA) 1981.
• The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 extended the good character requirement to specific routes to registration as a British citizen.
• Effective Feb. 10, changes were made to clarify that applications that include illegal entry will normally be refused citizenship, regardless of when the illegal entry occurred.

Additional Information: The guidance states that those who applied before Feb. 10 where illegal entry is a factor will continue to have their application reviewed to determine whether that immigration breach should be disregarded.

The guidance has also been updated to include those arriving without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorization (ETA). As BAL reported, the government is currently in the process of implementing a new ETA system, and a person who applies for citizenship who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or ETA and having made a dangerous journey will also now normally be refused citizenship if applying after Feb. 10. Officials clarified that a dangerous journey includes, but is not limited to, traveling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle or other conveyance but does not include arrival as a passenger with a commercial airline. BAL will continue to monitor developments and will provide more information as it becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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