Good character guidance amended to block refugees from naturalisation

There have been some important additions to pages 50 and 51 of the Good Character guidance (a comparison of the new and old versions is here) that have the potential to block a large number of refugees from naturalising as British citizens, effective from today. This is described in the changes section as a “clarification” rather than a change, although the fact that it is to be applied to applications made after 10 February 2025 seems to undermine this somewhat.

This has been added to page 50:

Any person applying for citizenship from 10 February 2025, who previously entered the UK illegally will normally be refused, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place.

Any person applying for citizenship before 10 February 2025 where illegal entry is a factor, will continue to have their application reviewed to determine whether that immigration breach should be disregarded for the purpose of the character assessment.

For those applying before 10 February 2025 the position is as it was in the previous guidance which is that it will normally be appropriate to refuse naturalisation where illegal entry took place in the past ten years.

The following section has been added to page 51:

Arriving without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey

A person who applies for citizenship from 10 February 2025 who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship.

A dangerous journey includes, but is not limited to, travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle or other conveyance. It does not include, for example, arrival as a passenger with a commercial airline.

Naturalisation applications are expensive and there is no right of appeal against a refusal, so even though the guidance states that applications will “normally” be refused, meaning that there is room to ask for discretion to be exercised and a grant still made even where there has been illegal entry, in reality many people will be deterred by this change from even applying.

Data published yesterday shows that 62% of Labour voters support refugees being able to naturalise regardless of how they arrived here, so as well as being incredibly spiteful and damaging to integration, there is no political support for this change from those who voted in this government.

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