Citizenship Refused: Common Reasons and What to Do

Good Character

The good character guidance is the document caseworkers actually work from. It is long, it is public, and it is more specific than its reputation suggests. Our good character guide covers it in full; this section covers the parts that produce refusals.

Criminal convictions

The thresholds changed for applications made on or after 31 July 2023. Older articles still quote the previous 4-year, 15-year and 10-year tiers, and those now apply only to applications made before that date that are still undecided.

Under the current guidance a person will normally be refused if they:

• received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months, in the UK or overseas — there is no time limit on this
• have consecutive sentences totalling at least 12 months
• are a persistent offender who shows a particular disregard for the law
• committed an offence which caused serious harm
• committed a sexual offence, or their details are recorded on a register

Where there is a custodial sentence of less than 12 months, or a non-custodial sentence or out-of-court disposal on the record, the guidance says the caseworker must refuse if they are not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the person is of good character. Recency, number of offences, escalation, the applicant's age at the time and evidence of change are all listed as things to weigh.

Some details that are commonly got wrong:

• It is the whole sentence the court imposed that counts, not the time served.
• A suspended sentence is treated as a non-custodial sentence, unless it is later activated.
• Concurrent sentences are not added together; consecutive ones are. Nine months served consecutively with six months is treated as fifteen months.
• A fixed penalty notice does not form part of a criminal record and will not normally cause refusal, unless it went unpaid and led to a conviction. Several of them in a short period can still count.
• An overseas conviction is treated the same as a UK one, starting from the sentence imposed. Convictions for conduct that is lawful in the UK can be disregarded, with approval.

Spent convictions

Nationality decisions are exempt from section 4 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The guidance says applicants must disclose all convictions regardless of whether they are spent, and past convictions may be taken into account regardless of when they took place. The only exception is a person resident in Northern Ireland, who discloses unspent convictions as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Cautions are different: nationality decisions are not exempt from section 4 for cautions, so only unspent cautions need to be declared.

Immigration breaches

• Illegal entry. For applications made from 10 February 2025, a person who previously entered the UK illegally will normally be refused, regardless of how much time has passed. The same applies to someone who arrived without a required visa or electronic travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey, which the guidance describes as travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle, and expressly not as arriving on a commercial flight.
• Overstaying and other lawful residence breaches. Since 28 June 2022 these may be disregarded where the applicant holds settlement and nothing has arisen since it was granted that casts doubt on the decision. Our guide to immigration breaches and citizenship sets out how that works, and our guide to overstaying covers the underlying rule.
• Breaches that are not about lawful residence — working in breach of conditions, employing illegal workers, failing to observe reporting requirements — are always considered.
• Where the breach was outside the person's control, including a positive trafficking decision through the National Referral Mechanism, or where the person was a child at the time, the guidance says it will normally be appropriate to disregard it.

Deception

An application will normally be refused where there is deception in the citizenship application itself, or in a previous immigration application in the previous 10 years — and the 10 years runs from when the deception was discovered or admitted, not from when it happened. Where an applicant fails to disclose something that would have led to refusal on good character grounds, the guidance says the application must be refused and any further application will normally be refused for the next 10 years, unless the failure was an unintentional and genuine error.

Financial conduct

• Debt on its own is not a reason to refuse, particularly where repayments are being made as agreed or acceptable efforts are being made. Deliberately and recklessly building up debt with no serious intention to pay is.
• NHS debt. A debt of more than £500 to the NHS is a ground for refusal under Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, and the guidance says a person will not normally be considered of good character while it is outstanding. Once it is cleared it must not be counted.
• Council tax. An application is not normally refused where someone could not pay because of their financial position, especially where an arrangement is being negotiated. Unreasonable failure to pay, or a false statement to avoid paying the correct rate, will normally lead to refusal.
• Bankruptcy and liquidation. These are not automatic bars. The guidance allows a grant where the order was annulled, the discharge was at least 10 years ago, or the liquidation was more than 10 years ago; otherwise scale, circumstances and culpability are weighed. A director disqualification order will normally lead to refusal.
• Public funds. The guidance says an application must not be refused simply because someone is reliant on public funds. Knowingly claiming funds you were not entitled to will normally lead to refusal.

Residence and Absences

The residence requirements are in Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981.

Standard route, 5 years

• In the UK on the day exactly 5 years before the date of application
• No more than 450 days outside the UK in those 5 years
• No more than 90 days outside the UK in the final 12 months
• Free of any immigration time restriction for the 12 months ending with the date of application, which in practice means holding settlement for at least a year

Spouse or civil partner of a British citizen, 3 years

• In the UK on the day exactly 3 years before the date of application
• No more than 270 days outside the UK in those 3 years
• No more than 90 days outside the UK in the final 12 months
• Settlement is needed at the date of application, but there is no 12-month wait after getting it

Going over the limits does not mean automatic refusal. The caseworker guidance contains structured discretion — for example it says a caseworker must exercise discretion where the total is exceeded by 30 days or less, unless there is another reason to refuse. Our absences guide sets out the tiers, and the counting rule that most people get wrong: the days you leave and enter the UK are not counted.

Knowledge Requirements

Life in the UK test

You must have passed the Life in the UK test before applying. The pass does not expire, so a pass used for settlement counts again for citizenship. People under 18 or aged 65 and over are exempt.

English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic

The level for naturalisation is B1 on the Common European Framework — the same level as for settlement, and higher than the A1 and A2 levels used at the earlier stages of a family visa. The test must be with an approved provider and at an approved centre. A degree taught in English can be used instead, and nationals of countries on the Home Office's majority English-speaking list are exempt. Our English language guide has the detail.

Invalid Applications Are Rejected, Not Refused

If the fee is not paid, biometrics are not provided, or a mandatory part of the form is missing, the application is treated as invalid and rejected. That is different from a refusal: nothing has been decided on the merits, and there is no adverse decision on your record. Our documents checklist covers what has to be in the application.

What Exists After a Refusal

There is no appeal

There is no right of appeal against a refusal to register or naturalise. That is a feature of nationality law rather than an oversight, and it is why the two routes below matter.

Nationality review, form NR

Form NR asks UK Visas and Immigration to review its decision where you believe it was not soundly based on law, policy or procedure. It is not a chance to submit a better application; it is an argument that the decision made was wrong on the material before the caseworker. The fee under the fee table in force from 8 April 2026 is £513, listed as “Nationality review”. The Home Office's refunds policy says the fee is refunded where it is accepted that the original decision was incorrect and the reopened application succeeds.

Judicial review

Judicial review challenges the lawfulness of the decision — the wrong legal test applied, relevant evidence not considered, a procedurally unfair process — rather than asking a court to decide the application again. It must be brought promptly and in any event within 3 months of the decision, and it is a court process that in practice needs a solicitor or barrister.

A fresh application

There is no formal waiting period before applying again. What changes the outcome is the underlying position changing: absences falling out of the qualifying window, a debt cleared, a test passed, time passing. Applying again on the same facts costs another fee, and the naturalisation fee is not refunded on refusal.

Note that a period of exclusion runs in two specific cases the guidance names: a failure to disclose information that would have led to refusal, and deception, each carrying a normal expectation of refusal for 10 years.

A Refusal and Your Settled Status

A citizenship refusal does not change your indefinite leave to remain. The two are decided under different law and a refusal of one is not a decision about the other. Our settlement and citizenship comparison sets out what each status gives you.

The one thing to be aware of is that a citizenship application is a full check. If it surfaces something the Home Office did not know when it granted settlement, the guidance itself notes that historic information which would have changed that grant is a reason to look at immigration breaches again.

Before You Apply

• Work out your absences using the Home Office counting rule, not the intuitive one, and check both the total and the final year. Our timeline guide covers when the earliest application date falls.
• Declare everything. The guidance treats concealment as a separate and more serious matter than the thing concealed, with a 10-year consequence attached.
• Read the good character guidance itself if any part of it might touch your facts. It is published in full and it names the things caseworkers weigh.
• Only a solicitor or a person regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority may advise on your own circumstances. Our guide to doing it yourself or using a solicitor and our Home Office contact guide cover where to go.

Questions and answers