UK Visas and Immigration updated its caseworker guidance on the good character requirement on 30 April 2026, clarifying that applications made after 10 February 2025 involving illegal entry will normally be refused.
Key facts
- Who: People applying for British citizenship by registration or naturalisation who are aged 10 or over at the date of application, and the caseworkers who assess them
- From: 30 April 2026
- Source: Good character: caseworker guidance
Replaces the previous version of the guidance. This is version 7.0.
The guidance tells Home Office staff how to decide whether an applicant meets the good character requirement in the British Nationality Act (BNA) 1981. The update clarifies that applications made after 10 February 2025 that include illegal entry will normally be refused citizenship, regardless of when the illegal entry occurred.
The guidance lists other changes from the last version:
- Technical clarifications on the additional considerations that give effect to international obligations, and on cases where a person was not in control of their illegal entry or presence in the UK.
- A minor change clarifying the approach to balance of probabilities assessments.
- Clarification of policy on extant deportation decisions, deportation orders and exclusion orders.
- A technical clarification on the sentence-based threshold for applications submitted before 31 July 2023. Non-custodial sentences accrued in the 3 years before the decision (rather than the application date) will normally result in refusal.
- A minor change clarifying that the exceptional grant trafficking example refers to people trafficked into the UK.
The guidance does not apply to some routes, including statelessness provisions in Schedule 2 of the BNA 1981 and several listed sections of the Act.
Caseworkers must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that an applicant is of good character. They weigh negative factors, such as criminality, immigration law breaches and deception, against positive factors, such as contributions to society. The list of factors is not exhaustive.
For applications made before 31 July 2023 that are still undecided, the older sentence-based thresholds apply. These include refusal for a custodial sentence of at least 4 years.
What this means for applicants
Applicants must answer all questions honestly and in full. They must also tell the Home Office about any significant event, such as a criminal conviction or pending prosecution, and any mitigating factors. They must disclose all convictions, including those that are spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The exception is applicants resident in Northern Ireland, who need disclose only unspent convictions.
Where a person fails to declare a conviction or gives misleading information, caseworkers must consider refusal on the conviction and on deception grounds.
An applicant who made an application after 10 February 2025 and whose application includes illegal entry should expect refusal as the normal outcome. Caseworkers may still consider exceptional grants where mitigating circumstances support one.
Related guide
General grounds for UK visa refusal
Sources
- Good character: caseworker guidance, UK Visas and Immigration, updated 30 April 2026
- Good character requirement (accessible), version 7.0