viglen210 wrote:hi guys,
I have a few questions to the gurus here:
1. the changes are effective from 11/12/2014 and they are affecting decisions and not applications. So, any application submitted before this date and no decision is being made yet will be subjected to these changes. my question is, is this legal? if they refused someone, can you for example claim your money back? take them to appeal? is there an appeal procedure?
2. the major effect of these changes will hit the refugees who arrived to this country illegally. they have to stay here for 10 years before being allowed to apply. isn't this against human EU rights convention?
thanks
fish
I'm not a lawyer, but here is my tupenn'orth anyway.
Schedule 1 of the British Nationality Act 1981 only requires that the Secretary of State be satisfied that the applicant for naturalisation be "of good character". The meaning of that phrase is left up to the Secretary of State.
The power to naturalise is delegated by the Secretary of State to officials in the Home Office. To ensure there is consistency of interpretation, directions and guidelines internal to the Home Office are issued. While they are published, they do not have the force of law. Instead they define, in relatively more precise terms, the meaning of "good character", which is the legal requirement. As those directions and guidelines are not a part of the law, they can be amended as often as the Secretary of State thinks fit and as and when s/he thinks fit. Therefore, such changes are legal.
You likely can not get your money back as firstly, you do not have a right to citizenship and secondly, you would have applied only after being satisfied yourself that you meet the good character requirements.
As the guidelines have only recently been changed, the way they will be interpreted for refugees is unclear. In any case, any law suit to clarify the issue will almost certainly be answered the other side of the General Election and there may be amendments to the guidelines anyway following the elections.
Incidentally, for those following international news, it is just this kind of change that President Obama has made in US immigration law, ie, not changing the law, but how it is interpreted. In the US, it is called "executive action". There is no equivalent British term.
