Good Character Requirement-Overseas Criminal Compliant pendi

[rootcause1984]

Hi All,

I am yet to apply for Naturalisation as 1 year passed since i got my ILR. I am a Non EEA National.Unfortunately 6 months ago my wife filed (false) harassment compliant in police station on me in my home country,during this time i was in UK only.It was simple marital issue(irretrievable marriage breakdown) but she filed a criminal compliant which is in investigation stage only.No charges framed/No trial started/No Convictions made.No warrants/no arrests/No summons to me so far.

Except this i have no compliant/cases/none of other problems in UK.Its all very clear in UK.

The below are my queries:
1.Anyway I am going to disclose this in the application.But will this overseas criminal complaint affect my naturalisation application?
2.What are the chances of success of my application?
3.Is there anyone got citizenship while overseas criminal compliant pending?
4.Any advice regarding this to make my application right first time, please.

Please help on the above queries.

[Human]

UKVI might ignore overseas criminal cases which are not compatible with UK legal system. If you have accepted summons from the overseas court , you can declare it . But even that is bit ambiguous as AN application clearly states that you don't need to declare marriage/divorce related cases.
If your home country is a major source of immigrants to the UK , UKVI will be aware of such cases. Don't worry , fill the form as appropriate as you find it. Be prepared with any extra documents , If UKVI asks for further clarifications. PM me if you need further advice.

[rootcause1984]

Thank you human.

[noajthan]

Hi All,

...

The below are my queries:
1.Anyway I am going to disclose this in the application.But will this overseas criminal complaint affect my naturalisation application?
2.What are the chances of success of my application?
3.Is there anyone got citizenship while overseas criminal compliant pending?
4.Any advice regarding this to make my application right first time, please.

Please help on the above queries.

1) Be careful here - and disclose it.

More generally, the fact that there is no equivalent for an overseas offence in British law does not in itself mean that the offence should be disregarded.

The decisionmaker will not normally grant citizenship to a person who has a prosecution pending.

Ref: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _D_v02.pdf

And the fact it is marriage/divorce-related does not excuse it. Harassment is not a civil matter (as marriage/divorce is).

2) Noone here can say.

3) Don't know.

4) Disclose the case.

[Human]

There are countries in this world where declaring one as an atheist is equated to terrorism . Do you think UKVI considers this as criminal charge ? Clearly No.

Now (As I got citizenship without any issue) I can confirm that overseas criminal complaints which are not compatible with the UK law irrespective of how it is worded in the foreign country will not adversely affect your citizenship application.UKVI has dedicated teams to look into legal aspects of such dubious and often misused foreign laws.

In this particular case , Foreign country in question is one of the major source of immigration to the UK. So Nothing to worry ,UKVI has seen hundreds (if not thousands ) of such cases. Be honest with the UKVI. If you are dealing with the foreign court state at which stage the case is . Show documentary proof that laws are misused in that country , how this particular law affect your human rights & how the local culture differs from the UK etc.

On an alternative way (I chose this way) , Best approach in this situation is never to accept any summons from corrupt/uncivilized foreign legal system and deal the issue in the UK courts. UKVI will only care about the opinion of the UK court . You don't need to declare the foreign case and you can claim you are not aware of it.