Naturalisation Referee - Future Intention Requirments

[Xzibit1]

Hello,
I have obtained 2 referees to sign my naturalisation application form, however one of the referees has also acted as a chararcter reference for a job I have been given overseas. I intend to start this job once my naturalsiation application is approved.

My dilema is since one of the requirmenmts of naturalsiation is that the applicant should not have already decided to cut links with the UK. In my case, since one of the referees already knows that I have accepted a job overseas and will leave the UK once naturalised, dont you think there will be a conflict of interest when this referre is contacted by the Home Office, and asked for my suitability for naturalisation?

What is the besy way forward?
Should I just get another referee or discuss the situation with this current referee and expect him not to tell the Home Office of my future intentions?

[RobinLondon]

You do realise that you're proposing not only engaging in deception, but conspiring with someone else to do the same?

I'm not intending to be judgemental, but I am just saying...

[Xzibit1]

Thanks Robin. I think as it may take up to 6 months or longer to approve a natruralsiation application, I cannot even be sure my self that the overseas job will still be open for me. However I think it will now be best to get another referee to avoid any conflicts.

However, I also note that Chapter 18 Annex F, states that it is not a requirmenet that applicants for naturalisdation intend to make the UK their permananet home. I think provided I still retain links (eg having a princiapl home) in the UK despite having an overseas job, I should not be in breach of requirments

[RobinLondon]

Thanks Robin. I think as it may take up to 6 months or longer to approve a natruralsiation application, I cannot even be sure my self that the overseas job will still be open for me. However I think it will now be best to get another referee to avoid any conflicts.

However, I also note that Chapter 18 Annex F, states that it is not a requirmenet that applicants for naturalisdation intend to make the UK their permananet home. I think provided I still retain links (eg having a princiapl home) in the UK despite having an overseas job, I should not be in breach of requirments

I totally understand what you're saying and where you're coming from. The Home Office is not a mind reader, and neither is the UK a prison from which you can never escape!

If you read that same annex carefully, they make it pretty clear that they cannot go on thoughts, but on behaviours. I think they give particular examples in sections 2.27, 2.3 and 2.4 in that if you have made firm intentions to move abroad permanently and have an overseas offer in hand, you probably are not eligible for naturalisation. Or as they put it, "the applicant should be advised to re-apply, on return to the UK, for permanent residence and if the normal requirements are met, [naturalisation]". (All easier said than done in this tricky immigration climate!) This is where you might get into trouble, particularly if your referee knows that you're emigrating!

Do realise that if you are taking up a position with an international organisation (non-commercial) or a UK-registered one, that's okay. I think what they're trying to avoid is people getting a UK passport and then disappearing forever to work with Mitsubishi or Petroleos de Mexico, for example. The fact that you will maintain a principle home here to which you are at least entertaining the possibility of returning in the future is a step in your favour as well.

[global gypsy]

Are you saying that even after one obtains UK citizenship, Home Office can hassle you in case you go live outside the UK? That sounds a bit strange.

[RobinLondon]

No, I'm not saying that. They can hassle you at the time of a citizenship application if for some reason they think that your intentions don't match their demands. But that's a very difficult thing for them to prove. You or your referees basically have to divulge the information to them. They will assume you intend to remain in the UK unless you suggest otherwise. After you naturalise, they couldn't care less where you go. But at that critical moment of applying, it's important.

As you can imagine, this whole process depends on the applicant's and his/her referees' honesty. If they lie, they lie. And chances are that they will get away with it. I'm guessing that the HO are getting tired of being lied to all the time, which is probably the reason why they introduced those new penalties for deception.

As an aside, it used to be the same in the USA. Naturalised citizens were forced to remain in the US for at least five years after becoming American. If they didn't, bye-bye passport. As you can imagine, it eventually became the stuff of a court case and the requirement was thrown out for breaching "equal protection" arguments. So now you can become American one day and move to Belize/Bali/Budapest the next. If the HO were to start hassling new UK citizens, I would be surprised if the ECHR didn't come to the same conclusion as the US courts did.