Are refugees required to send any original documents by post with our Citizenship Application?

[OneTrickPony]

Hi, I am sad to state I'm guilty of not telling the DWP for doing some paid job in 2015 for which I have been issued a civil penalty and the amount of overpayment to pay (around £1000+-). I was not tried for this in court or anything like that. Did not mean to cheat but my ignorance and negligence. My way of thinking was: because they gave me 0 hours contract and my that time work program coach had sent me to do this job and even communicated with employer on my behalf, I thought he would then report that change of circumstances for me and they would automatically adjust any payments accordingly. Well I was young and very stupid, apparently work program people have no connection with DWP haha.. Later I paid everything back in due time. Question: how should I inform Home Office about this in my citizenship application. I looked through some questions on the 'mock' application paper and I can see they ask about 'civil judgements'. They also ask about civil penalties 'under the UK Immigrations act'. There is question 3.13 which goes like 'Have you ever engaged in any other activities which might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character?' And you can tick yes or no and then there is an empty space field to explain that later. Should I tick yes to that question and then explain? Has anyone been refused citizenship on the grounds of civil penalties of such kind?

[Ticktack]

Hi, I am sad to state I'm guilty of not telling the DWP for doing some paid job in 2015 for which I have been issued a civil penalty and the amount of overpayment to pay (around £1000+-). I was not tried for this in court or anything like that. Did not mean to cheat but my ignorance and negligence. My way of thinking was: because they gave me 0 hours contract and my that time work program coach had sent me to do this job and even communicated with employer on my behalf, I thought he would then report that change of circumstances for me and they would automatically adjust any payments accordingly. Well I was young and very stupid, apparently work program people have no connection with DWP haha.. Later I paid everything back in due time. Question: how should I inform Home Office about this in my citizenship application. I looked through some questions on the 'mock' application paper and I can see they ask about 'civil judgements'. They also ask about civil penalties 'under the UK Immigrations act'. There is question 3.13 which goes like 'Have you ever engaged in any other activities which might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character?' And you can tick yes or no and then there is an empty space field to explain that later. Should I tick yes to that question and then explain? Has anyone been refused citizenship on the grounds of civil penalties of such kind?

I'm sure that you're looking for a very honest opinion. So here goes my opinion. It doesn't look good . It would seem like you've robbed the UK government. You've earned double payment when that money could have gone to helping someone else.
If you do decide to go ahead and apply, you would need to go out squeaky clean and confess your sins. I'm sure they would find out anyways.
8 of 10 in my humble opinion, this would go against your good character. Remember that ignorance isn't an excuse.
To be on the safe side, you might just want to wait till 2025 when it's been 10 years since your sin. That would greatly increase your chances of scaling through the character requirements. Worse case is that you might not get a response in 6 months as it might go up the chain for review.
Good luck.

[OneTrickPony]

Dang, that's really sad... . Strangely, it has not been an issue when I applied for my ILR in 2019 they granted me one after my first one (5 years) expired but I applied with my solicitors help that time so maybe that's why...not sure. Thanks for the warning. Now I'm gonna keep looking for more information on how to overcome this issue.

[alterhase58]

Note that ILR is an application (the last available) under the immigration regulations - naturalisation is under the British Nationality Act with it's own requirements. It's a discretionary application, from both the viewpoint of the applicant (you don't have to have it) and the government (they may not approve an application).

[London22]

Hi, I am sad to state I'm guilty of not telling the DWP for doing some paid job in 2015 for which I have been issued a civil penalty and the amount of overpayment to pay (around £1000+-). I was not tried for this in court or anything like that. Did not mean to cheat but my ignorance and negligence. My way of thinking was: because they gave me 0 hours contract and my that time work program coach had sent me to do this job and even communicated with employer on my behalf, I thought he would then report that change of circumstances for me and they would automatically adjust any payments accordingly. Well I was young and very stupid, apparently work program people have no connection with DWP haha.. Later I paid everything back in due time. Question: how should I inform Home Office about this in my citizenship application. I looked through some questions on the 'mock' application paper and I can see they ask about 'civil judgements'. They also ask about civil penalties 'under the UK Immigrations act'. There is question 3.13 which goes like 'Have you ever engaged in any other activities which might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character?' And you can tick yes or no and then there is an empty space field to explain that later. Should I tick yes to that question and then explain? Has anyone been refused citizenship on the grounds of civil penalties of such kind?

I think you will be fine so go ahead & apply .The reason you will be fine is the matter didn't go to court & you have paid all overpayment.This doesn't have anything to do with good character requirement.Good character requirement is a tool that they use against those who overstay or work illegally in last 10 years of application & that is the reason where most refusals come from .

[OneTrickPony]

thank you so much for reassuring.! YEa I received it in 2015 and no court or anything like that and I even kept trying to dispute it and wrote a lot of details with proof attached to explain how the whole situation unfolded. also nothing even closely resembling 'naughty' behaviour since then. But yes like other members stated here it is British Nationality Act application so I will just hope for their mercy now. Fingers crossed, hope they will not reject it...

[OneTrickPony]

I'm a Refugee with IRL. I have two ways of travelling abroad either I need a Refugee Travel Document or I need to become a British Citizen but recently both departments have been reporting long waiting times I mean Home Office always very slow at doing things and now it is summer and all.. aghhhh... Can I apply for citizenship (Passport) after I make a Refugee Travel Documents application and see which one I get faster? Is it legally allowed to do that and will it not create any confusion? And what do you think realistically waiting time will be for each of those? I just cannot wait to see my partner who lives in another country..

[CR001]

I'm a Refugee with IRL. I have two ways of travelling abroad either I need a Refugee Travel Document or I need to become a British Citizen but recently both departments have been reporting long waiting times I mean Home Office always very slow at doing things and now it is summer and all.. aghhhh... Can I apply for citizenship (Passport) after I make a Refugee Travel Documents application and see which one I get faster? Is it legally allowed to do that and will it not create any confusion? And what do you think realistically waiting time will be for each of those? I just cannot wait to see my partner who lives in another country..

Applying for British citizenship can take up to 6 months, often longer, before you even receive an approval letter in order to book a ceremony. You are only British once you attend the ceremony. You can only apply for a British passport after you have attended the ceremony and passports are currently taking around 10 weeks.

[OneTrickPony]

Note that ILR is an application (the last available) under the immigration regulations - naturalisation is under the British Nationality Act with it's own requirements. It's a discretionary application, from both the viewpoint of the applicant (you don't have to have it) and the government (they may not approve an application).

A little update: I made a lot of telephone calls and I was so happy to find out that actually that the Civil Penalty was lifted for me in DWP and they explained it as there was an official error. And then another adviser said there can only be one penalty per claim so if that one was lifted then doesn't this mean like my name is clear now? Not sure! Although the overpayment occurred, I did take reasonable steps to tell them verbally about that overpayment they just misunderstood me or they just ignored/forgot it. Nevertheless, the overpayment occurred and I paid it all back. So I am now worried if I should mention that whole 'difficult' situation in my application? I guess the answer would be still yes? Should I like, tick the box when they ask you: Have you ever engaged in any other activities which might indicate that you may not be considered to be a person of good character? And should I write about this situation in 500 letters window that pops when you say yes.

[OneTrickPony]

Asking because this is my second time I apply for Refugee Travel Document (previous one expired) and they have a question in the application: 'Have you made any previous UK immigration applications in the UK or abroad?' Should I mention the previous Travel Document? I'm thinking Travel Docs are not exactly an 'UK immigration application' right?

[alterhase58]

Just guessing, but TD is similar to a passport, and is issued based on your status in the UK. Also like a BRP - so not in itself immigration applications, and BRP are considered imm. applications.

[alterhase58]

Just guessing, but TD is similar to a passport, and is issued based on your status in the UK. Also like a BRP - so not in itself immigration applications, and BRP are considered imm. applications.

Sorry meant "and BRP are NOT considered imm. applications."

[OneTrickPony]

Just guessing, but TD is similar to a passport, and is issued based on your status in the UK. Also like a BRP - so not in itself immigration applications, and BRP are considered imm. applications.

Sorry meant "and BRP are NOT considered imm. applications."

Hmm.. does that mean I only need to mention my asylum claim? and no need to mention the ILR application that I made after my first five-years Leave to Remain expired?

[alterhase58]

All application. ILR is an immigration application.

[OneTrickPony]

Dear refugees and other members of the forum, from your experiences what they normally ask you to send? Asking because I am already sending back some documents (my expired travel document, refugee status letters, country of birth passports) to the Home Office as I am applying for Home Office Travel Documents (refugee) but planning to apply for Citizenship very soon, possibly while this application is still being considered. Just hope they will not ask me to provide same documents in my citizenship application whilst they are already holding them as part of my Travel Docs application.

[alterhase58]

These are different applications. You will have to provide all documents required for naturalisation but they only need to be scanned/uploaded with the application. Travel document and nationality are different sections of UKVI.