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<p>Applicants for naturalisation need to meet the statutory requirements in the British
Nationality Act 1981 which specify that a person must not have been in breach of the
Immigration Rules during the required residential qualifying period.<br />In addition,
a person is required to be of good character. If a person meets these requirements,
the Home Secretary may, if she thinks fit, grant a certificate of naturalisation.
<br /><br />We have recently substantially strengthened our policy on both the good
character and residence requirements. Our revised policy on good character makes it
clear that entering the UK illegally or evading immigration control will <br />usually
mean that a person is prevented from acquiring citizenship for a period of 10 years.
In terms of assessing the residence requirements, new guidance has been published
on how the Home Secretary will exercise her discretion. We <br />will no longer overlook
lengthy periods of unlawful residence, as was the case under previous governments.
Whereas previously discretion would have been exercised in cases where a person who
deliberately entered or remained in the UK without permission had attempted to regularise
their stay by making an application to the Home Office, we will no longer tolerate
this. We will normally only exercisediscretion to overlook periods of unlawful residence
if they are short and genuinely inadvertent or outside the applicant’s control.</p><p>
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