No appeal, but a request to reconsider
If your application for British citizenship by naturalisation or registration is refused, there is no right of appeal to a tribunal. The Home Office does, however, allow you to ask it to reconsider the decision. The request is made on Form NR, the application for review when British citizenship is refused. The same form covers other refused nationality applications, and a separate form is used for refused right of abode applications.
A reconsideration request is not a second chance to improve your application. It is a request that the Home Office check its own decision against the law, the policy and the procedure.
When a request to reconsider is the right step
The Home Office will reconsider where you can show that the refusal was not soundly based on law, policy or procedure. Examples include:
- The Home Office counted your days outside the UK wrongly, or applied the wrong residence period.
- It treated a document as missing when it was sent, or misread it.
- It applied the good character requirement wrongly, for example by relying on a matter that was spent, misrecorded or outside the policy.
- It did not follow its own published guidance.
- It decided the application was invalid or refused when you had met the requirements.
It is not a good vehicle where the refusal is correct and you simply did not meet a requirement, such as a residence period you had not completed or a language test you had not passed. Those cases call for a fresh application once the problem is solved.
The fee
The fee for reconsideration on Form NR is £513. It is refunded if the Home Office accepts that its original decision was wrong, re-opens the application and the application is successful. If the decision is upheld, the fee is kept. The ceremony fee is refunded when an application is refused.
The deadline
Form NR does not carry a statutory deadline in the way an appeal does, but the Home Office expects a request promptly. As a rule a request should be made within 28 days of the refusal. We treat 28 days as a firm limit and act on it, because a late request invites the answer that you should simply reapply.
What we do
- Read the refusal letter and set it against your application, your travel history and the nationality policy that applied on the date of decision.
- Tell you honestly whether there is a defensible basis to say the decision was wrong, or whether a fresh application is the better route.
- Prepare the request on Form NR, with a clear statement of each error in law, policy or procedure and the supporting evidence.
- Submit the request with the fee, and follow it up with the Home Office.
Or reapply
Often the better answer is a new application. A refusal for insufficient residence, for a missing document or for a failed language or Life in the UK requirement can usually be cured and the application made again. A refusal on good character grounds needs more thought, because the same facts may lead to the same result. We will tell you whether the passage of time or new evidence changes the position before you pay another fee.
If your application was refused for deception or good character
These refusals are the most serious, because they can follow you into later applications for visas and settlement. Do not reapply without advice. See good character and British citizenship.
