Information on the conduct of Referees in Registration as a British citizen Application (MN1).

The request was successful.

Dear Home Office,

I produce a relevant part of the paragraph from the Guide MN1 (Registration as a British citizen– A guide about the registration of children under 18) (version December 2015).

"SECTION 5: REFEREES AND IDENTITY
The application must be endorsed by two referees and a recent passport size photograph. You must write the child’s name and date of birth on the back of the photograph and this should then be glued or pasted into the space provided on the application form.
One referee should be a professional who has engaged with the child in a professional capacity, such as a teacher, health visitor, social worker or minister of religion. The other referee must normally be the holder of a British citizen passport and either a professional person or over the age of 25.
Each referee should know the child personally and should be:
 not related to the child
 not related to the other referee
 not acting as a solicitor or agent in connection with this application
 not employed by the Home Office
We will not accept a referee who has been convicted of an imprisonable offence during the last 10 unless that conviction can be disregarded in line with the table shown on page 23 of this Guide."

I have read an FOI 283802 (Your reference 36223, dated 18 August 2015.) when in response to the FOI you stated as follows:

Q7- "Why do they require two references in this type of application as most of these applicants are young children's/toddlers? "
Your response: "Referees are requested for all applications for British citizenship. The purpose of this is to establish the applicant’s identity. For a child, the guidance specifies that one of the referees should be a person who has engaged with the child in a professional capacity, such as a teacher, health visitor, social worker or minister of religion. This fulfils a child protection purpose in that it allows us to be satisfied that the child has had dealings with an official, and thus is likely to be known by the authorities."

In the light of the guidance of MN1 (including but not restricted to the one produced above), and your response reference 36223; my questions are as follows:

1. Are these professionals under any obligation to provide such reference, if they were professionally engaged with the applicant for an amount of time that meets the requirement?
a. If yes, can I get a copy of the relevant documents that say so?
b. If no, why not?

2. Are these professionals under any obligation to respond to such request-for-reference in writing, even if they could not provide such reference?
a. If yes, can I get a copy of the relevant documents that say so?
b. If no, why not?

3. Is such professional within his rights to refuse to give such reference unreasonably? (For example, a GP of 1½-year-old girl said that he could not provide such reference, as it is against the ‘policy of the practice’. On requesting a copy of the policy or his response in writing, he simply declined. Just to add, the GP was the first doctor of the applicant since her birth.)

4. What options does the applicant have if such professional unreasonably refuse to provide such reference? (Keeping in mind that 1½-year-old girl would not have many professionals who were professionally engaged with her.)

5. Is the unreasonable refusal from such professionals to provide such reference, been considered before applying this condition in MN1?
a. If yes, can I get a copy of the relevant documents that say so?
b. If yes, was their corresponding guideline published/issued to the relevant bodies, like Medical Council, or to others to guide the professionals in a manner to deal with such request?
c. If no, why not?

Thank You

Yours faithfully,

Amir Farooqui

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Amir Farooqui,

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Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
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FOI Responses, Home Office

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Dear Mr Farooqui

 

 

Please find enclosed response to your FOI request.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Information Rights Team

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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Dear FOI Responses,

Thank you so much for the information.

Yours sincerely,

Amir Farooqui

FOI Responses, Home Office

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FOI Requests, Home Office

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Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to recorded information held by the department.

If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your request within 48 hours, and aim to provide the information requested within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act

PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to [email address]<mailto:[email address]>

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