Divisional Court hands down important judgment on “good character” policy

The Divisional Court (Lewis LJ and Farbey J) has today handed down judgment in R (Alibiari) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 1623 (Admin). This case concerned a claim for judicial review of the Home Office’s policy “Nationality: good character requirement” which sets out guidance on the assessment of whether a person is of good character for the purposes of deciding whether to grant an application for naturalisation as a British citizen.

In February 2025, the policy was amended to provide that a person applying for citizenship will normally be refused if they entered the UK illegally or arrived in the UK without entry clearance or travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey (such as by small boat or concealed in a vehicle).

The Claimant challenged the policy on three grounds. The first ground argued that the policy directed caseworkers to take unlawful decisions because it failed to recognise that a refugee may not bear any moral responsibility for the circumstances that caused him to enter the UK illegally. The Divisional Court, while accepting that there may be cases where a person could be said not to be responsible for the fact they entered the UK illegally (para 36), held that the policy was not unlawful because the possibility that a person may lack responsibility did not need to be included in the description of circumstances when illegal entry would normally indicate a lack of good character (para 42).

Ground 2 and 3 concerned discrimination under Article 14 ECHR and a breach of the public sector equality duty. The court rejected those arguments.

Alex Goodman KC and Charles Bishop acted for the Claimant, instructed by Duncan Lewis Solicitors.