This was an application for JR of the SSHD’s decision to refuse to grant British citizenship, on the basis that the applicant had deliberately attempted to mislead the Secretary of State, and so was not of ‘good character’. Dove J agreed that the SSHD was obliged to treat As fairly (Thamby [2011] EWHC 1763 (Admin)) and to approach the ‘good character’ requirement as a comprehensive exercise of judgement rather than mechanistically (Hiri [2014] EWHC 254). However, he held that the SSHD was entitled to conclude that the provision by the C of three different dates of birth in various applications made by her, without any attempt to explain the position at the time, intentionally misleading: the provision of an accurate date of birth was a matter of considerable importance to the SSHD in establishing identity and administering immigration control.  Application dismissed.
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