UK citizenship application - friend wants me to be a referee and say I've known her longer than I really have

[northernstar0412]

Hi,
A friend from overseas who is applying for British citizenship asked me to be a referee.

My job is included in the list of acceptable occupations but I have only known her for 2 years and 8 months. The government's website says we need to have known each other for at least 3 years.

My friend said - "You can just say you've known me longer - how can they prove it?"

I can be fined £5k or receive a prison term if I knowingly give false information, according to the official website. So I told my friend I was happy to be a referee but I would be stating on the form that I'd known her 2 years and 8 months.

She doesn't want to delay her application for four months and is now looking for another referee, but doesn't know many people here.

Am I BU?

@Ilovecranberries
I think the requirement is that is has to be a personal, not solely professional, connection. I have never actually met my accountant face to face either 😁

Maybe suggest a Zoom coffee date and a post lockdown lunch? Surely then they could be considered a friend 😉

I do get how difficult it is, and how farcical some of the Home Office processes are.

I would just round up. It’s close to 3 years and lost people cannot remember exactly when they met.

ListeningQuietly have a think about what it would imply for NI and the GFA if the UK started messing with Irish passport holders. There are thousands of Irish citizens who have only ever lived in the UK, are entitled to British citizenship but choose not to claim it. The UK simply won't be able to tell them they can't live or work in the UK, and by extension they won't be able to do the same to citizens from ROI either.

Wow I thought there was going to be a disparity of a few years! 4 months is nothing and I would say I’ve known her for 3 years.

Typical MN, when OPs ask if they should report benefit fraud they’re told to keep their beak out and yet when it comes to British citizenship, it’s REPORT HER

MindyStClare
The UK Gov will do nothing to Irish Passport holders so long as they stay in the UK.

The border between the UK and Ireland and between the UK and mainland Europe will soon become the EU border
to cross that border will require proper documentation.

If Irish people think they will be exempt from EU Law I think they are in for rather a shock.

But ListeningQuietly, all they'd have to show is their Irish passport (or presumably a birth cert/proof of Irish citizenship) as documentation to pass between UK and ROI under the CTA.

It's the citizenship that gives Irish citizens the right to pass freely back and forth between ROI and UK and that won't change after Brexit.

Obviously other people coming to the UK via ROI will be a different story.

Longines
What about Irish people currently resident in England who want to visit mainland Europe ?
They will HAVE to have a proper passport.
Many do not.

Around 9% of UK residents have no passport or proof of nationality
and if Windrush has taught us anything
it is that the UKBA is racist and pedantic

Signing a form knowing that you are lying is dumb
hoping that UKBA will exercise common sense and decency is also dumb

What about Irish people currently resident in England who want to visit mainland Europe ?
They will HAVE to have a proper passport.
Many do not.

There's no change there. Anyone living in England who wants to go to France at the minute needs a passport. The difference is that Irish passport holders will still be able to freely enter France as EU members, whereas British citizens may not be able to do so at some point down the line.

Ireland's never been part of the Schengen area so presumably they'd need a passport to travel from either UK or ROI anyway. That won't change with Brexit as it's already the way it works.

And I'm just talking about the ROI thing - I've made my views on the OP's dilemma perfectly clear upthread (I wouldn't lie either), and OP has since resolved her issue anyway.

Sorry - my post was in response to Listening

Yes, nothing changes for Ireland post-Brexit.

Do you have to still be actually working at your profession, or will 'retired lawyer/doctor' be acceptable?

@sueelleker

Do you have to still be actually working at your profession, or will 'retired lawyer/doctor' be acceptable?

My understanding is that "retired" is fine. Certainly seemed to be the case for me as a former CS. And I can also sign as I'm a current local government officer. Or rather, I will be able to sign once my passport has been renewed as it's expired.

I would have done it. I would round up the time you have known her to three years. By the time it gets processed it will be even nearer exactly three years. But YANBU to say no if you are uncomfortable with it. It isn't something anyone should feel obliged to do.

Reporting her is a ridiculous overreaction. Only on MN would this be suggested as a sensible response!

They will automatically fail an application that doesn't just have a tick for known for years. A failed application would have a bigger impact on them. So don't do that.

Oh, my passport is also expired. I hadnt realised that meant I couldnt counter-sign passport applications. I might not renew it for a while! A long while!

And again to all of those posters who keep suggesting that it would be totally OK for a professional to counter sign this application, lie about details, and the relationship, which, lets face it, is barely more than nodding acquaintance. I know my postman better. You are deluded as to what being a professional means. And I do report if someone breaks financial and tax rules knowingly or willingly.