Who this page is for
- Applicants with any conviction, sentence or disposal history.
- Sponsors wanting pre-submission risk assessment for criminality thresholds.
- Applicants checking whether a conviction is spent before settlement or citizenship filing.
Services / Complex Cases
Criminal Convictions and Application Impact
For applicants with conviction history where settlement/citizenship eligibility may be affected by rehabilitation-period rules.
Detailed guidance
Threshold Overview and Scope
The original guidance states that, from 6 April 2011, settlement and British citizenship applications are subject to a criminality threshold framework.
Application impact depends on the sentence/disposal type and the corresponding rehabilitation period.
Rehabilitation Periods by Sentence/Disposal
Imprisonment/corrective training exceeding 30 months, preventative detention, detention during Her Majesty's pleasure, or imprisonment/detention for public protection: not spent.
Imprisonment or youth custody of 6 months to 30 months: 10 years.
Imprisonment or youth custody up to 6 months: 7 years.
Fine, community service/community punishment order, or compensation order: 5 years.
Bind over, conditional discharge, or supervision order: 1 year or when the order ceases to have effect, whichever is later.
Absolute discharge: 6 months.
Driving disqualification: spent once the disqualification has ceased.
Under-18 Adjustment and Practical Use
The original table notes that listed rehabilitation periods are halved where the person was under 18 at conviction.
Conviction classification and dates should be checked carefully against current policy before submission strategy is finalized.
Next Step
If this matches your situation, request a consultation and this issue will be preselected in the contact form.
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