Onuzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department: deprivation of citizenship through sustained identity fraud

Court of Appeal upholds deprivation where naturalisation obtained through decades of false identity and concealed asylum deception.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal concerning deprivation of British citizenship obtained through prolonged identity fraud, clarifying the approach to causation in cases under section 40(3) of the British Nationality Act 1981.
Betim Onuzi entered the UK illegally in November 1999 and claimed asylum using a false identity, presenting himself as a Kosovo Albanian rather than his true Albanian nationality. Following Home Office administrative errors regarding Exceptional Leave to Remain, he was eventually granted indefinite leave to remain in May 2006, and subsequently obtained British citizenship through naturalisation in April 2007—all whilst maintaining the fraudulent identity.
Following investigations in 2020, the deception was uncovered. Onuzi admitted the fraud, expressing remorse and citing his twenty-year residence and British family as grounds for discretion. The Secretary of State nevertheless deprived him of citizenship in November 2020 under section 40(3) of the 1981 Act.
Tribunal decisions and the causation issue
The First-tier Tribunal initially allowed Onuzi's appeal, accepting that whilst false representations had been made, the grant of indefinite leave to remain resulted primarily from Home Office delays and maladministration rather than the specifics of his nationality. The tribunal concluded the previous deception was therefore irrelevant to the subsequent grant of citizenship.
The Upper Tribunal found this reasoning flawed. Following the framework established in cases including Shyti and subsequently Chaudhry, the Upper Tribunal held that maintaining fraud throughout the residence period without full disclosure meant no causative link was broken. The omission of material facts in the naturalisation application—particularly regarding good character—remained directly material to obtaining citizenship.
The Court of Appeal's analysis
Lord Justice Bean, delivering the leading judgement with which Lady Justice King and Sir James Dingemans agreed, noted the case had become factually straightforward following the Supreme Court's decision in U3 and this court's judgement in Chaudhry. The latter established that whilst findings of fraud are matters of fact for tribunals, the causation question—whether naturalisation was obtained "by means of" impermissible conduct—is reviewable on public law grounds.
The Court emphasised Onuzi's "historic and prolonged dishonesty" spanning twenty years. His entire asylum claim rested on false assertions about persecution as a Kosovo Albanian. He persistently concealed this deception through multiple applications, only admitting the truth when confronted with evidence. Crucially, he misrepresented his good character in the naturalisation application itself by failing to disclose conduct directly relevant to that statutory requirement.
The Court held it unrealistic to suppose the 2007 naturalisation would have been granted had decision-makers known the truth. The false identity permeated every aspect of Onuzi's immigration history. No intervening circumstance broke the causative chain between the initial fraud and the ultimate grant of citizenship. The Secretary of State's conclusion that citizenship would have been refused on good character grounds was not only reasonable but inevitable.
This judgement reinforces that deprivation will ordinarily be upheld where citizenship has been obtained through sustained deception about fundamental matters such as identity and asylum grounds. Administrative errors in processing applications do not sever the causative link where an applicant maintains fraudulent representations throughout. The concealment of material facts relevant to good character requirements will typically be directly material to the obtaining of citizenship, regardless of earlier grants of leave to remain made in ignorance of the deception.