A British court has dismissed a British government appeal to deny British citizenship to Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks.
The Home Office had challenged the application on character grounds.
Mr Hicks' US civilian lawyer, Joshua Dratel, says the government is likely to appeal to the House of Lords.
He says British representatives had earlier sought to swear in Mr Hicks at the US military base in Cuba, but were refused access by US authorities.
However Mr Dratel says it might be possible to make Mr Hicks a citizen in absentia.
"If there are logistical obstacles to swearing David in, that there could be a waiver of that provision, and in fact he'd be able to do so just on the papers that we've already submitted, and so that would make him a citizen that way.
"And from what we also understand is that it perhaps has not been a universal and uniform requirement of swearing in, and some people have been able to do it on papers alone, so we would obviously explore that."