Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1008. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Justice the status of a citizenship application for a person (details supplied); to account for the repeated requests for Garda vetting when the requests have been complied with and processing has been deemed completed; and to set out any other requirements that may be asked of the applicant in order to complete the overall citizenship application process. [56479/23]
View answerI am advised by the Citizenship Division of my Department that the vetting process has now concluded for this application. A request for further documentation was made to the person concerned on 14 December 2023. Once the Citizenship area of my Department has received these documents processing of the application can resume.
I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and my Department has been working hard to clear backlogs. It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. However, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time.
My Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eVetting and online payments.
My Department has recently moved from paper to online based citizenship applications. This is one of a number of measures introduced in an effort to optimise the application process and enhance the overall customer service experience. As part of the new online process customers are issued with an acknowledgment on submission of the online application. The forms provide a seamless application process and help guide applicants through what is required for an application.
Finally, I can advise the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department intends to communicate regularly with all applicants on a quarterly basis into the future.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
