I am advised by the Citizenship Section of my Department that the number of applications for naturalisation which have yet to be processed to a conclusion is approximately 17,000. The processing time is, on average, 30 months and this is primarily due to the significant increase in the volume of applications received in the last number of years. The table shows the total number of applications received in the years 2000 to date. These figures illustrate a significant upward trend and with almost 6,000 applications received to date in 2007, this upward trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.
Year
|
Applications for naturalisation received
|
2000
|
1,004
|
2001
|
1,431
|
2002
|
3,574
|
2003
|
3,580
|
2004
|
4,074
|
2005
|
4,523
|
2006
|
7,030
|
2007 (as at 13 October, 2007)
|
5,966
|
There are 46 staff currently assigned to the Citizenship Section of my Department. The numbers of staff assigned to the Section are kept under regular review having regard to the overall workload of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.