Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 January 2014
255. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding determination of eligibility for naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; if stamp 4 update will be provided in the interim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2143/14]
View answerAn application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in the Citizenship Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) in May 2008. On examination of the application submitted it was determined that the person in question did not meet the statutory residency requirements as set out in the Act. The person concerned was informed of this by letter on 22 August, 2008.
The person concerned was granted Leave to Remain on 3rd June, 2004 for one year. This was renewed in 2005 & 2006 for a further year. Leave to remain was then granted for three years in 2007 and renewed in 2010 and 2013.
It is open to the individual referred to by the Deputy to lodge a further application for citizenship if and when she is in a position to meet the prescribed statutory requirements. The on-line Naturalisation Residency Calculator available on the INIS web-site at www.inis.gov.ie can be used as a guide to whether an individual satisfies the naturalisation residency conditions and, if not, give an indication of how long they should wait before making an application. The Deputy may wish to note that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been established specifically 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 Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
