Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 November 2014
82. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding residency in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44667/14]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the person concerned was granted temporary permission to remain in the State for one year in 2000 under the arrangements then in place for the non-EEA national parents of Irish born citizen children. This permission was renewed subsequently until 1 September, 2008, the expiry date on the passport of the person concerned. Following a review of her case by the relevant officials in the INIS, her permission was renewed in 2013 and is currently valid until 11 February, 2015.
Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in her absolute discretion, grant a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. One such condition is that the applicant must have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years.
An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person concerned was received in the Citizenship Division of INIS on 17 September, 2014. 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 and referred to above. The person concerned was informed of this by letter on 12 November, 2014 along with a calculation of her periods of reckonable residence.
It is open to the person concerned 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.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility 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 Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view inadequate or too long awaited.
