Eoin Ó Broin
Question:477. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Justice the status of an application to the INIS in respect of a person (details supplied); and when the person can expect to receive a reference number. [56157/21]
View answerTuesday, 16 November 2021
Questions (477)
Written answers
Applications for naturalisation received by my Department are dealt with in chronological order. The application for the person referred to by the Deputy will be registered in the coming weeks. Following initial assessment of the application, an application reference number will be issued by my Department.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions and public health limits on staff attendance in the office, significant delays are regrettably being experienced in the issuing of acknowledgment receipts and the processing and return of documentation. Citizenship applications have continued to be accepted and processed at all times during the pandemic.
However, my Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have also been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eTax clearance, eVetting and online payments. The end result of the digitisation process will be to free up more staff to focus on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner, to improve service to our customers and reduce waiting times. As I announced earlier this week, from 1 January 2022, applicants will no longer be required to submit their original passport with their initial application.
This year, we are on track to deliver approximately 11,000 decisions, significantly exceeding the levels achieved in the last two years. Additional staff have also been assigned to the citizenship team. Based on these measures, my Department's objective is to achieve an improved timeframe of 6-9 months for decisions on a majority of applications during 2022.