Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
363. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice the steps she is taking to ensure that naturalisation applications are not delayed and that applicants receive confirmation of receipt and status updates throughout the process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5618/22]
View answerThe Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on my Department's immigration service delivery. In line with the prevailing public health advice, my Department has implemented a suite of measures to help reduce the spread of the virus. This has unavoidably led to a reduction in processing capacity across many business areas at certain times. However, it is important to say that citizenship applications have continued to be accepted and decisions have issued at all times during the pandemic.
Last year, 11,512 citizenship decisions were delivered, which is the highest number of decisions made since 2015, and reflects positively the significant changes undertaken to date.
From the beginning of this year, new applicants for citizenship no longer have to submit their original passport with their application. Instead, they can provide a full colour copy of their entire passport, including the front and back covers. This is freeing up valuable staff that up to now have been engaged in returning passports to applicants and will also help to reduce processing times.
Following an initial assessment of new applications, all applicants are issued with an acknowledgement and an application reference number. It is open to any applicant to contact the Citizenship Division of my Department at www.citizenshipinfo@justice.ie at any time, for an update on their application.
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 to between 6-9 months for a majority of applications during 2022.
