Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 June 2023
235. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Justice when a 'spouse of an Irish national' application (details supplied) will be processed, as it has been with her Department for over 12 months and is still in the queue for processing, given that the Department repeatedly states that applications can take approximately 12 months to finalise, and yet this application has not even begun processing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28891/23]
View answerAn application for a Spouse of Irish National (SOIN) permission was received from the person referred to by the Deputy on 23 May 2022 and continues to be processed.
To be fair to all applicants, applications are dealt with in chronological order by date received. My Department endeavours to process applications as quickly as possible. However, processing times may vary due to a number of factors, such as the number of applications on hand, individual circumstances, the complexity of applications, whether further information is required, and the resources available.
Additionally, the Domestic Residence and Permissions Division of my Department are currently receiving very high levels of applications across several of their immigration schemes, which is causing some delays. The Division are working hard to finalise applications as quickly as possible and appreciate customers’ patience as they deal with this increase.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by email using the Oireachtas Mail facility at INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, 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 Question process. The Deputy may consider using the email service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
