I have been informed by officials in the citizenship section of the Department that there is no record of an application in respect of naturalisation having been received from the person referred to by the Deputy. However, I understand that an application for family reunification under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996 has been received in my Department in February 2005 in respect of the person concerned and her daughter.
The application was forwarded to the Refugee Applications Commissioner in March 2005 for investigation as required under the Act. When this investigation is completed, the commissioner will prepare and forward a report to my Department. Upon receipt of this report the application will be carefully considered and a decision will issue shortly thereafter. The timeframe for completion of the investigation will depend on the timeliness of the applicant's responses to requests for documentation and information from the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.