Post
by michbad88 » Thu May 14, 2015 1:10 pm
Hi, Has anyone else had a similar experience or situation to mine? Can anyone think of anything else I can do? I have even emailed the Minister of Justice at this stage. I understand that Im asking for an exception but really? I called them again today and my application is still just lying in their office requiring no further documents.
1)I have been residing in Ireland for 12 of the past 14 years. I moved to Ireland in 2001, when I was 12 years old. I completed all my secondary schooling and university education in Ireland. My father, my Aunt and my cousin are all naturalised Irish citizens. My sister is married to an Irish born Citizen since 2009. I have also been married to an Irish born citizen for since April 2013. As such all my in - laws are also Irish born citizens. After university, I left Ireland from June 2011 until March 2013 to travel with my current husband. This was my only extended period of absence from the state during the past 14 years.
2)Before applying for citizenship, I was told by the INIS that Stamp 2/2A permission to remain is considered reckonable only in very limited circumstances.A concession can be made where an applicant is under 24 years of age on a Stamp 2/2A ( I have had a stamp 4 since April 2013), in which case their parents reckonable residency can be used for the period in question provided the applicant entered the State as part of a family unit and registered with GNIB at age 16 (which I did). However, because I was a few months over the age of 24 at the time of application, this concession would not be allowed to me. So despite having spent all my formative years living in Ireland a registered immigrant, those 12 years would not be counted. However i was told " You may consider, however, applying on the basis of Irish association as the Minister may, at his absolute discretion, dispense with some or all of the statutory requirements where there is such an association, This is defined as association through blood, affinity or adoption to an Irish citizen."
3) I sent in my application in October 2013, 6 months after marrying my Irish born spouse and obtaining a stamp 4 immigration card. In December 2013, I was informed that my application had passed the initial review and is now in the final stage before being submitted to you for your decision. I was advised at this time that complicated cases may take up to six months before a decision is reached. As I was asking for an exception I was more than willing to wait the six months or longer within reason. I have now been waiting a further 17 months (a total of 20 months since I applied) since receiving that letter in December 2013. Over the course of the past 17 months I have been asked to supply extra documentation only twice (in April 2014 and August 2014)with which I have complied. I have not been asked for any additional information since August 2014.
4) During this 20 month wait, I have contacted the the Citizenship division via email and post on several occasions and each time was met with exact same unsatisfactory stock answer and no update on the status of my application.
5) Growing exasperated, I decided to enlist the help of my local TD in Galway, Mr Paul Connaughton, on 28th March 2015. I had read that the Deputy can make queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases 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 Parliamentary Questions process. I had hoped that this would yield some information as to why my application had reached a stage of stagnation, when there where no outstanding documentation. Mr Connaughton received a similar standard answer the first time he made a request on my behalf and when he made a second query on 09/04/2015 he has, to date, not received any further updates at all.
6) On Tuesday 28/04/15 I called the Citizenship division directly in an attempt to gleam some information about my case. I called upwards of 25 times over the course of an hour before someone answered the phone. In the end all that she could tell me about my application was that it was in the final stage before being sent away to the Minister. When I advised her that my application had been at this stage for 17 months, she could not give me any reason why my application has not moved forward. When I asked her if there was any outstanding documents that were delaying my application she stated that there was not. She then advised that it could be the case that my application ended up at the bottom of the pile after I last sent in additional documents and was awaiting the office manager to sign off on it.
7) My brothers application, which was sent in 9 months after mine and required much more additional documentation than my application, was recently forwarded to you for your final decision. Obviously, my brother and I were raised in Ireland under almost identical circumstances in the same family unit and as such have very similar applications. The only difference between our applications are that I am married to an Irish citizen and have lived in Ireland for longer and with less absences.
I would really appreciate any advice you guys might have!
