Citizenship timeline tracker.

[asrpb]

Hi Guys ....

I've drafted a letter for TD/Minister of Justice.
Should I just put it up on this thread ?? or we all meet & sign it together ??
BTW I've written it on behalf of all of us

Suggestions Please

[ChIrl]

You can put it over here or you can send PM to whoever wants it.

Regards

Ch

Hi Guys ....

I've drafted a letter for TD/Minister of Justice.
Should I just put it up on this thread ?? or we all meet & sign it together ??
BTW I've written it on behalf of all of us

Suggestions Please

[asrpb]

So Here the letter .....
I think we are should print individually and send as many copies as many times as we can with our names & ref nos ... what you think ??? send them to your local TD/DoJ or any important leader/person you think might do something.
Its easy for minister to Bin one letter signed by 100 people .... BUT not 100 letters signed by single individuals

Sorry for any Grammar or Statics mistakes .... as English is not my mother tongue.
Also if you think I'm missing any point .... please let me know


GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

____________________________________________________________________________


To

Minister of Justice
Mr. Brian Lenihan
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
94 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2


RE: Clearing 30-month backlog of naturalisation applications.


Dear Minister,

We are writing to express our serious concern of 30-month backlog in dealing with each application for Irish citizenship through naturalisation. As we understand that this long waiting time was mainly due to the significant increase in the number of applications in recent years but its still not fair that migrants seeking Irish citizenship must wait almost three years for a decision.

As you are fully aware that all of us have lived in Ireland for at-least five years (in some case even more) before applying for Irish citizenship and still have to wait another approx. 3 years for the decision. Also during this period many individuals with work permits are in unexpected and dire circumstances such as being exploited or suddenly being made redundant and not being able to move to another jobs.

Also we would like to point out that other countries (like UK, US, Canada, Australia etc.) are managing to process citizenship/naturalisation applications in significantly less time, which is basically discouraging high qualified professionals to settle in Ireland.

As per government’s figures there is more than 15,000 people on the waiting list for naturalisation and huge staff shortage to deal with the same. Even enquiry lines are open only 5 hours per week for thousands of applicants thus making it impossible for anyone to get through.

We would appreciate if you can immediately review the various processes involved towards citizenship application to see if they can be escalated and improved. Following steps should be taken into consideration:

 30-month backlog of naturalisation applications should be cleared ASAP.
 More staff should be recruited to deal with the applications.
 Enquiry lines and times should be increased to at least 3 days a week from 1000-1600 hrs.
 Lead-time for the whole naturalisation process should be within six months.
 And last but not least a system should be introduced, through which a person can get his application Fast-tracked by paying additional fee and giving appropriate reason.

We are people from different backgrounds, with different skills, with new approaches to life, different cultures -- all of us have fully integrated into Irish society, and are contributing towards Irish economy, are feeling being let down by Department of Justice’s inefficiency to deal with our naturalisation application.

We would be grateful for a comprehensive response to the issues stated above as this a matter that greatly concerns thousands of hardworking and taxpaying immigrants who’ve chose Ireland to be their home.


Yours sincerely,



--------------------
Name & DOJ Ref:

[ChIrl]

Excellent. I would urge other members, who has legal/journalism experience to fine tune the letter. This is the start. We should start sending letters to TDs/Justice Minister/Integration Minister/Taoiseach by emails/Post. I am sure it does make difference. Even, if it does not we are not losing anything.

At the same time, I would ask people who discourage this initiative to keep away from this. Everyone not only send this, but talk to their friends to forward the same.

Regards

Ch

So Here the letter .....
I think we are should print individually and send as many copies as many times as we can with our names & ref nos ... what you think ??? send them to your local TD/DoJ or any important leader/person you think might do something.
Its easy for minister to Bin one letter signed by 100 people .... BUT not 100 letters signed by single individuals

Sorry for any Grammar or Statics mistakes .... as English is not my mother tongue.
Also if you think I'm missing any point .... please let me know


GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

____________________________________________________________________________


To

Minister of Justice
Mr. Brian Lenihan
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
94 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2


RE: Clearing 30-month backlog of naturalisation applications.


Dear Minister,

We are writing to express our serious concern of 30-month backlog in dealing with each application for Irish citizenship through naturalisation. As we understand that this long waiting time was mainly due to the significant increase in the number of applications in recent years but its still not fair that migrants seeking Irish citizenship must wait almost three years for a decision.

As you are fully aware that all of us have lived in Ireland for at-least five years (in some case even more) before applying for Irish citizenship and still have to wait another approx. 3 years for the decision. Also during this period many individuals with work permits are in unexpected and dire circumstances such as being exploited or suddenly being made redundant and not being able to move to another jobs.

Also we would like to point out that other countries (like UK, US, Canada, Australia etc.) are managing to process citizenship/naturalisation applications in significantly less time, which is basically discouraging high qualified professionals to settle in Ireland.

As per government’s figures there is more than 15,000 people on the waiting list for naturalisation and huge staff shortage to deal with the same. Even enquiry lines are open only 5 hours per week for thousands of applicants thus making it impossible for anyone to get through.

We would appreciate if you can immediately review the various processes involved towards citizenship application to see if they can be escalated and improved. Following steps should be taken into consideration:

 30-month backlog of naturalisation applications should be cleared ASAP.
 More staff should be recruited to deal with the applications.
 Enquiry lines and times should be increased to at least 3 days a week from 1000-1600 hrs.
 Lead-time for the whole naturalisation process should be within six months.
 And last but not least a system should be introduced, through which a person can get his application Fast-tracked by paying additional fee and giving appropriate reason.

We are people from different backgrounds, with different skills, with new approaches to life, different cultures -- all of us have fully integrated into Irish society, and are contributing towards Irish economy, are feeling being let down by Department of Justice’s inefficiency to deal with our naturalisation application.

We would be grateful for a comprehensive response to the issues stated above as this a matter that greatly concerns thousands of hardworking and taxpaying immigrants who’ve chose Ireland to be their home.


Yours sincerely,



--------------------
Name & DOJ Ref:

[asrpb]

Has anyone heard anything back from DoJ regarding yet
Supposedly they are examining applications received in SEP 05 .....

Also has anyone sent any letters to newspaper/TD or DoJ ???? .....
Would appreciate if you keep everyone here updated with progress & keep the ball rolling .....

Good Luck

[golwaycat]

Hi All,

I have received a letter from INIS requesting further information and documentation for further processing of my application, so the truth is that definitely they look at the applications in current month as my application was from early Sept 05 . I have given them all the documents they requested. What i do not know is that if i will receive a descion before the website says processing applications oct 05.

please do say a silent prayer , after so long i do hope i get a positive responce

regards
GG

[mendo]

Was the letter from INIS sent as an answer to your letter to them?
________
ANGELINA JOLIE PIC

[golwaycat]

Hi There
no my letter to them was not sent yet as my solicitor had not prepared it yet. This came from them without any calls or letters from me

cheers
GG

[mktsoi]

look guys. i know everyone is trying hard and think of everything they can to make the DOJ make the application faster. writing a letter to the DOJ minister is one way. did anyone think of write a letter to the president or the prime minister and gather together and deliver it in person but make sure the press is present?

[mendo]

Just an update on my case, after I sent them a letter last week they replied by saying that they haven???t reached a decision yet, on my application.
I applied in early August 2005 and they never asked me for any other documents apart from the ones I???ve sent them already with my initial application.
No mention of any missing documents or any other explanation or time lines, or if my application is in final stage waiting the minister to sign, nothing.
The letter states that ???we will contact you when a decision has been reached???.
It looks that, even if someone???s application has been processed, the processing is a lot longer and might take few stages until the minister will approve the application.
Again, a realistic time line in my opinion looks to be 3 years and 4 months at the moment, from the time of the application until the time of approval from the Minister of Justice.
The time lines on the INIS web site might be good only to give us a signal that they???ve started to look in detail at our applications and nothing else, it will take another good few months until the final decision is made.

@golwaycat
I don't want to be pessimistic about the time lines, but I would not hold my breath for any decision soon in my case nor for applications sent later in the year 2005.
As I mentioned before they haven???t reached a decision yet for an application made in March 2005, they haven???t even contacted the guy to let him know that they don???t like the copy of his passport, until he sent them a letter asking them if everything is alright.

P.S Only one thing is positive, INIS Citizenship Dept. at least will acknowledge our letters and answer them, not with much info but at least they answer them.
In comparison the INIS Residence Dept are very bad compared with them and we have no clue what are the realistic time lines for LTR applications (but I guess that at the moment it takes at least 2 years, not to consider the Clearance Police Certificate bullshit).

Regards,

Mendo
________
COACH HANDBAGS

[golwaycat]

Hi Mendo

thanks for the update , I will now not hold my breathe any longer for a registered letter to come by in this month. Thank god I have my PR or else I would be sweating ....

pls keep us posted on developements. Are there not any more folks out there who are waiting for a descion I would love to hear from them ?????

Cheers

GG

[malcolmrx]

Great letter asrpb .. I think it sums it up. I will send your letter myself to my TD, the minister of Justice and the prime minister. I just want to add that people should also send letters expressing their particular circumstances and why it's really difficult for us to wait such a long time. I think WE should all send this letter to at least the minster of justice.

Thanks again asrpb .. Any more ideas as to where to send the letter?

Another point, Would people let everyone else know if they have sent this letter and to who so we can see how we're doing.

One last point, I also suggest to add to the letter that if they want to increase the EUR600 fee for obtaining naturalisation by any amount, then we'd be delighted if this would halve the time necessary for proccessing the applications. Any objections?

[asrpb]

Great letter asrpb .. I think it sums it up. I will send your letter myself to my TD, the minister of Justice and the prime minister. I just want to add that people should also send letters expressing their particular circumstances and why it's really difficult for us to wait such a long time. I think WE should all send this letter to at least the minster of justice.

Thanks again asrpb .. Any more ideas as to where to send the letter?

Another point, Would people let everyone else know if they have sent this letter and to who so we can see how we're doing.

One last point, I also suggest to add to the letter that if they want to increase the EUR600 fee for obtaining naturalisation by any amount, then we'd be delighted if this would halve the time necessary for proccessing the applications. Any objections?

No Problemo malcolmrx

I've sent 5 letters to the Editors of leading Irish Daily newspapers last week. So keep an eye .... also I'll let everyone know on this thread, if I'll get some response.
This week I'll be sending some more to the politicians.

I just wish if everyone in the same situation gets together and make some noise about this HUGE ISSUE .... Irish Government should take some step, no matter how small it will be ..... at least it will be some progress.

[pahadia]

Hi golwaycat,
Couple of questions if you don't mind asnwering.

1) What kind of documents they have asked you to submit?
2) Was Sep-05 was the date when they first received your application or when they put application on chronological order. You know I have good three months in between. Just getting impatient now

[golwaycat]

Hi Pahadia

they asked me to resubmit my marital status documents. I had sent my application in Sept 05 1st week and my acknowledgement letter for my initial application is dated sept last week so I myself do not know what date have they put it in chronological order. When have you submitted your application and have you rceived any news from them ? Mendo adived me that it might be jan 09 before the minister might take a descion on applications submitted in sept, though there is no way this can be verified . I have no idea what does it mean that they have started to process apllications as stated on the website.

for the time i keep my fingers crossed , it has been a very long time now since my application and I get bervous to think somethting might go wrong

regards

GG

[asrpb]

Hello Everyone

May be you already know that The new Cabinet was unveiled last evening by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaki ... king52.htm

Agriculture Fisheries and Food - Brendan Smith (Outgoing: Mary Coughlan)

Arts, Sport and Tourism - Martin Cullen (Outgoing: Séamus Brennan)

Communications, Energy and Natural Resources - Éamon Ryan (No change)

Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs - Éamon Ó Cuív (No change)

Defence - Willie O'Dea (No change)

Education and Science - Batt O’Keeffe (Outgoing: Mary Hanafin)

Enterprise, Trade and Employment – Mary Coughlan (Outgoing: Micheál Martin)

Environment, Heritage and Local Government - John Gormley (No change)

Finance - Brian Lenihan (Outgoing: Brian Cowen)

Foreign Affairs - Micheál Martin (Outgoing: Dermot Ahern)

Health and Children - Mary Harney (No change)

Justice, Equality and Law Reform – Dermot Ahern (Outgoing: Brian Lenihan)

Social and Family Affairs – Mary Hanafin (Outgoing: Martin Cullen)

Taoiseach - Brian Cowen (Outgoing: Bertie Ahern)

Transport - Noel Dempsey (No change)

Tánaiste - Mary Coughlan (Outgoing: Brian Cowen)

Chief Whip – Pat Carey (Outgoing: Tom Kitt)

Hope he might take some good steps to ease our sufferings

[PatiencePracticer]

I sent a letter to the Metro paper but haven't seen it posted yet (I just sent it yesterday.)
Their email is mail@metroireland.ie if anyone else wants to write. Thanks.

[jackab2]

Just signed up to the board. Hi all, great job in updating and keeping all informed. Thanks

[mendo]

Hi All,

I finally got an answer to my letter sent few weeks ago and they are asking for more details.

I strongly advice people that applied for citizenship in the month INIS Citizenship Dept are processing at the moment, to wait for the end of the month and when they are updating the time lines again on their web site, to send them a letter asking for an update.

It looks that if they have any issues with the application or the documents attached, they will just leave your application aside and forget about it.

Only if you ask for an update at the right time they are forced to send you an update if they need more info.

Don't send any letter before they are processing your application because they might haven't even looked at your application yet.

Regards,

Mendo
________
Herbal vaporizers

[Fionn]

I applied last February and I just received my second confirmation letter, saying that the application was filed in chronological order and that they're currently processing applications from 2005 (they didn't mention if it was start or End of 2005), but they also had the balls to tell me that it will take at least 30 months for my application to be processed and that they can't guarantee anything at the moment, because the application was not examined in detail.. Think about all the things that other nations can achieve in 30 months

[jackab2]

I believe that all of us on this blog are in the same boat as regards the time to process our application for citizenship. With this in mind what is the possibility of getting the opposition involved. Think about all the possible new votes that they would get if they could get our applications through or the time shortened.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Fionn]

I've thought about that already...but having the opposisiotn on your side would also mean having the government against you..The situation might even get worse, although it's hard to imagine...
I'm going to wait for a couple of months and send a letter to my TD, who happens to be a minister as well..Let's see if he gets something moving..

[jackab2]

Don't you think that the present gov is already against us? Why are they so reluctent to get this issue of giving citizenship to legal applicants. They are crying for the legalization of iligals in the USA, but as regards to us who are legally in Ireland contributing to the GDP and paying taxes, are ignored and made to jump through hoops and whatever obsticle they deem nessisary to block our applications.

Just how many people are waiting more than 4 to five years after the required five years.? I bet you, that the number of people run into the hundreds or even thousands. I do think that we need to combat this issue in every arena possible. Sending hundreds of letters to the opposition might get the gov to realize that when we do get citizenship that this delay and complete incompetence on their part will come back to hurt them.

[asrpb]

I've been told by my Irish friend (who happens to be a lawyer) that approx 25 member staff is looking after all the thousands of Citizenship Applications AND above all most of this staff is ONLY working between 10:30 - 1300

Is this JOKE or what ??

[joesoap101]

The citizenship issue shows how incompetent and inept the Irish government is. They're obsessed with countries like the Netherlands who have large foreign born naturalised citizens, and the Irish government obviously is very afraid of the same thing happening here. No minister for justice wants to be remembered for facilitating the naturalisation of thousands of people when things start getting ugly- perhaps this gives some insight into what the government expects is down the line anyway?