Pending decisions/approvals on applications from 16-17

[Taki]

Is anyone received decision/approval recently on pending application from 2016-2017.

[Paddy1996]

Is anyone received decision/approval recently on pending application from 2016-2017.

You saying that you been waiting for over 4 years for approval?

[pluto1992]

I had applied in May 2018. Still waiting. No approval. Last time I emailed them in November, got a reply that my application is at advanced stage, whatever the hell that mean...

[usmanch313]

One of my Friend apply in June 2017 and still waiting this week he gets Response

Any idea how long will take for approval after this ??


Dear *********

Your application is being prepared for submission to the Minister, it has
not yet been submitted. You will be informed of the Ministers decision as
expeditiously as possible.

Regards

Citizenship Helpdesk
Team 4

[Paddy1996]

I had applied in May 2018. Still waiting. No approval. Last time I emailed them in November, got a reply that my application is at advanced stage, whatever the hell that mean...

It means you just westing time so you better sent them to a high court for a quick decision otherwise you won’t get it soon , I already got a high court for my case which I applied February 2018 so now they should give me decision before 22 February it’s a court decision

[vipers]

I had applied in May 2018. Still waiting. No approval. Last time I emailed them in November, got a reply that my application is at advanced stage, whatever the hell that mean...

It means you just westing time so you better sent them to a high court for a quick decision otherwise you won’t get it soon , I already got a high court for my case which I applied February 2018 so now they should give me decision before 22 February it’s a court decision

never ever trust on them m waiting three year now whata statement from minister front line workers doctors & nurses what a joke everybody is front line worker who is out of his home for work in this pandemic,this immigration system is a joke

[pluto1992]

I have asked my TD to ask this question in the Dail: "Among all the applicants currently in the system, what are the top 5 nationalities who have been waiting for the longest time on average for a decision. Also what is the current mean time to process for these 5 nationalities?"
I am happy for anyone who is getting approval and congrats to them. But where is the sense of fairness when people who had applied in 2018 or 2019 getting their approvals and people who had applied in 2017 or 2018 are still waiting? I know the department says "for a broad range of reasons blah blah blah", but this is all total c***p. I had applied for FOI. My application was last worked on in June 2018. Since then only action on my application is a Garda vetting certificate once a year. So far they have requested for 3 Garda vetting certificates. Of course there is nothing in them. Whats the point of this useless exercise when there is no intention to progress the application?

[irishman003]

I have asked my TD to ask this question in the Dail: "Among all the applicants currently in the system, what are the top 5 nationalities who have been waiting for the longest time on average for a decision. Also what is the current mean time to process for these 5 nationalities?"
I am happy for anyone who is getting approval and congrats to them. But where is the sense of fairness when people who had applied in 2018 or 2019 getting their approvals and people who had applied in 2017 or 2018 are still waiting? I know the department says "for a broad range of reasons blah blah blah", but this is all total c***p. I had applied for FOI. My application was last worked on in June 2018. Since then only action on my application is a Garda vetting certificate once a year. So far they have requested for 3 Garda vetting certificates. Of course there is nothing in them. Whats the point of this useless exercise when there is no intention to progress the application?

Its really sad that they are apparently unfairly treating some applicants than the others!!! Go for juridical review as I think it worked for some people who posted here.

[Stanina]

... I had applied for FOI. My application was last worked on in June 2018. Since then only action on my application is a Garda vetting certificate once a year. So far they have requested for 3 Garda vetting certificates. Of course there is nothing in them. Whats the point of this useless exercise when there is no intention to progress the application?

Yeah, it is really strange that some applications fell through for no particular reason. I have seen few situations like that on forum.
Maybe the just got to some lazy person in the team...
Another situation that the focus more on new applications that can be completed in 6 or now12 months kpi, other that have taken longer are deprioritized as the already impacted metrics.

Just my assumptions though, it is a pity that they don't tell you reason for delay.

[pluto1992]

Yeah, it is really strange that some applications fell through for no particular reason. I have seen few situations like that on forum.
Maybe the just got to some lazy person in the team...
Another situation that the focus more on new applications that can be completed in 6 or now12 months kpi, other that have taken longer are deprioritized as the already impacted metrics.

Just my assumptions though, it is a pity that they don't tell you reason for delay.

I understand your point but I dont think this department cares about SLAs or KPIs. They quietly increased the average processing time form 6 months to 12 months, no one raised a question why you increased the timeframe and where is the data to support this increase. Besides, average time means nothing. Its the mean that matters.
They are accumulating excuses and no one is questioning the validity of these excuses. In 2016/17 they said due to Brexit vote there is an uptick in applications due to more British nationals applying for naturalisation and processing times increases, then in 2019 they said due to the High court decision their is a backlog but I remember then minister saying that the applications are being processed continuously regardless and they were working on legislation. Now they say due to Covid there are no ceremonies therefore there is backlog, but then why did they stop issuing naturalisation certificates for children who dont need to attend ceremonies and dont need checks on character as they are children. If I work the way people in this department work, I wont survive a week in my job.
I feel that this department is a bunch of sadistic lowlifes, insult your intelligence by sending you templated emails even after 3 years, have come up with imaginary stages in the process just to keep people satisfied enough not to question their approach (or lack of it) and most people would just not question in fear that it might impact their applications negatively which in itself is illegal if true.

Rant over.

[nad2107]

Hi

Applied in April 2017. Still waiting. Same pathetic response from all teams when emails. Lawyer has sent notice of intention to proceed judicial review.

Not holding much hope.

Will keep you all posted.

[Shelter]

I applied in 2018 September and still waiting . With covid no chance this year .. I feel sorry for the people who applied in 2016 and 2017 and still waiting not fare with them ..5 years on citizenship application is long time which shows department has no intention to process these applications..

[Rude555]

Yeah, it is really strange that some applications fell through for no particular reason. I have seen few situations like that on forum.
Maybe the just got to some lazy person in the team...
Another situation that the focus more on new applications that can be completed in 6 or now12 months kpi, other that have taken longer are deprioritized as the already impacted metrics.

Just my assumptions though, it is a pity that they don't tell you reason for delay.

I understand your point but I dont think this department cares about SLAs or KPIs. They quietly increased the average processing time form 6 months to 12 months, no one raised a question why you increased the timeframe and where is the data to support this increase. Besides, average time means nothing. Its the mean that matters.
They are accumulating excuses and no one is questioning the validity of these excuses. In 2016/17 they said due to Brexit vote there is an uptick in applications due to more British nationals applying for naturalisation and processing times increases, then in 2019 they said due to the High court decision their is a backlog but I remember then minister saying that the applications are being processed continuously regardless and they were working on legislation. Now they say due to Covid there are no ceremonies therefore there is backlog, but then why did they stop issuing naturalisation certificates for children who dont need to attend ceremonies and dont need checks on character as they are children. If I work the way people in this department work, I wont survive a week in my job.
I feel that this department is a bunch of sadistic lowlifes, insult your intelligence by sending you templated emails even after 3 years, have come up with imaginary stages in the process just to keep people satisfied enough not to question their approach (or lack of it) and most people would just not question in fear that it might impact their applications negatively which in itself is illegal if true.

Rant over.

Totally agree with you!!! applied in march 2019 and got 2nd stage letter in june 2019 after that i always got same reply from last 20 months and Whenever i contact with solicitor they said this is not my right this is the privilege. I think we should find a solution and discuss this issue with TDs or send direct email to minister/justice department or otherwise wait for next few years more

[user77]

Hi everyone,
is there any way we all (whoever is interested) can go to one Solicitor who will take our cases to high court,
we may get some discount due to multiple clients?
thanks

[niccim]

I have asked my TD to ask this question in the Dail: "Among all the applicants currently in the system, what are the top 5 nationalities who have been waiting for the longest time on average for a decision. Also what is the current mean time to process for these 5 nationalities?"
I am happy for anyone who is getting approval and congrats to them. But where is the sense of fairness when people who had applied in 2018 or 2019 getting their approvals and people who had applied in 2017 or 2018 are still waiting? I know the department says "for a broad range of reasons blah blah blah", but this is all total c***p. I had applied for FOI. My application was last worked on in June 2018. Since then only action on my application is a Garda vetting certificate once a year. So far they have requested for 3 Garda vetting certificates. Of course there is nothing in them. Whats the point of this useless exercise when there is no intention to progress the application?

I would love to see the answer to this question! For those who aren't starting with an EU or UK passport, how many years in the average does it take to process?

[pluto1992]

I have asked my TD to ask this question in the Dail: "Among all the applicants currently in the system, what are the top 5 nationalities who have been waiting for the longest time on average for a decision. Also what is the current mean time to process for these 5 nationalities?"
I am happy for anyone who is getting approval and congrats to them. But where is the sense of fairness when people who had applied in 2018 or 2019 getting their approvals and people who had applied in 2017 or 2018 are still waiting? I know the department says "for a broad range of reasons blah blah blah", but this is all total c***p. I had applied for FOI. My application was last worked on in June 2018. Since then only action on my application is a Garda vetting certificate once a year. So far they have requested for 3 Garda vetting certificates. Of course there is nothing in them. Whats the point of this useless exercise when there is no intention to progress the application?

I would love to see the answer to this question! For those who aren't starting with an EU or UK passport, how many years in the average does it take to process?

Absolutely, thats the intention. It would be a very interesting read and I'd like to see how the minister will answer this question. I am keeping an eye on Oireachtas page. It can not be a coincidence that applicants from African and Asian countries are waiting for years to get their approvals where FOI requests of some clearly show no progress being made whatsoever for years on their applications.
For people who want to go to a solicitor as a group, I am sorry I wont be joining you guys. I think its unfair on some applicants to pay even more than the others for the same process. Why should we pay more to get a decision when clearly its the department who should fix their process. Shame on the department for humiliating people who want to become Irish citizen, give back and participate in the community.

[Martin74]

While I understand that the process is long, confusing and frustrating, let's clarify one thing. It is pretty obvious that, in the majority of the cases, the application process for EU citizens is way shorter than for non EU applicants. And it should be.

Reasons? Firstly, the EU applicants do not benefit from holding an Irish passport, except for the right to vote in Ireland. We can travel and work freely within the EU anyway.

The EU passports are amongst the top strongest in the world, which means that we do not need a visa to most of the countries in the world, including the USA. Therefore, as for EU citizens, those reasons outlined above, do not apply in the application process, or are not being considered as a reason why a person has applied for an Irish passport which results in a way faster decision. As harsh that as may sound, I believe that this is a good thing from a European point of view.

By the way, nothing is stopping you from giving back and participating in the community without an Irish passport. Again, an EU / Irish Passport is a PRIVILEGE not a right, and rightfully so. That says it all.

That being said, I wish the best of luck in the application process to all genuine applicants, and I certainly hope that we can welcome you into the European family very soon.

Good luck and all the best,

Martin

[alhakeem]

While I understand that the process is long, confusing and frustrating, let's clarify one thing. It is pretty obvious that, in the majority of the cases, the application process for EU citizens is way shorter than for non EU applicants. And it should be.

Reasons? Firstly, the EU applicants do not benefit from holding an Irish passport, except for the right to vote in Ireland. We can travel and work freely within the EU anyway.

The EU passports are amongst the top strongest in the world, which means that we do not need a visa to most of the countries in the world, including the USA. Therefore, as for EU citizens, those reasons outlined above, do not apply in the application process, or are not being considered as a reason why a person has applied for an Irish passport which results in a way faster decision. As harsh that as may sound, I believe that this is a good thing from a European point of view.

By the way, nothing is stopping you from giving back and participating in the community without an Irish passport. Again, an EU / Irish Passport is a PRIVILEGE not a right, and rightfully so. That says it all.

That being said, I wish the best of luck in the application process to all genuine applicants, and I certainly hope that we can welcome you into the European family very soon.

Good luck and all the best,

Martin

I like your post, as it opened an endless discussion which might take us out of the scope of this forum, although I dont agree with you in most of the points, we all feel the reasons but we fear of the axe of the admins, your post needs a whole forum, usually admins to do keep their forums clean to avoid clashing between people, and in my opinion they might be wrong if they know that, the members are discussing things professionally and in away that get people more closer to eachother and understand people better.Just I want to say that, Martin, some people they want the european citizenship for the sake of freedom of to move, just to ease their movement to get a rest for a week from hard work, in a quiet place so as to come back with a better motivation to work which will at the end benefit for the country.Some people are not interesting in voting or politics even the natives, I dont want to say this is the only reason but I want you to think differently, I dont know about other European countries and and why they apply for an Irish citizenship you can tell us, but personally, I am very interested in the Irish nationality because it is an honour as this country is some thing different and it means a lot for me and if you offered me another European nationality I might not accept it, with my best wishes Martin.

[Vorona]

While I understand that the process is long, confusing and frustrating, let's clarify one thing. It is pretty obvious that, in the majority of the cases, the application process for EU citizens is way shorter than for non EU applicants. And it should be.

Do you have any legitimate source to clarify or back this up? Like for example official statistics for average procession times and approved and denied applications sorted by nationality. Share a link.

[fuzzbizz]

Reasons? Firstly, the EU applicants do not benefit from holding an Irish passport, except for the right to vote in Ireland. We can travel and work freely within the EU anyway.
...
By the way, nothing is stopping you from giving back and participating in the community without an Irish passport. Again, an EU / Irish Passport is a PRIVILEGE not a right, and rightfully so. That says it all.
...
Martin

That's not entirely true. An Irish passport enables you to live and work in the UK, unlike any other EU passport.

Also, I give to the community plenty (my taxes fund plenty of benefit cheques) but I'd like the peace of mind of knowing I can't be deported if a far-right government takes power and targets immigrants, or to be able to leave the country for more than 6 weeks a year.

[Martin74]

@Verona. I don't and I do need one.

My wife who is German waited 7 months to get approval in 2019.
Multiple of my colleagues at work who are EU Citizens got their approvals within a year at the longest in 2019 early 2020 while I know at least 4 people in the office who are non EU Citizens (Indians, Pakistanis) who are still waiting for approval - having applied between 2017-2019.
My neighbors who are a Polish couple got approved in 3 weeks ago having applied in early July 2020. There is plenty more that confirms what I have said in my comment I have witnessed in my nearly 19 years here in Ireland.


@fuzzbizz I guess the fact that you CAN work in the UK should be of no importance to you or any other applicant since, in our application we all have clearly stated that we intend to live in the Republic of Ireland in the future?

As for the peace of mind - I agree and hope you get your approval soon.

[Martin74]

@alkheem - thank you for your comment. There is nothing wrong with people wanting freedom of movement or any other benefits the EU Citizens enjoy, and I am all for granting them the rights to their EU passports as soon possible. That means after all necessary steps have been taken to ensure that the applicants are genuine, trustworthy people and the latest applies to me and you and any other applicant.

All I am saying is, that I believe that a decision on whether or not to grant a citizenship to a foreigner is much quicker when the applicant is an EU citizen. That is for reasons I have described and also because the checks on EU level tend to work out much faster than on international level.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck with your application!

Best,

Martin

[ahmad380]

I applied in May 2018. Same reply all the time and Still waiting
Any good solicitor in Cork please ? I am thinking to start sending letters from solicitor and then start for JR.

[Vorona]

@Verona. I don't and I do need one.

My wife who is German waited 7 months to get approval in 2019.
Multiple of my colleagues at work who are EU Citizens got their approvals within a year at the longest in 2019 early 2020 while I know at least 4 people in the office who are non EU Citizens (Indians, Pakistanis) who are still waiting for approval - having applied between 2017-2019.
My neighbors who are a Polish couple got approved in 3 weeks ago having applied in early July 2020. There is plenty more that confirms what I have said in my comment I have witnessed in my nearly 19 years here in Ireland.

Then this is a speculation and an opinion.
Moreover the fact that a lot of EU citizens are seeking Irish citizenship among other people from non EU countries confirms that they are not considering their other EU nationality good enough for their needs. Not all EU citizen are viewed equally internationally. A perception of someone with an Irish passport who showed up on the Russian border will definitely be better than of someone with a Romanian or Chezch one.

We've ll made this country home and applied for Irish citizenship to be Irish. If that also makes me an EU citizen, that's fine, it's just nice bonus that I don't care much about.

[irishman003]

While I understand that the process is long, confusing and frustrating, let's clarify one thing. It is pretty obvious that, in the majority of the cases, the application process for EU citizens is way shorter than for non EU applicants. And it should be.

Reasons? Firstly, the EU applicants do not benefit from holding an Irish passport, except for the right to vote in Ireland. We can travel and work freely within the EU anyway.

The EU passports are amongst the top strongest in the world, which means that we do not need a visa to most of the countries in the world, including the USA. Therefore, as for EU citizens, those reasons outlined above, do not apply in the application process, or are not being considered as a reason why a person has applied for an Irish passport which results in a way faster decision. As harsh that as may sound, I believe that this is a good thing from a European point of view.

By the way, nothing is stopping you from giving back and participating in the community without an Irish passport. Again, an EU / Irish Passport is a PRIVILEGE not a right, and rightfully so. That says it all.

That being said, I wish the best of luck in the application process to all genuine applicants, and I certainly hope that we can welcome you into the European family very soon.

Good luck and all the best,

Martin

I am from Asia, and holding one of the strongest passports in the world including the visa free to the USA, so having an Irish passport doesn't give me more convenience in terms of the travel purpose.

For majority of people, wanting an Irish passport is because our lives are here, work, partner, friends, house, etc, that's we need a guarantee for ourselves as future is uncertain, yes, freely live in the EU is a bonus, but how many people would actually switch a country and start a new life again, we all know life is hard, and once you get used to one environment, you wouldn't risk to change much.

I agree with what you said, it would have been quicker for the Irish government to check backgrounds for EU citizens, but this shouldn't have left the significant amount of the waiting for the most non-EU nationals as far as it appears to be, we are not less than the EU nationals, it should all be treated equally and apparently is not for most cases.