Year prior to application not continuous error - Reckonable Residency Calculator

[SherryJones71]

I noticed that many stress the fact that what citizenship application requires is proofs of residency NOT of address.

Does that mean I merely need to prove my physical existence in the state for five years?

What happened is I wasn't aware of the requirements in my early years in Ireland and I wasn't planning on applying for citizenship then. At the time I used my office address for my bank account and revenue.ie to ensure convenience of correspondence and avoid dealing with a landlady I wasn't on good terms with.

Theoretically, those supporting documents do prove I have been residing in Ireland for the past 5 years but there's a discrepancy between addresses on rental agreement (Type B proof) and on bank statements/tax returns for (Type A proof) the same year.

Have any of you been through a similar situation? Would such discrepancy ruin my chances? Please share your input. I need immediate help. I already emailed Justice.ie but you know how long it takes to get a response.

Thanks in advance!

[meself2]

Does that mean I merely need to prove my physical existence in the state for five years?

Physical and legal presence.

there's a discrepancy between addresses on rental agreement (Type B proof) and on bank statements/tax returns for (Type A proof) the same year.

Have you considered writing a cover letter to explain the reasoning? Bank statements and revenue documents are sensitive.

Have any of you been through a similar situation? Would such discrepancy ruin my chances? Please share your input. I need immediate help.

The scorecard was put in place only a year and a half ago, before that it was a different standard of proofs. There is a chance since approvals are rolling in but other than that I doubt anyone really had these encounters with ISD in the last year and a half about your specific query.

[Vadrar91]

The Type A and Type B model of the scoresheet has only be in place about 10 days. So no-one will have had any feedback on how they are viewing documents. However, it does seem to place a greater emphasis on proof of address than the old scoresheet released in 2021. For this reason I’d be wary of placing too much emphasis on historical comments about proof of address being irrelevant (as these were based on advice under the older approach) - we just don’t know yet.

If you get no response from your email, I’d add the affidavit explaining the situation.

[SherryJones71]

In what way does the new scorecard place a greater emphasis on proof of address?

As far as I know, many proofs of residency were eliminated and some others gained more weight/points than before. Even the requirement to have a rental agreement registered on RTB or whatever authority has been removed.

[Vadrar91]

The proofs that have been removed typically didn’t require verification of residential address to achieve: eg fishing licence, GP record, third level college, health insurance, tv licence etc. (Individual mileage will vary of course - but many cases of not needing proof for these.)

The ones that are left are much more related to physical provision (eg utility bill, phone bill- though unclear if they will now allow mobile bill- but they didn’t before so I’d be surprised if they now did) or third party financial standard verification (eg mortgage, credit card statement). Rent agreement is verifiable by contacting landlord (whether they actually do is another story.) It is unclear whether they have relaxed RTB requirement for leases that legally need to be RTB registered (they simply state they’ll ask for more information if they want it): we don’t know if they will ask for this where it is applicable.

I don’t know what is on the medical practitioner employment statement - but they have to include as a proof this no matter what their standard or focus now is, as they made that commitment during Covid.

So they’ve removed proofs that are easier to get without address verification and kept more traceable ones plus their obligation to include medical practitioner.

All in all, it feels like a shift towards, and certainly not away from, address proof. All that said, anecdote suggests that they are more lenient in the earlier days of a new approach. You can only submit what you have, explain it and see if they want something else as they look at it. I’d submit now, with explanation and keep back up documents for later submission if requested.

[SherryJones71]

Due to delay in processing my IRP renewal. I have a gap in the year prior to application. I already applied for renewal before the expiry date. I'm sure this is a common problem but I haven't got an emphatic answer from people who actually contacted Immigration about it. Some say they used a date different from the late issue date.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!