Citizenship timeline tracker.

[Aceform]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

[earlybird]

I'd suggest calling them again. I sent in a letter a couple of weeks ago asking a question and received a response saying "thanks for your letter" but that was it. I called yesterday and after 15 mins on hold I was through to a very lovely lady who took my reference number and answered my question. Favourably to my relief!

[9jeirean]

Hi All,

I have come to Ireland on an IT Work Permit in June 2001.

Still waiting after 4 years and 2 months.

My Timeline:
Applied: August 2006 based on 5 years residency and work permit.
Acknowledgement received: October 2006.
Further below documents requested: September 2009
1. A copy of your Notice of Assessment for last yr 2008.
2. A copy of your current Tax Clearance Certificate.
3. A copy of your current Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) card.
Further documents submitted: October 2009

I have been contracting as an IT consultant since 2006 though but cannot see how that will make a difference in my waiting period. All my friends who arrived with me in 2001 and worked in the IT field have their citizenship already.

At the start when the INIS phonelines were still working I have been phoning about every week and they just told me my application is still in processing, with the Garda, or with the Minister for approval or etc. etc. Every time it is some inconsistent reason.

About two months ago I moved fron Dublin to Letterkenny resulting in a change of address and informed INIS by registered post and also asked them (using registered post) what the latest status of the application is? I did not received anything back from them, even to tell me they received my communication of the change of my address.

Could anyone advise me how I can find out the real status of my application, if there is anything I can do to get an answer as soon as possible as the wait is killing me!

I'll advice you contact your local TD. May be he can bring this to the attention of the minister. 4years+ is just plain ridiculous.

BTW, I hope you have obtained a more permanent immigration status, either LTR or WCTT? If you haven't, I'll advice you apply immediately preferably WCTT.

[fatty patty]

Waiting for 4+ years that is plain ridiculous..no matter what one says about pressure/lack of staff in INIS or whateva.

[SureSir]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

Hi Aceform, I am South African.

[IRISH PHAROE]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

Hi Aceform,
what are these nationalities?

[Aceform]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

Hi Aceform,
what are these nationalities?

tough one man, I can't really tell. But I know people personally who are waiting for atleast 3 years of same nationalities, where as others got their very fast.

suresir, I'm a south aftican as well. I applied in 2008 (i've been working in Ireland since 2000). I got a request for addidtional docs last month.

[IRISH PHAROE]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

Hi Aceform,
what are these nationalities?

tough one man, I can't really tell. But I know people personally who are waiting for atleast 3 years of same nationalities, where as others got their very fast.

suresir, I'm a south aftican as well. I applied in 2008 (i've been working in Ireland since 2000). I got a request for addidtional docs last month.

So Aceform,
to make it easy for you, is the egyptian nationality among these nationalities?
also,
what documents they asked you to submitt?

[Aceform]

What nationality are you suresir? I've seen the INIS being partial towards certain nationalities.

Hi Aceform,
what are these nationalities?

tough one man, I can't really tell. But I know people personally who are waiting for atleast 3 years of same nationalities, where as others got their very fast.

suresir, I'm a south aftican as well. I applied in 2008 (i've been working in Ireland since 2000). I got a request for addidtional docs last month.

So Aceform,
to make it easy for you, is the egyptian nationality among these nationalities?
also,
what documents they asked you to submitt?

Nope, they are not Egyptians. I've been asked below documents
1)p21 for last year
2)3 recent pay slips
3) 3 months bank statement
4) Birth certificate

[IRISH PHAROE]

thanks Aceform and good luck

[9jeirean]

I think it remains largely unproven that any sort of selective or discriminatory practice is going on with the naturalization process. I am assuming (and this is an assumption not a factual position) that since some people of the same nationality might know each other and share their info, timeline, frustration etc, it might make it look from their point of view that they are being targeted for the raw deal. Haven said that, the inherent culture of secrecy and lack of transparency and awful customer service orientation of the DoJ re the naturalization process here hasn't helped either to dissuade the type of notions above.

My personal observation over the last few years is that certain cohort of applicants, usually those who apply towards the last quarter of the year tend to drag on longer than those who apply earlier in the same year. Let take 2006 for example, most of the people who had to wait for so long and a few who have continued to wait till today are those who made their applications towards the latter part of 2006. I belong to the mid 2007 cohort. While I had been naturalized since the beginning of the year, most of the other 2007 applicants who applied latter in the year are still waiting on decisions. It is very difficult to say what exactly cause(s) this, but based on the kind of feedback and queries that have been raised on the boards, one can hazard a guess about Garda clearance being the major bottle neck. Perhaps there are huge volume of Garda vetting applications about time of the year etc who knows? We can only continue to speculate.

I certainly do not think it would be too much for the DoJ to be upfront about the difficulty with the inter agency process that may be causing the bottle neck. Then, at least it is less disrespectful of the applicants than the status quo.

Let's look at an example here: The Canadian Government just like the Irish government and many others have had to make changes to their immigration policies in the light of the global economic downturn in recent years. The Canadian Skilled Worker Immigration Scheme is a popular scheme for skilled Immigrants to Canada. Significant changes were introduced in June this year which reduces the number of eligible occupation and a cap of 1000 places per occupation. Here's the difference guys, the immigration authority in Canada promised to update prospective applicants on the level of uptake and enshrine a transparent system to ensure fairness and equality. Here's a link from their website http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/ ... ations.asp to update applicants about the level of the uptake so far. Similar transparent process is in place for their naturalization process. Now that's good governance, responsible leadership and an efficient public service. It's a shame same can't be said around here.

[doesnotcompute]

Hi Aceform,
what are these nationalities?

tough one man, I can't really tell. But I know people personally who are waiting for atleast 3 years of same nationalities, where as others got their very fast.

suresir, I'm a south aftican as well. I applied in 2008 (i've been working in Ireland since 2000). I got a request for addidtional docs last month.

So Aceform,
to make it easy for you, is the egyptian nationality among these nationalities?
also,
what documents they asked you to submitt?

Nope, they are not Egyptians.

Are they Latin-American? (Specifically, Peruvian?)

[can i be irish]

Hi Folks,
i applied my naturalistion in jan 2009, but there is one problem which i have seen now i was on work permit since 2003 and i got them all continuously there was no gap in my work permit dates but as i got them coz of some delays from work permit section, i cant get my immigration stamp on time in total of 5 years there was gap of 15 days, month or more in total there is gap of nearly 4 months when i sent my application to citizenship section i sent after 3 months after i complete 5 years so i want to ask will DoJ count my time like day by day coz if i calculate that i m short of nearly 1 month,
pls guys tell me wat should i do will i wait for my rejection or ask them to return my application and reapply or jst leave it on God.
i applied for long term residency straight after compliting 5yers without calculating my gaps and i got approval in 20 months.
guys pls suggest me i m really very stressed
thanx

[9jeirean]

Hi Folks,
i applied my naturalistion in jan 2009, but there is one problem which i have seen now i was on work permit since 2003 and i got them all continuously there was no gap in my work permit dates but as i got them coz of some delays from work permit section, i cant get my immigration stamp on time in total of 5 years there was gap of 15 days, month or more in total there is gap of nearly 4 months when i sent my application to citizenship section i sent after 3 months after i complete 5 years so i want to ask will DoJ count my time like day by day coz if i calculate that i m short of nearly 1 month,
pls guys tell me wat should i do will i wait for my rejection or ask them to return my application and reapply or jst leave it on God.
i applied for long term residency straight after compliting 5yers without calculating my gaps and i got approval in 20 months.
guys pls suggest me i m really very stressed
thanx

Did you receive an acknowledgement letter with a reference number after your application? If you did. Then chances are you should be ok. To the best of my knowledge, applications that have not me the residency requirement are returned at the initial stage and they are not usually allocated reference numbers. To be sure you can give them a ring in Tipperary.

[can i be irish]

Did you receive an acknowledgement letter with a reference number after your application? If you did. Then chances are you should be ok. To the best of my knowledge, applications that have not me the residency requirement are returned at the initial stage and they are not usually allocated reference numbers. To be sure you can give them a ring in Tipperary


Hi 9j,
i got me refrence number after one week when i sent me application, but i dont know its rumour or its true, one or two guys told me that few people got refesual coz they applied 10 days or week b4e complition of their time
so i really dont understand what is their actual situation but if its true y its after two or three years after submitting application it should be staright away
thanx

[can i be irish]

Did you receive an acknowledgement letter with a reference number after your application? If you did. Then chances are you should be ok. To the best of my knowledge, applications that have not me the residency requirement are returned at the initial stage and they are not usually allocated reference numbers. To be sure you can give them a ring in Tipperary



Hi 9j,
i got me refrence number after one week when i sent me application, but i dont know its rumour or its true, one or two guys told me that few people got refesual coz they applied 10 days or week b4e complition of their time
so i really dont understand what is their actual situation but if its true y its after two or three years after submitting application it should be staright away
thanx[/quote]

[aya101]

i have sent my application around 2 weeks and i still havent gotten
a referwnce number,it was retureed because of birth cert problems so what should i do? i have emailed them 4 times and i still didnt get a reply


i sent it on the 15.10

[smalltime]

so if someone on dole, and they check, the refusal is guarantee?

It depends, my wifes friend is a care staff for a long time about 6-7 years. then she lost her job then on the dole for 1 year. so her application was delayed ( she applied I think around 2006)
she only got her approval last year after 3 years waiting after she went back working and sending payslips to INIS.

but INIS didnt refuse her immediately for some reason might be she paid a lot of tax

[zzz]

...there is a backlog of 60k (16k?) applications for garda vetting.

In early 2011, the Garda Vetting Unit is going to under immense pressure because the Census of Population is taking place in April 2011 and the Central Statistics Office will be recruiting 5,000 field staff, which all will need to be vetted..

Interesting fact - my wife just got a vetting cert as a teacher - took only three weeks to process
Apparently, there are different queues for different categories of applicants.

[IRISH PHAROE]

so if someone on dole, and they check, the refusal is guarantee?

It depends, my wifes friend is a care staff for a long time about 6-7 years. then she lost her job then on the dole for 1 year. so her application was delayed ( she applied I think around 2006)
she only got her approval last year after 3 years waiting after she went back working and sending payslips to INIS.

but INIS didnt refuse her immediately for some reason might be she paid a lot of tax

I know a friend of mine who applied on October 2007 and become unemployment by June 2008 untill December 2008 then commenced work again and he got his approval by March 2010.
so it isn't absluote.

[fatty patty]

That is true, INIS probably look at your contributions so far in Ireland provided to them by SW office...even if you have claimed a couple of months of welfare payments but have good long history of contributions chances are approval most likely. They probably look for other payments you are receiving/paying likes of any undue VAT (if you are self-employed) etc. Non payment of that could lead application in trouble.

[aya101]

i havent gotten a reference number

[nanette]

People who applied and are still waiting for more than 2 years.
Do the following to get their attention:

If you are working
0. send a letter requesting an update on your file.
NOTE:
in the letter also state that you included a recent document clarifying your employment situation (listing document included in the envelop)
1. Send them your latest P60
2. Send them your last 3 months payslips
3. Send a Social Welfare letter stating that you are NOT in receipt of any employment benefit.
4. Send them your lastest GNIB + passport copies (if applicable)
5. A copy of birth cert (translated and legalised...this cost around 30 euros)
6. Send it via registered post

I say this because, I got my citizenship by keeping the flame burning...Make them know and understand that you are still around and contributing.

Nana

[aya101]

i dont work ,i have sent many emails!

[nanette]

It would be nice if you elaborated more about you situation.


i dont work ,i have sent many emails

is not very clear.

Questions for you Aya101

1. When did you apply ?
2. When did stop working?

Nana

i dont work ,i have sent many emails!