Upcoming Ceremony in 2023/4

[meself2]

Hi I was invited to the Citizenship Ceremony in Dublin today at 3pm. I didn't reply the RSPB to say I am attending. Will I still be able to get into the ceremony?
If not will I be invited to another ceremony?

- No, most likely you won't be let in - you don't count as registered.
- Yes, you will be invited to another ceremony. I've heard of a case where a person missed March ceremony email and was invited now.

[Richkeeley]

Ok thanks I'll have to wait and hopefully get the next one.

[tugii20]

Hi I was invited to the Citizenship Ceremony in Dublin today at 3pm. I didn't reply the RSPB to say I am attending. Will I still be able to get into the ceremony?
If not will I be invited to another ceremony?

just press the link to confirm your attendance
you still have time until 3

[RCCar]

At the ceremony now, asked about 20 people when they applied - everyone from 2021. So yeah, they seems addressing the backlog

[Richkeeley]

Hi I was invited to the Citizenship Ceremony in Dublin today at 3pm. I didn't reply the RSVP to say I am attending. Will I still be able to get into the ceremony?
If not will I be invited to another ceremony?

just press the link to confirm your attendance
you still have time until 3

Thanks I tried a lot but it kept saying registration was closed.

[meself2]

At the ceremony now, asked about 20 people when they applied - everyone from 2021. So yeah, they seems addressing the backlog

Do guests get a ticket or how are they let in? Sorry for asking, but was curious.

UPD: they just walk in with a guest (I was asked which one of us is invited and which is the guest)

[luxurylemon]

We were at the ceremony in June, just myself and my husband.
They said strictly one guest per person and no children.

They split us up on arrival with guests going upstairs and those getting citizenship downstairs.
Nobody checked the guests at all. Loads of people had kids and you could have easily brought a number of guests nobody was checking at all. There was loads of space around me it wasn't full at all.

[Fred13]

At the ceremony now, asked about 20 people when they applied - everyone from 2021. So yeah, they seems addressing the backlog

Sorry to ask but did you get any idea whether they were from early 2021 or late 2021? and also any indication of the next ceremony in 2023? My appologies for making traffic in the board.

[sv23367]

Going by the minister's statement, there could be 6 sessions in December (2 days ceremony)
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/10 ... -ceremony/

[RCCar]

Asked 25 people: 24 were applied from May 2021 to Dec 2021, 1 applied 2019 (but she mentioned that it wasn't straightforward application), surprised that no one was from 2022-2023

[meself2]

Asked 25 people: 24 were applied from May 2021 to Dec 2021, 1 applied 2019 (but she mentioned that it wasn't straightforward application), surprised that no one was from 2022-2023

Person next to me at the ceremony said he applied mid 2022.

[sv23367]

Asked 25 people: 24 were applied from May 2021 to Dec 2021, 1 applied 2019 (but she mentioned that it wasn't straightforward application), surprised that no one was from 2022-2023

some of the 2023 applicants were invited for 3 pm ceremony. not sure if you had gone at that time.

[sairsint]

I’m reading that 3,000 people were granted citizenship at the ceremony yesterday. Combined with the 4,000 from the June ceremonies, how in the world do they plan to get through the backlog of over 20,000 by end of year at this current rate?

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

[sv23367]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

[AlmostIrish_111]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

[Fred13]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

I guess what he meant was it is unfortunate that the process does not seem to be fair as some applicants from 2023 are naturalizing but some from 2022 and even 2021 remaining. I am always happy to see people who have lived and made life in ireland are being naturlized but we need to remember the whole process is really mentally hard for, if not all, most people. I have cancled my trip in summer and and I am still unsure when i can book a ticker for december as I might invited ...

[sairsint]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

I don't think their point was that it's unfortunate those from 2023 are granted citizenship. The point was likely directed at the DoJ and that they are going against their own stated policy by continuing to approve out of sequence. Of course there will always be special circumstances to do so, but not in the hundreds or thousands when you have this size of a backlog. A backlog caused by Covid and Brexit which the MoJ continually reminds us of, meaning it's not a situation where those are more difficult applications and would take longer regardless.

In any case, I'm not sure where you are getting the 12,000 number from. The backlog from 2020/1/2 in June was ~21,000 and another ~10,000 received within 2023. The MoJ stated that ~8,700 of the applicants had received a positive decision at that point. That's 8,700 of total ~31,000 and not solely from the backlog. Since then ~7,000 have been naturalised between June and October ceremonies. Even if you take the full 7,000 away from the 21,000 backlog (which it's not), it still leaves 14,000 in the queue.

The other interesting thing is that the MoJ stated in July that 8,700 have been approved, yet only 3,000 were in the latest ceremony, which leaves 5,700 in a 'waiting for a ceremony' state. This means those applicants will likely be the ones attending the December ceremony. The rest of us 14,000+ backlog applicants will be well into next year before anything happens as long as they continue to enforce these now completely unnecessary ceremonies which are drastically slowing the entire process down. It's utterly ridiculous.

[Fred13]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

I don't think their point was that it's unfortunate those from 2023 are granted citizenship. The point was likely directed at the DoJ and that they are going against their own stated policy by continuing to approve out of sequence. Of course there will always be special circumstances to do so, but not in the hundreds or thousands when you have this size of a backlog. A backlog caused by Covid and Brexit which the MoJ continually reminds us of, meaning it's not a situation where those are more difficult applications and would take longer regardless.

In any case, I'm not sure where you are getting the 12,000 number from. The backlog from 2020/1/2 in June was ~21,000 and another ~10,000 received within 2023. The MoJ stated that ~8,700 of the applicants had received a positive decision at that point. That's 8,700 of total ~31,000 and not solely from the backlog. Since then ~7,000 have been naturalised between June and October ceremonies. Even if you take the full 7,000 away from the 21,000 backlog (which it's not), it still leaves 14,000 in the queue.

The other interesting thing is that the MoJ stated in July that 8,700 have been approved, yet only 3,000 were in the latest ceremony, which leaves 5,700 in a 'waiting for a ceremony' state. This means those applicants will likely be the ones attending the December ceremony. The rest of us 14,000+ backlog applicants will be well into next year before anything happens as long as they continue to enforce these now completely unnecessary ceremonies which are drastically slowing the entire process down. It's utterly ridiculous.

Can I ask when and where these figures were annouced? I recived two letters by citizenship office that I am sure every did, but in none of them these figures were annouced?

[ILLL]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

I don't think their point was that it's unfortunate those from 2023 are granted citizenship. The point was likely directed at the DoJ and that they are going against their own stated policy by continuing to approve out of sequence. Of course there will always be special circumstances to do so, but not in the hundreds or thousands when you have this size of a backlog. A backlog caused by Covid and Brexit which the MoJ continually reminds us of, meaning it's not a situation where those are more difficult applications and would take longer regardless.

In any case, I'm not sure where you are getting the 12,000 number from. The backlog from 2020/1/2 in June was ~21,000 and another ~10,000 received within 2023. The MoJ stated that ~8,700 of the applicants had received a positive decision at that point. That's 8,700 of total ~31,000 and not solely from the backlog. Since then ~7,000 have been naturalised between June and October ceremonies. Even if you take the full 7,000 away from the 21,000 backlog (which it's not), it still leaves 14,000 in the queue.

The other interesting thing is that the MoJ stated in July that 8,700 have been approved, yet only 3,000 were in the latest ceremony, which leaves 5,700 in a 'waiting for a ceremony' state. This means those applicants will likely be the ones attending the December ceremony. The rest of us 14,000+ backlog applicants will be well into next year before anything happens as long as they continue to enforce these now completely unnecessary ceremonies which are drastically slowing the entire process down. It's utterly ridiculous.

Can I ask when and where these figures were annouced? I recived two letters by citizenship office that I am sure every did, but in none of them these figures were annouced?

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... plications

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... eceived%0A

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... pplication

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... itizenship

[Fred13]

That is obviously a rhetorical question, but I just can’t see how they will do it as previously claimed by the department if they continue to force ceremony attendance to grant citizenship. With these kind of numbers that is at least another five or six ceremonies just to tackle the backlog, not including current year applicants that they appear to keep allowing to jump the queue.

with 6 ceremonies planned in Dec, there is a possibility to naturalise 6000 people. unfortunately, 2023 applicants will be there too (if they had already completed the payment and waiting for ceremony). i believe that small number will be included and concluded at the next ceremony. 1000 applications from 2023 got processed in that Q. not all of that 1000 were invited for the ceremony. there will be (may be) 50% remaining in that.

It is quite sad to see fellow applicants saying it is unfortunate that other applicants will be granted their citizenship. Are you forgetting that these are people who have not done anything wrong and are just passive to the Ministry's decisions? Or even that these are people with their own journeys and their own issues?

Doing the math, the current backlog of 2021 and 2022 is around 12,000 applicants most of which are in the final stages, so hopefully the Ministry will be able to finish the backlog or severely reduce it.

I don't think their point was that it's unfortunate those from 2023 are granted citizenship. The point was likely directed at the DoJ and that they are going against their own stated policy by continuing to approve out of sequence. Of course there will always be special circumstances to do so, but not in the hundreds or thousands when you have this size of a backlog. A backlog caused by Covid and Brexit which the MoJ continually reminds us of, meaning it's not a situation where those are more difficult applications and would take longer regardless.

In any case, I'm not sure where you are getting the 12,000 number from. The backlog from 2020/1/2 in June was ~21,000 and another ~10,000 received within 2023. The MoJ stated that ~8,700 of the applicants had received a positive decision at that point. That's 8,700 of total ~31,000 and not solely from the backlog. Since then ~7,000 have been naturalised between June and October ceremonies. Even if you take the full 7,000 away from the 21,000 backlog (which it's not), it still leaves 14,000 in the queue.

The other interesting thing is that the MoJ stated in July that 8,700 have been approved, yet only 3,000 were in the latest ceremony, which leaves 5,700 in a 'waiting for a ceremony' state. This means those applicants will likely be the ones attending the December ceremony. The rest of us 14,000+ backlog applicants will be well into next year before anything happens as long as they continue to enforce these now completely unnecessary ceremonies which are drastically slowing the entire process down. It's utterly ridiculous.

Can I ask when and where these figures were annouced? I recived two letters by citizenship office that I am sure every did, but in none of them these figures were annouced?

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... plications

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... eceived%0A

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... pplication

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... itizenship

Thank you for sharing the links.
I spend some times to make sense out of these links and I only got more confused. The minster has said:
"---As a result of the changes being implemented across Citizenship the vast majority of outstanding files from 2021 and 2022 (around 15,000 files) are now in the final stages of processing. ---"

but in the table published on 11th Sep, if you do a math:
2021: 11974 - 9780 = 2194 => Outstanding?
2022: 17189-13613 = 3576 => Outstanding?
that makes the outstanding files from 2021 and 2022 equal to 5770 and not 15,000 ...

[meself2]

It makes sense imo - people that applied in 2022 certainly wouldn't be naturalized in 2022, so don't know why are you calculating it like that.
Table 2, as I would expect, is not "certificates issued to people who applied in 2022", but "certificates issued in 2022" - people who got those in 2022 applied earlier.

[User20123]

First, congratulations to those who have completed the ceremony and are now one step closer to receiving their passports. Huge congratulations to everyone.

I have been silently reading the comments and share your frustration. In the coming weeks, it will have been 19 months for me, and I still have not received the letter to pay 950EUR. Having said that, a person I know from 2021 has waited more than 31 months for his application to be processed and is now pursuing legal action. He patiently waited and didn't make much noise, but it's time for him to take a legal action now.

One of my friend from March 2023 got completed with the process and paid the fees but wasn't invited. It is good that only a handful of applicants from 2023 were invited, regardless of whether or not they have completed the application process.

Priority MUST now be given to the previous year's applicants in order to clear the backlog before addressing this year's applicants. This is beyond dispute. When there is a backlog of nearly 15,000 applicants, it's shocking to see that only 3,000 have been naturalised. It took them one full day to naturalise 3000, and if they host a two-day ceremony in December, they will have naturalised 6,000 people. However, this is not the case, as the two-day ceremony in June naturalised only 4000/5000 applicants. There is no chance they will clear the backlog.

I believe they should either add more secret ceremonies to clear the backlog or waive the ceremony attendance requirement and permit individuals to take the oath elsewhere.

[meself2]

It's great that 2023 applicants are getting processed immensely quick, but the fact that 2023 applicants got their certificates before me, despite all the statements about chronological order, just doesn't seem fair, as ceremonies can have a finite amount of people.

On the side note, speech on the ceremony has something along the lines of "I, with my family born in Ireland for generations, have the same rights as you now, new citizens"; got me thinking about Section 19(c) about declaration to retain citizenship that only naturalized citizens have to submit.

[Leo99]

2021 and 2022 backlogs were due to covid. Process improved for 23 is good for future applicants. There's no point in complaining tbh. It's the same as buying a tesla in 2021 and then complaining 2023 tesla is cheap and better. The process will keep improving. They should have digitized this long back. Paper stuff takes time and a lot of staff. That's why it's freaking slow.

[sv23367]

It's great that 2023 applicants are getting processed immensely quick, but the fact that 2023 applicants got their certificates before me, despite all the statements about chronological order, just doesn't seem fair, as ceremonies can have a finite amount of people.

with due respect, who are we decide what is fair and unfair. 2023 applicants never asked for any prioritisation. it was decided by DOJ. today it is 2023, tomorrow it will be 2024 applicants. we just need to hope that the system is revamped to process the application within 6 months or even less . i heard in UK, citizenship process takes 6 months. if they can do in 6 months, Ireland can definitely do that.