Is the citizenship ceremony mandatory?

[punkGit81]

Hey folks,

Is the ceremony mandatory or can you still get the naturalization certificate without attending the ceremony?

I might hopefully get approved soon, based on 2021 timelines, however I guess at this stage I won't be invited to the ceremony in June ... seems pre-pandemic ceremonies were held couple of times a year, so I was wondering if I'll end up having to wait another 6 months ...

Also, any idea why these ceremonies are in Kerry? Kerry is beautiful county, but seems a weird location to ask thousand of people to travel to on a Monday.

[luxurylemon]

Honestly I'm not absolutely certain the answer apologies, but I was sure they were mandatory. Maybe someone else can confirm.
We haven't even had an acknowledgement letter yet so its not a concern for us, but we will be on holiday during the dates of this ceremony. Its in June like, prime holiday time and with people not having been able to go away for so long. Generally people plan holidays months in advance and the notice on this is very short. What happens if you cant go?

[raja.brit]

I have the same question too.

What if one had made the payment but unable to attend say health or family emergency for example?

[punkGit81]

Spotted this in the 2020 timeline, which should provide an answer to my question (though not the one I hoped for) -

Note only option is ceremony now, no declarations of fidelity by post any more, this is the statement from INIS...

"With the re-introduction of citizenship ceremonies the temporary process of swearing the oath of fidelity to the nation by means of sworn affidavit will cease. This process was introduced to facilitate the continuation of the naturalisation process during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please note that if you do not complete the steps above in time to be invited to the June ceremony your application for naturalisation cannot be completed until the next ceremony which is currently planned for December 2022."

The fact that they'll have people wait several more months (those who won't or can't make it in time for the June one), after some have waited for years, and have this ceremony in a remote location that is in not easy to reach for most, makes no sense to me ...

[littlerr]

It is mandatory - attending a ceremony is required by law. If there’s any family emergency, you need to contact INIS to defer your ceremony to the next one.

[ThomasHoward]

Thought I would offer my 5 cents.

There are several reasons why the Irish system functions the way it does. Some of these will make sense to you, others will not, but be sure that they all have a place in reality.

I wrote my PHD thesis on Irish mentality (will not supply the research material here because I want to remain anonymous). The truth of the matter is the Irish are inherently a very very r*cist and secluded race. They were abused and tortured by the British for several hundred years which created a lingering fear of invasion that exists on a subconscious level.

They call us foreigners wishing to be naturalised 'plastic paddys', when I visited a solicitor to get stamps for an application I was told by this red cheeked gentleman that 'you'll never be a real paddy'. I am sure that most people here have hundreds of stories of 'Irish hospitality'. Obviously not everyone here is like that but the vast majority are.

Hence the trip to Killarney. They will make it as difficult for you as possible to attain it. They will drag it out as much as they can so that you give up and leave, or hopefully die. They will not answer your emails (which is a form of psychological abuse, don't forget). They will make you travel to the furthest corner of the island, create bottlenecks in processing etc. Anyway so that you will leave.

The truth is Ireland has a terrible, dark history. This is a country of emmigrants, most normal people dream about leaving this 'kip' as they call it. The Catholic church controlled every aspect of society. You couldn't get divorced in this place until 1994.

Another aspect is Ireland is heavily dependent on the EU. You can see it in day to day life. A lot of railroads built with EU money, buses, education grants etc. The government is conservative, they want to maintain their relationship with the UK (which is always worried that Ireland will be used as a back door by other nations) and the EU. Hence 23 months of processing time, because if it's 24 months, they break EU law. And EU law overrides national law for members.

The minister took 6 months paid maternity leave with an expression on her face of righteousness. Have you ever heard of such a thing anywhere else?

So, conclusion is, the abused has become the abuser. Minister Alan Shatter was a kind minister, he helped a lot of people here. Helen Mcentee I think is more concerned with her image than her responsibilities. She regularised illegal immigrants, which is another step in destabilising the country so that the average paddy will for sure vote for Sinn Fein (nationalist party of Ireland which will make the IRA the national police force, similar to the SS) in the next election. And then, you can forget about citizenship ceremony all together.

Hold strong everyone. Love prevails over all.

[Calum12]

What are you talking about?

It really isn't that deep. They are not a nation of dearly beloved. Ireland has a tradition of mass ceremony in relation to naturalisation.

The number of naturalised has never been as high as it is now and therefore, you can argue that in light of waiting time, you would like ceremony to be optional. You can also argue that the system in place increased the processing time beyond 5 month average to 23 month needs to change to be more streamlined and transparent. You can argue that governments used the issue of naturalisation to discourage immigration lately to bolster votes with a tiny section of population that are discriminatory.

It's not all doom and gloom. Yes, Ireland has bureaucracy, transport and housing problem. But everything else is actually really good in comparison such as economy, justice, security and access to education.

[yorkshire_lad]

With all the due respect ThomasHoward, I find your opinion which is based on your ''PhD thesis'', a complete an utter non sense.

I am not even going to waste my time by trying to present facts to someone who clearly holds an extraordinarily biased opinion.

I can only hope that you aren't knowingly perpetuating a falsehood.

Thought I would offer my 5 cents.

There are several reasons why the Irish system functions the way it does. Some of these will make sense to you, others will not, but be sure that they all have a place in reality.

I wrote my PHD thesis on Irish mentality (will not supply the research material here because I want to remain anonymous). The truth of the matter is the Irish are inherently a very very r*cist and secluded race. They were abused and tortured by the British for several hundred years which created a lingering fear of invasion that exists on a subconscious level.

They call us foreigners wishing to be naturalised 'plastic paddys', when I visited a solicitor to get stamps for an application I was told by this red cheeked gentleman that 'you'll never be a real paddy'. I am sure that most people here have hundreds of stories of 'Irish hospitality'. Obviously not everyone here is like that but the vast majority are.

Hence the trip to Killarney. They will make it as difficult for you as possible to attain it. They will drag it out as much as they can so that you give up and leave, or hopefully die. They will not answer your emails (which is a form of psychological abuse, don't forget). They will make you travel to the furthest corner of the island, create bottlenecks in processing etc. Anyway so that you will leave.

The truth is Ireland has a terrible, dark history. This is a country of emmigrants, most normal people dream about leaving this 'kip' as they call it. The Catholic church controlled every aspect of society. You couldn't get divorced in this place until 1994.

Another aspect is Ireland is heavily dependent on the EU. You can see it in day to day life. A lot of railroads built with EU money, buses, education grants etc. The government is conservative, they want to maintain their relationship with the UK (which is always worried that Ireland will be used as a back door by other nations) and the EU. Hence 23 months of processing time, because if it's 24 months, they break EU law. And EU law overrides national law for members.

The minister took 6 months paid maternity leave with an expression on her face of righteousness. Have you ever heard of such a thing anywhere else?

So, conclusion is, the abused has become the abuser. Minister Alan Shatter was a kind minister, he helped a lot of people here. Helen Mcentee I think is more concerned with her image than her responsibilities. She regularised illegal immigrants, which is another step in destabilising the country so that the average paddy will for sure vote for Sinn Fein (nationalist party of Ireland which will make the IRA the national police force, similar to the SS) in the next election. And then, you can forget about citizenship ceremony all together.

Hold strong everyone. Love prevails over all.

[mentalmind]

I don't have much references but I think some other EU countries also do ceremony for applicants to be citizens officially. The only problem here is, there is a huge backlog and they should do the ceremonies more often. Easier said than done for sure but it's not ideal to make all of the applicants wait for so long.