Recent visit to Dublin immigration lawyer re:naturalization

[marialear]

Hi all,

Well, as I am reaching my 5 year mark of residence in Ireland & am planning to apply for Irish citizenship thru naturalization, I thought I would get a meeting with an immigration lawyer in Dublin to review my papers and make sure I have everything covered & for my own peace of mind.

She was very helpful and informative. One thing that she did mention was that the time for 'reckonable residence' begins when the Garda stamps your passport with the 'leave to remain stamp' - not when you first enter Ireland with the airport passport control stamp. You must register with the GNIB asap when you enter Ireland to get your time counted right away. If you wait, anytime that you are in the country that is not covered by the GNIB passport stamp will not be included in the 'reckonable residence'.

She advised me that all my papers were in order & I plan to apply for Irish citizenship in July/August 2006. I'll keep y'all informed.

Maria

[oli_ro]

can you please pm me the name and address of the lawyer.

will you go thorough a solicitor when applying ?

Thanks.

[marialear]

Sure, I went to Eugene F. Collins solicitors located on the Burlington Road in Dublin 4, think the website is www.efc.ie. I will go back to get them to sign the witness section of the application form (think it's the last page of the Form for a Naturalization for an Adult), then post if off myself.

For me, it was worth having a professional go through all the paperwork and requirements, etc with me personally just so I knew that I was doing everything correct and for peace of mind.

Maria.

[jdsutton]

Hi Maria

Thanks for information.
do you know about students,If any one is here on student visa for 5 years.
and working as a trainee Accountant for 3 years as well on same visa.(as its allowed for professional Accountacy Bodies)
Can he apply for naturalisation?

Thanks for ur help

[marialear]

Hi there,

In order to become an Irish citizen through naturalization, one of the requirements is a particular length of residence in the country, called 'reckonable residence'. In Ireland, for a non-EU person applying on his/her own (no spouse or kids), it is 5 years. You have to be here legally & properly documented by the immigration authorities in order to have your time counted towards the 5 year time.

One of the rules is that 'in addition, periods of residence in the State will not be reckoned which were covered by a permission to remain if that permission was - for the purposes of study (whether or not that study involved you being in employment during any period of study).'

So, by that, it sounds like the time your friend was here on the student visa will not count towards his reckonable residence.

Check it out on www.justice.ie. Click on "Site Guide", then on "Immigration, Asylum & Citizenship". Click on "Background Notes", then on "Click here for Citizenship Information Forms". Lastly, click on "Irish Citizenship by Naturalisation". Now, this form was written in 2004 and was supposed to be updated in January 2005 but the changes were mainly due to the issue of Irish-born children. However, contact the Department to be sure.

Regards,
Maria

[mik]

Once your application has been lodged and acknowledged , you will then have to wait a further 2 years before your application for naturalisation is either allowed or denied .

[marialear]

Thanks for the good news mik! Really though, I'm not suprised. Have you applied yourself or have other first-hand knowledge of a potential 2-year wait?

Maria

[mik]

My wife aplied in February and was told this . Pissed off we contacted someone else who had recently applied and she said that she was also told this .