Dublin: The government has said it will speed up arrangements to make decisions on applications for Irish naturalisation as soon as possible.
Last year, in 2022, naturalisation certificates were issued to 13,613 people, including 1,719 children. However, a 39% increase in the number of certificates issued in 2021 (9,780) was an achievement, the Justice Minister told the Irish Parliament.
Due to the fact that the employees could not attend the office during the COVID period, many applications were backlogged. In 2021, it could take up to seven months to review an application. It is now down to seven days. Minister Helen McEntee stated that progress will be made in the remaining stages of the process as well.
As of 2023, 6,061 naturalisation certificates had already been issued. Furthermore, the Minister stated that 8,700 applications that were approved have received a notice to make final payment or/and have been invited to participate in the citizenship ceremony.
The number of people waiting to apply for citizenship in Ireland is over thirty-three thousand (31,610). Most of them applied last year (16,435). 7178 people have applied for 2023.
Based on the data of May, India (3102), Pakistan (2508), the UK (1966), Nigeria (1887), Syria (1549), Romania (1499), and Poland (1422) have the most applicants.
The Department of Justice is taking several steps to speed up the processing of applications and has already initiated several digitization measures to increase efficiency in the process. Additional personnel have also been deployed to reduce wait times, with an emphasis on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner.
With the introduction of the digitization process and e-vetting, 13,000 applicants have had Garda vetting as part of their application in May alone.
The Naturalisation Department also stated that applicants will receive status updates every three months.
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