Gap in residency and applying for citizenship

Hi guys
Wondering, if anybody could advice Please.
I got first Stamp 1 in Jan 2009, then in Jan 2011, for some reason I could not go to GNIB, till Apr 2011, while my Stamp 1 expired on Jan 2011. hence I have gap in my residency. Technically, I have completed 5 years and should be eligible to apply for citizenship as of Jan 2014.
I was wondering, should I apply for citizenship, stating why I could not renew stamp early in Jan 2011?
Do any body have applied and approved citizenship having gap in residency?
Thanks in advance

I had applied with a gap in residency for my wife ....it was a 6 days gap got a letter from doctor ...the citizenship application was approved.

I am not sure how they deal with bigger gap , best is to e-mail them and ask

As of January 2014, you don't have reckonable residence of 5 years in the state. To quote INIS:

Periods of reckonable residence are those for which you had a permission to remain stamp in your passport. Certain periods of residence in the State covered by a permission to remain are not reckonable if that permission was –

For the purposes of study (whether or not that study involved you being in employment during any of the period of study), or
While your claim for asylum was being examined.

Gaps between stamps are periods of unlawful residence and are not reckonable.

I think your application will be rejected if you apply now. Wait until April. Technically, they can still reject the application in April since you had a lengthy period of unlawful residence, but they seem to mostly tolerate this these days.

Hi guys, thanks for replies.
The gap in my case is less than 90 days, So I think they will allowing less than 90 days gap, while I read this:

It is recognised that there will be cases where an applicant has some short gaps in his/her immigration registration over the five year (60 months) period. Whilst some tolerance will be allowed in this matter please note that:

• * no one gap may be in excess of 3 months (90 days);

• * gaps may not exceed 12 months in total over the 5 year (60 months) period.

Above is for doctors who completed their 5 consecutive years.

Kinto wrote:Technically, they can still reject the application in April since you had a lengthy period of unlawful residence, but they seem to mostly tolerate this these days.

Well, according to their website, it states 'unlawful residence will not be calculated for citizenship purposes'. And, if I enter my dates in 'residence calculator', it asks me to wait 70 days, then made the application. So it does not say, "because, you have 70 days gap, your application can be refused as you have 'lengthy unlawful residency' or you wait for another two year! ".

So, basically, in April, the calculator will give me all green ticks and I ll be good to go.

Green ticks in the calculator doesn't mean "application approved". It's up to the minister to decide. As I said, they'll probably tolerate the gap, but you have to wait until April.

Hi,
In my own opinion, I will advice you to submit your application January and get a lawyer to help you write a letter or you can write yourself stating the reason why there's a gap.
Based on my own experienced theres a possibility of getting through.
Good luck

@Al Shaddai ,Thanks for your kind reply.
I am trying to send letter to department. Not sure to where to send the letter. Anybody knows postal address for citizenship queries Pre- application process.

Thanks

I had a gap in my stamps of between Nov & Jan IIRC due to the delay with the HSE re-issuing my work permit. I just waited the extra time as per the residency calculator and sent in my application after it said i could. I received my approval letter today - pretty much 6 mths after applying. I didn't send in any extra information explaining the gap.

Dear Foxhill, hope your citizenship application has been approved, could you please share your timelines, Many thanks

Hi Guys,

I am new to this so was hoping if you could please advise. Any advise is much appreciated!

Hope you are well.

I was hoping if you could please advise me on Naturalisation.

I will be in Ireland for one full year on Feb 16th. I am currently working in Ireland.

I have been in Ireland between Sept 2006 to April 2011. I do not have the full coverage in terms of Stamps on my passport. I have a gap of 5 months between 2008, but I was working on a GreenCard (awarded 6 months prior) at that time and 3 weeks in 2010 (covered by the same GreenCard).

Also, I was legally employed in Ireland during those years by way of Employment permit ('06-'08 - Stamp 1), GreenCard('08-'10 - Stamp 1) and Stamp 4 ('10-'11). There are no gaps in these. I have a letter from my employer’s HR confirming I was a full-time employee between 2006-2011 with the residing addresses in Ireland at that time. Note, I am currently back working in Ireland as well.

I am concerned about my eligibility as I like it here in Ireland and checking the Online Calculator, I have the 4 year residency ( and 1 full year in Feb '16), barring the gaps in my stamps mentioned above.

Please can you advise if I can/should apply in Feb '16? Anyone experienced this before?

Your case sounds complicated. Calculating reckonable residency is fairly mechanical so it shouldn't be hard to see if you're eligible but you'll have to read the rules carefully and work it out. In any case keep in mind any advice here is worth what you paid for it -- nobody here is an expert.

You need five years out of the last 8 years. So 2006 and 2007 won't be helpful come next year. Only 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 will count. And only the part of 2008 after the date on your application. And only the times covered by stamps. Times spent without a stamp or the wrong stamp don't count at all.

The last year needs to be continuous and but earlier years can have some gaps. However 5 months is a pretty substantial delay. There is someone on this board that was refused after at a late stage due to an immigration officer deciding he had circumvented the rules and stayed illegally. Personally I would wait an extra year until that five month gap is outside the 8 year window. They'll still have a record of it but at least it won't be staring them in the face in the residency calculator.

If you do apply in 2016 you may still be ok. They only ask for employment details and travel details for the last 5 years. If you only list the last 5 years there's no reason they should assume you were resident and working illegally just because you had a green card. Though the green card should have been returned if you left that job for all they know you could have been posted abroad or on a temporary leave of absence or who knows. They probably won't ask about it if it's over 5 years ago. But you never know, they could.

Hi zkzkz,
Thanks for this. If i were to apply (try) in 2016. If i were to use the calculator, will they calculate 8 years to the date i.e June 2007 onwards or Jan 2007? I am worried about the wording 8 year. Also, I read in another thread that writing to INIS explaining my GAP and they MAY give a letter stating the reckon able residency.