Advise on Citizenship Application while Stuck outside due to covid 19

Hi All,

I need your advise please. I have applied for citizenship on 15 January 2020 based on 5 years residency. I went on holidays in 20 February 2020 for 5 weeks but then stuck outside due to covid 19. I received a letter in June 2020 while I was away that my citizenship application is refused because there are 70 days short of my 5 years reconkble residence.This gap was due to me receiving late appointment letter even though I have applied few weeks before my visa expired but they did not accept this explanation and refused my application. Now I came on 16 August 2020 back to Ireland and wanted to apply again for citizenship once the 70 days are covered.

My question is, I was stuck outside of Ireland for around 6 months (few days short) due to covid 19. Now I wanted to apply for citizenship once the 70 days shorts are covered which will be end of this month. Would there be an issue as I was outside of Ireland for long period but that was due to covid 19.

Sorry for the long explanation and hope to hear from you guys. Thanks in advance

It shouldn't as per their FAQ but it is case to case basis:
Q 103. I will be absent from the State due to COVID-19 travel restrictions or isolation measures, will this affect a Citizenship application?
A. A pragmatic approach will be applied in this emergency

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Immigrat ... 9-FAQ4.pdf

Thanks very much for the information. It looks like there should not be an issue but you never know, they might come back with questions/verifications. Anyway I intended to come back and I had the tickets as well which the airline cancelled due to covid 19. Lets see what they say when I will apply.

Please let us know if any one else has the similar issue?

Thanks all

FAO Littlerr,

Can you please share your thought on my above query please? I am going to apply in a couple of weeks and afraid that they wont accept my application even tough I was genuinely stuck outside of Ireland. I am thinking to apply through solicitor for this issue.

Thanks in advance.

The reason to refuse one's application can be quite subjective, when it comes to absent days. Unfortunately there is very little anyone can do about it under the current legislation.

At this stage nobody really knows what's going to happen, as the pandemic isn't over yet and there are conflicting messages from local governments on travel restrictions. I think even the citizenship department staff won't know how to progress. However, they would be really thick to refuse one's application purely if someone's out of state due to travel restrictions. In my opinion you can apply for it, but make sure you include evidence of local lockdown and travel restrictions (e.g. announcement from local government prohibiting travelling abroad etc). If you could include evidence where the centre of your life is still in Ireland when you are abroad (e.g. if you are still working remotely), that would be better.

Applying through your solicitor is absolutely unnecessary. It wouldn't make any difference.

Many thanks Littlerr for sharing your thoughts and advise. I have been working remotely during this time. I will provide them the cancelled tickets etc. Lets see, I will update you guys.

Thanks

Sham321 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:46 pm

FAO Littlerr,

Can you please share your thought on my above query please? I am going to apply in a couple of weeks and afraid that they wont accept my application even tough I was genuinely stuck outside of Ireland. I am thinking to apply through solicitor for this issue.

Thanks in advance.

It doesn't make the slightest difference if you apply through a solicitor or not. I don't understand why so many people think it does.