Aplication acknowledgement not received after nearly 4 months

I sent my application for naturalization on the 5th of September. An Post claims it was signed for by an xxxxxxx on the 7th of September. I have been waiting for a phone call or email ever since. I understand that no applications are processed during lock-down, but it's honestly ridiculous at this stage. I'm starting to doubt whether they are even in possession of it anymore...
From what I've observed on this forum, some people who have applied after me, have received an email, asking for address confirmation. Lock-down for all of January won't make any things better. Is anyone in a similar situation?

I applied 3 weeks after yourself and no news yet. and now we are going into another lockdown till 31/01/21 ridiculous. Hopefully they have looked at the application as well not only acknowledged it .

denisaric wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 7:04 pm

I applied 3 weeks after yourself and no news yet. and now we are going into another lockdown till 31/01/21 ridiculous. Hopefully they have looked at the application as well not only acknowledged it .

Expecting my letter of approval along with my acknowledgment letter

exactly

I’m of the same situation. Applied on the 22nd of September, and still nothing. I completely knew there would be a delay, and it was to be expected.. but we are now going into the 4th month with no passport, with the potential of it going into 5 months without it. I get the impression that they can’t process any new applications because they cant do so working from home.But this is insane. It would at least give us some peace of mind if they at least communicated SOMETHING to us.

They have communicated this to you. You were advised that there will be significant delay with returning passports. I waited 5 months and had no problem with it because I read the warning.

The country is facing another lock-down. Very unlikely that their capacity will be reduced even further.
Be patient.

I applied around August 15th, my passports along with the acknowledgement letter were returned on August 29th I believe...

I more mean communicated with us through giving more regular updates about whether or not they are working.
You’re right in that they warned us about delays, but it would be helpful to hear about some form of status of things nonetheless.

@Martin79, I think you were lucky and got to it before the lockdowns took place!

agliolio wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:22 pm

I more mean communicated with us through giving more regular updates about whether or not they are working.
You’re right in that they warned us about delays, but it would be helpful to hear about some form of status of things nonetheless.

@Martin79, I think you were lucky and got to it before the lockdowns took place!

Expecting proper communication from INIS is a bit much in fairness. They treat future citizens quite terribly. Easily the worst government service I've yet to encounter.

Vorona wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:13 pm

They have communicated this to you. You were advised that there will be significant delay with returning passports. I waited 5 months and had no problem with it because I read the warning.

The country is facing another lock-down. Very unlikely that their capacity will be reduced even further.
Be patient.

But don't you think things could be done differently? It seems that the whole service is inefficient to the very core. For example, in the UK it took no more than 6 months to make a decision prior to COVID. Meanwhile we're easily looking at a year or more to even get to an advanced stage.


"You’ll be asked to make an appointment at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) service point to provide your biometric information (your fingerprints and a photo).

You do not need to send your documents anywhere. You can either:

upload copies into the online service
have them scanned at your UKVCAS appointment

You can also apply by post. This will take much longer than applying online because of coronavirus. Avoid applying by post, especially if you need your documents back by a specific date."

gabrielius wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:43 am

But don't you think things could be done differently? It seems that the whole service is inefficient to the very core. For example, in the UK it took no more than 6 months to make a decision prior to COVID. Meanwhile we're easily looking at a year or more to even get to an advanced stage.

Yes, I do think that things could have been done better. But they're not.
You can always contact them and provide your feedback and suggestions for improving their service.

Be patient.

The vast bulk of Citizenship staff are remote working, the verification of passports cannot be performed remotely due to data protection concerns.

delays in processing naturalisation applications ls common due to Covid-19 related restrictions and were over 23,187 applications at various stages within the system.

finally, they must send your application to the Minister for a decision then the Minister will take 26 weeks for maternity leave in Summer.

Mean, don't expect anything from them Until 2022.

contact them may be an unnecessary waste of resource and makes no difference.

So, You'll be contacted in a due course.

its not about citizenship approval just passport return.

denisaric wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:40 pm

its not about citizenship approval just passport return.

It's honestly not that difficult to see if the money is there, that all the pages are there, the statutory declaration is completed etc. Passport verification could be done on site using all the necessary precautions. Rapid testing of the employees could easily solve the problem.The applications have been sitting in quarantine for months!

gabrielius wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:06 pm

It's honestly not that difficult to see if the money is there, that all the pages are there, the statutory declaration is completed etc. Passport verification could be done on site using all the necessary precautions. Rapid testing of the employees could easily solve the problem.The applications have been sitting in quarantine for months!

Your application is not the only one they're processing. You may still end up waiting several years for a decision, speculating won't help. It can be anything, from COVID to your documents and criminal history. There's no two identical cases. Lot of people received their passports as per 2020 timeline.
Be patient, they know better what to do.

Vorona wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:51 pm

gabrielius wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:06 pm

It's honestly not that difficult to see if the money is there, that all the pages are there, the statutory declaration is completed etc. Passport verification could be done on site using all the necessary precautions. Rapid testing of the employees could easily solve the problem.The applications have been sitting in quarantine for months!

Your application is not the only one they're processing. You may still end up wait several years for a decision, speculating of the actual reason for the delay. It can be anything, from COVID to your documents and criminal history. There's no two identical cases. Lot of people received their passports as per 2020 timeline.
Be patient, they know better what to do.

Would be interesting to know how many people are actually working on them. If it's in the single digits, then your estimation is generous to say the least. My application is as straightforward as it gets so hopefully it will be quick. The only criminal thing I've done is steal a cookie while I was still wearing a nappie haha.

You will hardly find someone who believes that their application is not straightforward. All you can do is wait.

gabrielius wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:57 pm

Would be interesting to know how many people are actually working on them. If it's in the single digits, then your estimation is generous to say the least. My application is as straightforward as it gets so hopefully it will be quick. The only criminal thing I've done is steal a cookie while I was still wearing a nappie haha.

There was article in october 2019, that says "All citizenship applications are handled by 61 Inis staff in Tipperary, including both naturalisation (residents for five-plus years, or three years for spouses of Irish citizens) and “Irish association” applicants, eligible “through blood, affinity or adoption”. It think they hired some additional perm or temp staff but don't think it changed drastically.

One of the articles was also saying that some of INIS staff was redeployed for Covid19 tracing, as you can imagine it didn't speed up process as well.

I would say buckle up for a long ride, as for 50-60 people they quite efficient with 27-30K applications but it still can take time for some unlucky ones.

I am in a similar situation.
Application submitted on 8th September and no news since then.

Don't even know when i will get my original passports back. Should i send them an email and ask about it ?
At least an email would be good to know that they have recieved the applications.

From what I’ve been told, any new application’s cant be processed from home for data protection reasons. Which means staff need to be in the office to do so. Given Ireland is now in tier 5 again... I’m questioning if there are any staff in the office to process all these new applications. My guess is no and that they won’t be till ireland is out of tier 5 again.. sigh.

Passports have to be checked to ensure they are not counterfeit or altered in any way. This is crucial part of establishing identity of a person. They must be using special equipment or tools to check passports. It is also very likely that they are not allowed to take passports home.

I've sent them 4 original passports, all were mine. No surprise it took them so long

mamaqsoo wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 1:43 pm

I am in a similar situation.
Application submitted on 8th September and no news since then.

Don't even know when i will get my original passports back. Should i send them an email and ask about it ?
At least an email would be good to know that they have recieved the applications.

WHATTTTT?!?! You want them to treat you decently? INIS doesn't do personalised emails. They'll send you a generic one, if they're in the mood
You know what drives me crazy?
This:
"Application Based On: Spouse of an Irish citizen

Applied Date: 16th September 2020
Application received Date: 17th September 2020
Acknowledgement Date: 18th December 2020, as per signature on the letter.
Received phone call on the 30th December 2020
Received passport, letter and receipt 8th January 2021
Second Letter:
Approval:
Date of Ceremony:"

The person applied later than me, which suggests that they just throw all the applications in one pile and mix em up for fun. So much for working in chronological order. But they also give the person a call just before another lockdown! Talk about a lucky break. Would not be surprised if summer(case numbers aren't looking good right now) is the best they can do for us...

agliolio wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:47 pm

From what I’ve been told, any new application’s cant be processed from home for data protection reasons. Which means staff need to be in the office to do so. Given Ireland is now in tier 5 again... I’m questioning if there are any staff in the office to process all these new applications. My guess is no and that they won’t be till ireland is out of tier 5 again.. sigh.

I'd say all the staff are out doing contact tracing. I just can't believe that something as stupid as opening the country for Christmas was enough to throw everything off for a few extra months. This might not age well, but I think another lockdown will occur around March/April considering how complacent people have gotten.

Vorona wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:28 pm

Passports have to be checked to ensure they are not counterfeit or altered in any way. This is crucial part of establishing identity of a person. They must be using special equipment or tools to check passports. It is also very likely that they are not allowed to take passports home.

I've sent them 4 original passports, all were mine. No surprise it took them so long

I think they contact the issuer of the passport. Some counterfeits are brilliant, but would fall short of the security checks on the issuer end of things. As you could imagine, language barriers are a big obstacle.

"I've sent them 4 original passports, all were mine. No surprise it took them so long"
Damn it! Maybe this is the missing piece of the puzzle! INIS couldn't handle the strain of ALL FOUR PASSPORTS...

gabrielius wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:48 pm

I think they contact the issuer of the passport. Some counterfeits are brilliant, but would fall short of the security checks on the issuer end of things. As you could imagine, language barriers are a big obstacle.

They may send passports for authentication if they decide to do so. There have been cases where people submitted altered passports in order to hide their real identity and nationality.
I think that they have a lot of different examples of passport from every country that they will compare applicant's passport to and they will only go for authentication if it's necessary.