Citizenship timeline tracker.

scrudu · Post by **scrudu** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:28 pm

I made this point before, but for those of you waiting months for Police Checks, I really suggest that you apply for your police checks personally and see what happens!

To apply personally costs nothing apart from a visit to your local Garda station to submit the request. The Garda clearance form should be received back about 1-2 weeks later (1 week in my case). Try submitting this to DoJ and see what they say then. Surely they can't still say "we're waiting for your police checks"? At least you'd be able to say, you have 1 copy at least! Surely worth a try???

another_immigrant · Post by **another_immigrant** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:42 pm

scrudu wrote:I made this point before, but for those of you waiting months for Police Checks, I really suggest that you apply for your police checks personally and see what happens!

To apply personally costs nothing apart from a visit to your local Garda station to submit the request. The Garda clearance form should be received back about 1-2 weeks later (1 week in my case). Try submitting this to DoJ and see what they say then. Surely they can't still say "we're waiting for your police checks"? At least you'd be able to say, you have 1 copy at least! Surely worth a try???

I'll wait till mid March and send a letter with the copy of the garda clearance from Vetting unit and ask: how come I received it in 3 weeks but they still haven't received since Oct 08... I guess - if I am not mistaken - they will write back saying that your clearance was requested from another Unit... I think this sort of mentality makes people lose their courage and sincerity for the country. It makes us feel like being dragged off and delayed on purpose and treated as 2nd class... pity...

kind regards,
AI.

ChIrl · Post by **ChIrl** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:02 pm

As per the enquiries made by me, I understand that INIS asks the clearance from GNIB, Dublin, who in turn requests the reports from Garda, Thurles office.

sashasolar wrote:Hi everybody,

Does anybody know where INIS Naturalisation requests Garda Checks from? Because my file is pending Garda clearance since 20th of October, I've decided to send a letter to Garda Vetting Unit asking for the status of that request. To my surprise, I have received a reply from them! They've advised that after checking their records they show no sign of INIS's request for my Garda Check...

There could be few reasons to it I think:
- INIS is requesting Garda Checks from a Unit other than the Vetting one.
- INIS is not telling us the trouth when saying they are waiting for Garda Clearing.
- The request for my check was misplaced somewhere along the way.
- Whoever in was looking after my letter in Garda Vetting Unit just made a mistake and didin't notice the request.

Any ideas:-)???

another_immigrant · Post by **another_immigrant** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:22 pm

ChIrl wrote:As per the enquiries made by me, I understand that INIS asks the clearance from GNIB, Dublin, who in turn requests the reports from Garda, Thurles office.

sashasolar wrote:Hi everybody,

Does anybody know where INIS Naturalisation requests Garda Checks from? Because my file is pending Garda clearance since 20th of October, I've decided to send a letter to Garda Vetting Unit asking for the status of that request. To my surprise, I have received a reply from them! They've advised that after checking their records they show no sign of INIS's request for my Garda Check...

There could be few reasons to it I think:
- INIS is requesting Garda Checks from a Unit other than the Vetting one.
- INIS is not telling us the trouth when saying they are waiting for Garda Clearing.
- The request for my check was misplaced somewhere along the way.
- Whoever in was looking after my letter in Garda Vetting Unit just made a mistake and didin't notice the request.

Any ideas:-)???

This is becoming a joke...

Thanks for update ChIrl.

scrudu · Post by **scrudu** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:30 pm

I've been doing a bit more researching and it seems there are two types of police clearance.

1) Police Certificate of Good Character

This can be requested by an individual and is typically used for periods of working abroad or immigration to another country. Requests for Certificates of Character are not processed in your local Garda station but instead, are sent to the Central Records Office in Garda Headquarters. Your completed Certificate of Character will be issued directly from Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park. The certificate, which is normally valid for one year, states your name, address, date of birth and also includes information about whether or not you have a criminal record or have ever come to the attention of the Gardai in Ireland.

- from personal experience I know this to take 1-2 weeks to receive.

2) Police Clearance

This can only be requested by an Employer/Organisation in particular areas (Healthcare, Education, Childcare, Youthwork, Bouncers/Security) with the signed approval of the individual. An individual may not personally request a Police Clearance Certificate. These are processed by the Garda Vetting Unit in Thurles, Tipperary. The Garda Central Vetting Unit will provide the Authorised Signatory with details of all prosecutions, successful or not, pending or completed and/or convictions. This includes road traffic offences. The Vetting Office may be contacted at 0504 27300. Choose option 8 to speak to an operator.

- Other employment forums say that the Police Checks normally take between 6 weeks and 3 months.

So it seems there are actually two places to apply for the different Police Certs. I guess the DoJ requests from the Vetting Office in Tipperary. I don't really see the difference between the 2 types of certificates to be honest. Both will list any previous, spent or current convictions which is what the DoJ wish to confirm and both will be accessing the same Records Database. The Police Clearance merely seems to be designed for Employers to assess new employees and ensure they have no criminal past.

sashasolar · Post by **sashasolar** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:55 pm

scrudu wrote:I've been doing a bit more researching and it seems there are two types of police clearance.

1) Police Certificate of Good Character

This can be requested by an individual and is typically used for periods of working abroad or immigration to another country. Requests for Certificates of Character are not processed in your local Garda station but instead, are sent to the Central Records Office in Garda Headquarters. Your completed Certificate of Character will be issued directly from Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park. The certificate, which is normally valid for one year, states your name, address, date of birth and also includes information about whether or not you have a criminal record or have ever come to the attention of the Gardai in Ireland.

- from personal experience I know this to take 1-2 weeks to receive.

2) Police Clearance

This can only be requested by an Employer/Organisation in particular areas (Healthcare, Education, Childcare, Youthwork, Bouncers/Security) with the signed approval of the individual. An individual may not personally request a Police Clearance Certificate. These are processed by the Garda Vetting Unit in Thurles, Tipperary. The Garda Central Vetting Unit will provide the Authorised Signatory with details of all prosecutions, successful or not, pending or completed and/or convictions. This includes road traffic offences. The Vetting Office may be contacted at 0504 27300. Choose option 8 to speak to an operator.

- Other employment forums say that the Police Checks normally take between 6 weeks and 3 months.

So it seems there are actually two places to apply for the different Police Certs. I guess the DoJ requests from the Vetting Office in Tipperary. I don't really see the difference between the 2 types of certificates to be honest. Both will list any previous, spent or current convictions which is what the DoJ wish to confirm and both will be accessing the same Records Database. The Police Clearance merely seems to be designed for Employers to assess new employees and ensure they have no criminal past.

Thanks scrudu.

I think INIS is requestgin Garda Good Character Reports from Central Records Office in Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park. Because they refer to the "Good Character" thing when they explain the process of Naturalisation. And because The Vetting Unit in Thurles Tipperary does not have a record of INIS requesting this clearance for me.
Plus "another_immigrant's" note above that he was looking for a Police Cert update from the Vetting Unit in Tipp and got same responce as me.
So, I think it's the Records Office in Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park we have to blame

scrudu · Post by **scrudu** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:03 pm

Pardon my cynicism, but I think it is more likely the following option from your earlier post

sashasolar wrote:- INIS is not telling us the trouth when saying they are waiting for Garda Clearing.

I think they delay the applications as long as possible and here is another part of the process where they can simply blame it on some other Gov Org. The pompous answer that Deputy Ahern offered (see LuasPassengers post below) seems to imply that one has no rights to question the length of time required by the Gardai to carry out such checks.

luaspassenger wrote:Dermot Ahern: One such condition is that the applicant must be of good character. This is established mainly by carrying out enquiries with An Garda SÃochÃ¡na and is an important stage in the processing of all applications for naturalisation.

The fact that the Police Certificate of Good Character is normally requested by the individual and can only be requested in certain circumstances, makes me think that this is NOT the route that the DoJ are taking.

LuasPassenger · Post by **LuasPassenger** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:39 pm

scrudu wrote:Pardon my cynicism, but I think it is more likely the following option from your earlier post
sashasolar wrote:- INIS is not telling us the trouth when saying they are waiting for Garda Clearing.
I think they delay the applications as long as possible and here is another part of the process where they can simply blame it on some other Gov Org. The pompous answer that Deputy Ahern offered (see LuasPassengers post below) seems to imply that one has no rights to question the length of time required by the Gardai to carry out such checks.
luaspassenger wrote:Dermot Ahern: One such condition is that the applicant must be of good character. This is established mainly by carrying out enquiries with An Garda SÃochÃ¡na and is an important stage in the processing of all applications for naturalisation.
The fact that the Police Certificate of Good Character is normally requested by the individual and can only be requested in certain circumstances, makes me think that this is NOT the route that the DoJ are taking.

Mmmh.... I'm not sure what they doing, but I actually think they are using the Garda Vetting Office. Here you can see my previous post with the complete Parliamentary Question and answer. Read especially the sentence I'm highligting in underline bold. From this I infer that this is a peak period. So probably the Vetting Office are getting many requests at this time. Probably they're checking all of the new teachers that will start to work in the next school year.

So maybe teachers are priority 1 and we're priority 2... I think teachers have priority because they work with children. So they probably want to get all teachers properly checked on time for the school year.

I don't know... But I do believe that they're having a high number of requests right now.

LuasPassenger wrote:Guess what? On Tuesday there was a Parliamentary Question on Garda clearance waiting times:

263. Deputy Aengus Ã“ Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if applications for naturalisation are being unnecessarily delayed due to backlogs at the Garda SÃochÃ¡na; the average length of time it takes for a report on the applicant to be received once it has been requested from the Garda SÃochÃ¡na; the measures he will introduce to deal with these delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3074/09]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern): The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. One such condition is that the applicant must be of good character. This is established mainly by carrying out enquiries with An Garda SÃochÃ¡na and is an important stage in the processing of all applications for naturalisation.

At present, 70% of all enquiries are receiving a response within 5 weeks, however, at certain peak periods each year this response time may not be possible. In very complex cases this process can take a lengthy time to complete and in a minority of cases this may take more than a year. This does not constitute an unnecessary delay in these complicated cases.

Officials from the Citizenship Division and An Garda SÃochÃ¡na are working together to ensure that any delays are minimised. However, there is a limit to the reduction in the processing time that can be achieved as applications for naturalisation must be processed in a way which preserves the necessary checks and balances to ensure that it is not undervalued and is only given to persons who genuinely satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria.
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.as ... 2113#N2113

astraclub · Post by **astraclub** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:16 pm

i rang tipp office and same answer since october---Garda Check
The lady just kept saying the same thing,
Than she said my application is in Dublin office

On asking on my wife's status, she said they have not received birth cert and marriage affidavit, which i sent it in october,
now how can this be true, i sent it and they messed up
I applied in Jan'06 and few of my friend applied after words, they have got letters and going for oath,
not sure is this pure luck or what but it is really testing my passions!

=======
how to contact Dublin office? also, how to know garda clearance is done, i am just thinking of turning up to my local garda station and ask what is going on???
any advice!!

anotherimmigrant · Post by **anotherimmigrant** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:56 pm

I think turning up at your local garda station is not good idea, I would recommand you to â€œWRITEâ€

ChIrl · Post by **ChIrl** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:51 pm

It is possible that Garda clearance is quicker for people who hold Gard Card (not Green book) since beginning. You might recall, we used to hold Green Book earlier and I don't think GNIB has computerised Green Bank card holders and hence delay. I noticed that Garda clearance is faster for people who applied mid or end of 2006. It's just my guess.

Contacting T.D won't speed up at all. You just get response saying that your application is at advance stage of processing, as happened in my case.

[quote="anotherimmigrant"]I think turning up at your local garda station is not good idea, I would recommand you to â€œWRITEâ€

LuasPassenger · Post by **LuasPassenger** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:29 pm

astraclub wrote:On asking on my wife's status, she said they have not received birth cert and marriage affidavit, which i sent it in october,
now how can this be true, i sent it and they messed up

It's always a good idea to send your documents by registered post. That way you can have a record that your documents were received.

EBS · Post by **EBS** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:53 pm

Any callers today?

I've heard on another forum, that Garda backlog is 3000 - ANOTHER YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LuasPassenger · Post by **LuasPassenger** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:56 pm

EBS wrote:Any callers today?

I've heard on another forum, that Garda backlog is 3000 - ANOTHER YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh... do you have a link to that forum?

YMC · Post by **YMC** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:21 pm

Called today, my case is still with the Gardai, the lady was not helpful, just kept saying there is a backlog, it takes 3 to 6 months.. Was like talking to an answering macine. When I asked, she said they do not send reminders (there you go!.), she also said Gardai deal with requests chronologically.

Yeah, right!.. chronologically my@rse. INIS must have a very twisted view of 'chronological' indeed. PMSL. She also said she would refuse to comment when I asked why it takes just weeks for some, not to mention thousands of 2007 applicaitons already approved. Applied in Feb-March 2006, documents sent in September 2008, still waiting.

IrlNational2009 · Post by **IrlNational2009** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:02 pm

Hi All, I need advice from you guys. I have applied for naturalisation in mid 2006 and have sent my additional document like p21 etc in Sept last year. I have a permanent residency. Now due to economic downturn I have lost my job. I have never been unemployed before. I am in financial difficulties and my creditors wants proof that I have registered for social welfare job seekers allowance. I am wondering if I register with them would that affect my naturalisation application?

crown · Post by **crown** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:46 pm

[quote="YMC"]Called today, my case is still with the Gardai, the lady was not helpful, just kept saying there is a backlog, it takes 3 to 6 months.. Was like talking to an answering macine. When I asked, she said they do not send reminders (there you go!.), she also said Gardai deal with requests chronologically. :shock: Yeah, right!.. chronologically my@rse. INIS must have a very twisted view of 'chronological' indeed. PMSL. She also said she would refuse to comment when I asked why it takes just weeks for some, not to mention thousands of 2007 applicaitons already approved. Applied in Feb-March 2006, documents sent in September 2008, still waiting. :evil:[/quote]

I suggest you try again. You could be lucky/favored and someone better picks the phone
I had similar problems and got through last month to someone nice She said my file has gone to the minister I guess this is the last stage Does anyone know if there has been some good news this year to any applicant? Since these names go to the minister monthly, I just want to follow up on what she has said
Thanks
Crown

goodone · Post by **goodone** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:05 pm

Hi All, I need advice from you guys. I have applied for naturalisation in mid 2006 and have sent my additional document like p21 etc in Sept last year. I have a permanent residency. Now due to economic downturn I have lost my job. I have never been unemployed before. I am in financial difficulties and my creditors wants proof that I have registered for social welfare job seekers allowance. I am wondering if I register with them would that affect my naturalisation application?

Unfortunately, as far as I know and heard from applicants and solicitors, being on the dole does affect the decision.

anotherimmigrant · Post by **anotherimmigrant** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:12 pm

I have called today, the automatic answer machine is saying processing application recieved on July 2006. Not sure what is that means. A lady answered my call (at last) she didnt any thing about my applicaiton as i am applied on Sept 2007. She also said they are processing applications of Late 2006.

It looks like no point calling agian for few more months i guess..

Dublin1 · Post by **Dublin1** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:11 pm

It is been long since anyone from the board came back with good news.
seems that there is bottle neck, holding many of us so far.

whilewaiting · Post by **whilewaiting** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:54 pm

Dublin1 wrote:I called INIS, been advised that they will send my file to the minister for decision, and the lady was saying the minster office will need to look at the case and make decision. My understanding it is kind of formality. Do the Minster office examine the application again ? Or do they have another criteria ?

Hay "Dublin1" in an early reply you stated that you applied for nat in Aug-2006 and Additional Document Submitted : Nov-2008 . How come you got your case cleared at Garda that quick ? Myself and some others submited additional docs Sep 08 and no feedback since . Did you fast track it somehow ?

aditya1111 · Post by **aditya1111** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:40 pm

this delay in the process might be recession thats wat i think we never know wats going inside jst be patient coz these people if we ring more and more and they reply the same stuff all the times they will be irritated and make more delay and we cant do anything
better dont ring them atall on helpline see wat they do. thats wat my opinion some people will read and say me stupid but every one is eager for reply and i have jst send in my file i can understand my friends who are waiting since 05 and 06.
jst hope for the best
and forget that we have applied this for sometime let them be suprised coz in the office when we ring them they answer same stuff they must be jst cursing us nothing else

IrlNational2009 · Post by **IrlNational2009** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:38 pm

goodone wrote:Hi All, I need advice from you guys. I have applied for naturalisation in mid 2006 and have sent my additional document like p21 etc in Sept last year. I have a permanent residency. Now due to economic downturn I have lost my job. I have never been unemployed before. I am in financial difficulties and my creditors wants proof that I have registered for social welfare job seekers allowance. I am wondering if I register with them would that affect my naturalisation application?

Unfortunately, as far as I know and heard from applicants and solicitors, being on the dole does affect the decision.

Thanks for the update...does anyone know if there is any difference in claiming social welfare benefits and job seekers allowance for temporary period

tiggs · Post by **tiggs** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:33 am

Hi all,
Will be calling today to check status of me application.

But one important thing i would like to share :
NON-EEA PEOPLE WHO BEEN IN IRELAND FOR MORE THAN 8 YEARS (should be on work permit /work authorization or something equivalent during those 8 years. Study/schooling years are excluded), don't waste time get your WITHOUT CONDITION AS TO TIME ENDORSEMENT.
All it takes is cover letter, all your passports (expired and current one) to be sent by registered post requesting that. You get a stamp(which says U are allowed to reside in Ireland till expiry of your passport). My passport expires in 2019

.
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Wi ... dorsements

I believe its better than LTR (which takes like so many months to get)

You wont believe me, it just took 2 days to get this stamp. INIS really got it right this time.

Rest will let you know wats status of my naturalisation application later.
Best of luck to all

Regards
Tiggs

EBS · Post by **EBS** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:17 am

tiggs wrote:Hi all,
Will be calling today to check status of me application.

But one important thing i would like to share :
NON-EEA PEOPLE WHO BEEN IN IRELAND FOR MORE THAN 8 YEARS (should be on work permit /work authorization or something equivalent during those 8 years. Study/schooling years are excluded), don't waste time get your WITHOUT CONDITION AS TO TIME ENDORSEMENT.
All it takes is cover letter, all your passports (expired and current one) to be sent by registered post requesting that. You get a stamp(which says U are allowed to reside in Ireland till expiry of your passport). My passport expires in 2019 .
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Wi ... dorsements

I believe its better than LTR (which takes like so many months to get)

You wont believe me, it just took 2 days to get this stamp. INIS really got it right this time.

Rest will let you know wats status of my naturalisation application later.
Best of luck to all

Regards
Tiggs

I've got this stamp in 3 days by Post, great !!! But still it doesnt give you full rights, and visa is still required to go somewhere.

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