update regarding 2023 applicants being invited for October ceremony

Answer from Minister on the 2023 applicants getting the invitations for October ceremony. Going by the reply only 1036 2023 applications have been completed under the new process.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/qu ... ralisation

Question :

Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Justice to clarify how those who made applications for Irish citizenship by naturalisation earlier in 2023 have received their decision and have now been invited to the next citizenship ceremony in Dublin on 2 October, while those with applications for Irish citizenship by naturalisation who applied prior to 2022 are still awaiting a decision; the reason this delay has occurred for earlier applications; the action that her Department is taking to improve the timeframe for applications such as these; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Answer:

As part of this testing process a range of 2023 files were processed to conclusion earlier this year which has resulted in 1,036 applications from 2023 being naturalised. In the region of 13,000 applications have been received to date in 2023.

Full answer:
My Department is focused on continually identifying ways of improving the naturalisation process for applicants and reducing any backlog as soon as possible. Through adding staff, but also through digitising and streamlining services, processing rates have increased by over 30 percent against pre-pandemic figures.

Earlier this year the Citizenship Division of my Department wrote to all applicants explaining that, as improvements are made to the processing system, there may seem to be variation in how files are processed i.e. how long it takes to register, process and grant decisions.

A key feature of the new process is that applications are registered within a matter of weeks of receipt rather than months. As such the benefit of this approach will be felt by new applications rather than older ones. The new process also allows for earlier referral for e-vetting. While new applicants have benefitted from this, at the same time in the region of 13,000 older applicants have also been sent the same new e-vetting link.

While new applicants are benefitting from these enhancements at an earlier stage in their application, the new processes will ultimately help reduce the time it takes to process all applications. For example, it is expected that the vast majority of applications received in 2022 will be naturalised is less time than the current average processing time of 19 months

Citizenship Division’s current policy remains to process applications within sequence wherever possible, however, new processes must be tested to ensure they work. As part of this testing process a range of 2023 files were processed to conclusion earlier this year which has resulted in 1,036 applications from 2023 being naturalised. In the region of 13,000 applications have been received to date in 2023. For reference purposes, of the files received in 2021, 7,497 files have been naturalised to date along with 2,739 files from 2022.

As a result of the changes being implemented across Citizenship the vast majority of outstanding files from 2021 and 2022 (around 15,000 files) are now in the final stages of processing. These case are being prioritised for conclusion, however, every application is different and therefore some may take longer to process than others.

The changes to processing arrangements have also resulted in the finalisation of the vast majority of the backlog in Minor files and additional Citizenship Ceremonies to give applicants more opportunities to be naturalised.