polarcub wrote: ↑Thu Mar 04, 2021 4:30 am
[Based on legal advice]
The current situation at the department is there are a lot of delays. A straightforward application can take 18 months. (Apparently nationalities from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan are known to wait longer). There was already a backlog ahead of the 2019 court challenge, and when the legal challenge happened there was actually no processing for the full 4 months. The when covid happened processing halted for 6 months straight. There doesn't seem to be any real order to how and when applications get a decision - you can be lucky and it'll happen quickly or unlucky and wait years as your application collects dust.
To force a decision, you have to do a Judicial Review (JR). It's not a law, but it's a high court practise that you need to wait two years before making that application. A JR is the last resort. The steps towards forcing a decision is as follows:
1. Made a Freedom of Information (
FOI) request to the Department
- This is free and can take 5-8 weeks to process (based on the current situation).
- You do need to see what's in your file first.
2. Send the 1st warning letter
- A lawyer threatens the department with JR proceedings
- they are given about 6 weeks to respond
- This may force a decision, or may generate a generic response. But if there are any issues with the application (e.g. security checks) it will be stated at this point.
- To be a credible threat you need to be close to your 2 year waiting mark (say up to 3/4 months prior) or past it
- It can cost you around c.200 EUR
3. Send a 2nd warning letter (optional)
- depending on the response from the 1st letter your lawyer will determine if you need to do this
- Given another 6 weeks to respond
- You may get a decision at this stage
- It can cost you around c.200 EUR
4. JR proceedings
- Your lawyer will instruct a barrister (takes about 2 weeks) and then makes an application to the High Courts for a JR
- The High Court will always issue an Order of Mandamus (which forces the department to make a decision)
- The department doesn't fight a JR to drag it out, you get a decision within a few days
- This option is costly because your lawyer will rely on a barrister, but you would be doing this as a last resort and your lawyer will have confidence you have a solid case
- You can pay up to 5k for this stage depending on how reputable your lawyer is, but at the end will get a decision (it's worth noting that several people on this forum paid 1-1.5k for a JR)
The entire JR process from the moment the first warning letter is sent is 6 months. You are not entitled to citizenship, but you are entitled to get a decision on your application in a reasonable time. If you work backwards, the earliest you can start thinking about this process if you want to force a decision is after the anniversary of the 1.5 year waiting mark.
for positive decision 
