Template responses to email inquires and what they mean...

[Paddy_Leprechaun]

Hi all,
Over the last year or so, while waiting for my naturalisation application, I sent a few email inquiries and always received a template generic answer. It appears that every help desk team has their own template and basically they are all the same way of saying, "your application is in process" irrespective of any stage. Sharing below all responses I have received from 5 teams and wonder if everybody who received a response from the same team has a similar response or not? I believe all of them are different ways of saying the same thing which is "we have your application, be patient and we will process your application whenever we decided to do so...".

Team 1: Your application for naturalisation continues to be processed in the normal way with a view to establishing whether the applicant meets the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation and will be submitted to the Minister for decision when processing is complete. If further documentation and/or clarification of any matter related to your application is required from you, we will write to you requesting it.

Team 2: Your application continues to be processed. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

Team 3: Your application is still under consideration and has not yet reached a conclusion. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

Team 4: Your application is being prepared for submission to the Minister, it has not yet been submitted. You will be informed of the Ministers decision as expeditiously as possible.

Team 5: Thank you for your email. Your application for naturalisation continues to be processed. Please note each application is assessed on an individual basis and the amount of time gathering all the necessary information varies from application to application. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

[max307]

Hi all,
Over the last year or so, while waiting for my naturalisation application, I sent a few email inquiries and always received a template generic answer. It appears that every help desk team has their own template and basically they are all the same way of saying, "your application is in process" irrespective of any stage. Sharing below all responses I have received from 5 teams and wonder if everybody who received a response from the same team has a similar response or not? I believe all of them are different ways of saying the same thing which is "we have your application, be patient and we will process your application whenever we decided to do so...".

Team 1: Your application for naturalisation continues to be processed in the normal way with a view to establishing whether the applicant meets the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation and will be submitted to the Minister for decision when processing is complete. If further documentation and/or clarification of any matter related to your application is required from you, we will write to you requesting it.

Team 2: Your application continues to be processed. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

Team 3: Your application is still under consideration and has not yet reached a conclusion. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

Team 4: Your application is being prepared for submission to the Minister, it has not yet been submitted. You will be informed of the Ministers decision as expeditiously as possible.

Team 5: Thank you for your email. Your application for naturalisation continues to be processed. Please note each application is assessed on an individual basis and the amount of time gathering all the necessary information varies from application to application. While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

I think you are trying to overanalyze their responses, most of the time the person dealing with e-mail replies is looking at not up to date information on your application and replying with the first template they believe matches the status. I would say they have to reply hundreds of e-mails on a daily basis and after all citizenship is not a right so nothing you can really do other than wait.

No one really knows your actual status or the processing team dealing with the application unless you work at the Citizenship Division and have access to that information, my recommendation is to be patient and don’t overthink and overanalyze every single word because most of the time you are not getting a “real update” on your e-mail/phone enquiries.

[Paddy_Leprechaun]

What I intend to say is the exact same thing you are pointing to, all of these replies are saying the same thing.
As per legal requirement, they are obliged to answer any query related to an application submitted in a public office. But the pity is they are using templates and there is no guarantee that someone looked into your file and we never receive any detailed answer.

I wonder how hard it is to build a website, where someone can enter their application no. and can get a detailed answer listing all steps for application processing and indicating how many stages are completed and how many are left.

Nowadays we can see online all steps to process our pizza order, then why not for citizenship applications?

[max307]

What I intend to say is the exact same thing you are pointing to, all of these replies are saying the same thing.
As per legal requirement, they are obliged to answer any query related to an application submitted in a public office. But the pity is they are using templates and there is no guarantee that someone looked into your file and we never receive any detailed answer.

I wonder how hard it is to build a website, where someone can enter their application no. and can get a detailed answer listing all steps for application processing and indicating how many stages are completed and how many are left.

Nowadays we can see online all steps to process our pizza order, then why not for citizenship applications?

That’s a different topic all together and I’d rather not get into it, same thing happens in every other country when dealing with public service.

Just one thing here, there is no legal requirement here at all – naturalization in Ireland is a privilege and not a right and the Minister is granting citizenship at his/her own discretion.

As I said before my best recommendation is to be patient and you will get approved sooner than later.

[Paddy_Leprechaun]

By legal requirement, I didn't mean citizenship. I was talking about the freedom of information law, which is applied to all public offices. Based on my understanding, if anyone asks for information about their application, the department is bound to provide an answer or information. Giving a template answer still complies with this law anyway.

Public services might be bad everywhere, but it doesn't have to be like that necessarily

[max307]

By legal requirement, I didn't mean citizenship. I was talking about the freedom of information law, which is applied to all public offices. Based on my understanding, if anyone asks for information about their application, the department is bound to provide an answer or information. Giving a template answer still complies with this law anyway.

Public services might be bad everywhere, but it doesn't have to be like that necessarily

And they are providing updates on your application, now if that update is a meaningful one that’s questionable and actually really hard to prove if you were to legally challenge them.

You are more than welcome to join public office as soon as you become a citizen and maybe then we will see an improvement in the communication

[Cz2015]

I revived a response from team 6 today
It’s the first time Ive seen team 6
The response I got was “Please note that your application for naturalisation is being prepared for submission to the Minister.

[Grace620]

I have received letter your application is ready for submit to minister This week. Team 2

Anybody experienced how long to take hear back from minister ?

Regards Grace