Written answers

Thursday, 3 May 2012

Department of Justice, Equality and Defence

Citizenship Applications

3:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 235: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the total Stamp 4 validated residency in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15; the extent to which this is valid for an application for naturalisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22353/12]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned was granted temporary permission to remain in the State in 2002, under the arrangements then in place for the non-EEA parents of Irish born children. This permission was renewed on a regular basis and is currently valid until 30 June, 2012. I would advise the person concerned to contact the Administration Section of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to obtain a record of her reckonable residency in the State for naturalisation purposes.

Section 15 of 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 of these conditions is that the applicant must have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of the application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years. It is open to any individual to lodge an application for citizenship if and when they are in a position to meet the prescribed statutory requirements. The on-line Naturalisation Residency Calculator can be used as a guide to whether an individual satisfies the naturalisation residency conditions and, if not, give an indication of how long they should wait before making an application.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.

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