Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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235. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a 'spouse of an Irish national' application (details supplied) will be processed, as it has been with her Department for over 12 months and is still in the queue for processing, given that the Department repeatedly states that applications can take approximately 12 months to finalise, and yet this application has not even begun processing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28891/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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An application for a Spouse of Irish National (SOIN) permission was received from the person referred to by the Deputy on 23 May 2022 and continues to be processed.

To be fair to all applicants, applications are dealt with in chronological order by date received. My Department endeavours to process applications as quickly as possible. However, processing times may vary due to a number of factors, such as the number of applications on hand, individual circumstances, the complexity of applications, whether further information is required, and the resources available.

Additionally, the Domestic Residence and Permissions Division of my Department are currently receiving very high levels of applications across several of their immigration schemes, which is causing some delays. The Division are working hard to finalise applications as quickly as possible and appreciate customers’ patience as they deal with this increase.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by email using the Oireachtas Mail facility at INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, 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 Question process. The Deputy may consider using the email service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress that has been made to date in the determination of an application as part of recent undocumented scheme in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28937/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The application for the person referred to by the Deputy was received by the Undocumented Unit of my Department on 9 February 2022 and continues to be processed. Due to the large number of applications on hand it is not possible to provide a definitive timeframe for a decision to issue.

The processing times of applications will vary depending on the complexity of the application, whether it is a single or family application, the supporting documentation and the vetting process with An Garda Síochána (AGS). Applications where there is an existing deportation order will also require additional processing.

Each application received is assessed individually in accordance with the published criteria, available on my Department's immigration website at: www.irishimmigration.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Undocumented-Policy-Scheme-January-2022.pdf.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by email using the Oireachtas Mail facility at INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, 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 Question process. The Deputy may consider using the email service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.