Written answers

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Department of Justice and Equality

Citizenship Applications

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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1062. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current waiting times for citizenship applications in the years 2019 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2097/25]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to inform the Deputy that processing times are now decreasing year on year. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2024 was 8 months, down from 15 months in 2023, and 19 months in 2022.

I expect that going forward, the vast majority of applicants will continue to receive a decision within one year, however, it is important to note that no two naturalisation applications are the same and some take longer than others to process.

I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants, particularly considering the current processing times. I want to assure anyone who has an application for naturalisation submitted that the Citizenship Division of my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

Given the importance of citizenship, robust and comprehensive checks must take place on each application. Unfortunately, some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely out of the control of the Immigration Service.

In just over two years the Citizenship Division of my Department has gone from processing around 12,000 applications a year, to processing over 20,000 applications in 2023 and over 31,000 in 2024.

The previous backlogs in application processing in Citizenship had arisen largely due to the paper based nature of the applications, and the legacy of restrictions imposed on staff attendance in the office during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The below table shows the total number of applications received from 2019 to 2024, and the median application processing time for each respective year.

Year Total Applications Received Median Processing time
2019 12,280 10
2020 10,785 12
2021 11,973 24
2022 17,188 18
2023 23,114 15
2024 27,376 8
*Please note, figures are correct at time of issue; however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing.

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