Immigration Data

The Immigration Service of my Department has made significant efforts to continue to process applications as quickly as possible in the areas referred to by the Deputy during the pandemic. However, there has unavoidably been some delays.

The Programme for Government commits to processing applications for international protection at first instance with the aim to reduce median processing times to 9 months or below as soon as possible. It also commits to ensuring that additional resources designated for the International Protection Office (IPO) are deployed in the most efficient and effective way possible to increase the output of quality decisions. I was pleased to secure an additional €1.75m in Budget 2021 for the efficient functioning of the international protection system, which will help us to further improve processing times for applications.

The IPO is working hard to try to achieve a target of 9 months in the vast majority of cases.  Efforts to improve processing times have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced the output of decisions considerably. At the end of Q3 2020, the median processing time for all cases processed at first instance in that quarter was 18.3 months and 14 months for prioritised cases.  This is compared with the position at the end of Q1 2020 where the median processing times for all cases processed in that quarter was 14.7 months and 9.8 months for prioritised cases.  The number of cases on hand at the IPO is just over 5,000 at present.

For appeals against negative recommendations of the IPO, the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) had set as an objective this year that the average processing times, where an oral hearing is required, would be reduced to 90 working days. However, this has understandably been impacted due to the pandemic. All scheduled onsite hearings were postponed from 22 October 2020 due to Level 5 restrictions.  They recommenced again on 1 December 2020, in line with the move to Level 3 restrictions. 

My Department is committed to achieving a reduction in processing times for both first instance decisions and appeals to 6 months each respectively as far as possible in line with the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group. An end to end process review is currently underway which will help guide on the approach and resource requirements.  I also secured additional funding in Budget 2021 to support our ICT strategy, a significant portion of which will be used for immigration and international protection purposes.  

Regarding citizenship applications, in general, the current target is that it should take around 12 months for a standard application for a certificate of naturalisation to be processed from the date it is received to the date a decision is made. However, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process.  In some instances, completing the necessary checks, including security checks can take a considerable period of time with the result in some applications taking longer than the average timescale.

At the end of October there were 23,187 applications being processed at various stages within the system, ranging from those just received by the Citizenship Division to those where a decision has been made but it is not possible to issue an invitation to a ceremony.

My Department is working on various solutions to process the existing caseload on hand, including the enhanced website which provides prospective applicants with greater information than before, the roll-out earlier this year of the e-payments facility, along with a range of other ICT solutions which are being progressed. Moving to e-tax clearance and e-Vetting will also support speedier processing going forward.  The situation continues to be monitored in order to improve service to our customers.

I recently announced that citizenship ceremonies will be temporarily replaced,  while COVID-19 restrictions are in place,  with a requirement for citizenship applicants to sign an affidavit declaring loyalty to the State. I expect that the Statutory Instrument to give effect to this change will be in place early in the New Year. It is my intention that in-person citizenship ceremonies will recommence as soon as circumstances allow.