Getting Irish Citizenship

5Aces

A friend of mine moved to Ireland 9 years ago when he was 13 from South Africa. He attended school here and is currently a trainee electrician registered with FAS.

I assume he has been here long enough to qualify for citizenship?

He is hoping to go back to South Africa for a month in May and it seems that he may not get back into Ireland without a lot of hassle if he leaves.

He has filled out all the forms and is getting stonewalled by the gov.

What is the correct process, what are the requirements and how can this be pushed through in a reasonable timeframe?

Thanks.

eth0_

Is he here on a visa? Are his family still here? Surely the whole family would have applied for citizenship/permanent residency after they'd been here a few years?

Our man in Havana

He will be waiting years for an application for citizenship to be processed, I believe the waiting time is around 4 to 5 years at this stage.

5Aces

I dont know the whole story but his father moved here to work with the irish branch of a large multinational with his wife and 3 children. from what i understand the parents at least are all sorted. how long does someone have to be living here to apply for citizenship and is there anyway to fasttrack the application process or at least get to go to south africa for a month and be able to come back a month later without jumping through the whole bureaucratic nonsense for years?

Our man in Havana

How long does someone have to be living here to apply for citizenship?

5 years normally.

Is there anyway to fasttrack the application process or at least get to go to south africa for a month and be able to come back a month later without jumping through the whole bureaucratic nonsense for years?

What is his current status? Surely he has a stamp 4 i.e. permanent residency?
I am not aware of any method to jump the queue.

sheepshagger

You can apply after 5 years, takes a further 2.5 - 3yrs to be processed after that.

Moved here back in 2001 and got mine in April.

There is NO way of jumping the system, its painful and slow. . .but they know that if you want it you just have to wait.

eth0_

If he moved here with his parents, and his parents now have permanent residency then your friend and his siblings must also have residency.

If this is the case then he won't have any problem with going to SA.

5Aces

As he is 22 now i dont know that his parents having residency entitles him to it. he has been here long enough to qualify himself. anyway so he has applied and it will take a couple of years. what does he need to do now to come and go from ireland with no hassle seeing as application has not been processed yet?

Our man in Havana

Get him to go to the GNIB offices on Burgh Quay and have his status clarified.

walrusgumble

eth0_ wrote: »

If he moved here with his parents, and his parents now have permanent residency then your friend and his siblings must also have residency.

If this is the case then he won't have any problem with going to SA.

yeah yor right. when parent(s) have resided here on work permit/visa/authorisation (old name) - Stamp 1 (after so many years the parents definitely would have applied and sought for stamp 4 by then) children of the family can reside and do not need to register until they are 16 years(obviously you let the GNIB know the children are in the country of course). Normally the children, when they do register by 16, they will have no problems.

however, it has being known that the the gnib have only given the children some form of stamp 2's (rubbish, does not count for citizenship) or stamp 3 (not to bad, at least it it counts for citizenship)

here, it is pretty clear, the person has had permission to reside in ireland. but to be certain as to eligibilty for citizenship (probably won't have problems but never assume).for the record stamp 1, 3, and 4 are eligible for 5 years. make sure the last year before application has no gaps!!! very important.

are the parents citizens by now. if so he can apply on two basis. one, assuming he is ok on his own account and two, on basis of irish association.

unfortunately, it takes time. The shortest time to apply is three years, but this only applies to either a spouse of an irish national, who has resided legally in the country for one year (during the marriage) and is in a subsisiting marriage for the three years, or a person who received a declaration of asylum. the other quickest way is where a naturalised citizen applies for citizenship for a minor child, this normally takes between 6 months to 1 year.

The department, according to their website, www.inis.gov.ie, states it takes 23 months to process applications. recent high court cases of Ms Clark J and Cooke J this year have put an end to the recent trend of seeking and obtaining mandamus applications after waiting 1 1/2 years. so, either knowing a cough politican with connections cough or on the verge of being picked for the irish soccer or rugby team, the above is possibly the only quickiest way

Write to the Detective Inspector at the GNIB at 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2. quote his 69 number and request for a letter of reckonable residency (it will give one a record of their history in Ireland and the stamps). They respond within 2 weeks. (really, forget about thinking one will get to speak to someone competent by going in without an appointment. (in fairness the place is PACKED during the day with customers)

google for a consolidated version of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956- 2004

what does the friend's current gnib card say. one should never assume, particularily when dealing with dept of justice and gnib. just because someone makes an application for citizenship, this does not exempt non irish/eu people from keeping their immigration status up to date.

Nodferatu

thread closed!!

FreudianSlippers

Nodferatu wrote: »

thread closed!!

Is there some reason you felt the need to bump a 2 year old thread?:rolleyes: