Irish Naturalisation Residency

JonMac

I am a British citizen who moved to Ireland in 2005 after I retired. This is my home and I've decided to apply to become a citizen.
Section 5 Residency Permissions asks if you have been absent from the state for more than 6 weeks in any of the last 5 years.
Last Winter we rented an apartment in Spain and were gone for 12 weeks.
Does this ruin my application?
I've seen comments about the need for continuous residence in the year prior to the application.
Thanks.

hullaballoo

Someone with more knowledge of the area will answer in more detail but I cannot imagine that a 12 week absence for a holiday when you have otherwise been permanently resident here for over a decade could scupper your application.

It might be of use to you to contact an immigration solicitor, who would ensure that all the correct steps are taken and will save you time and hassle with the process. I cannot imagine they would be charging bucket loads for a fairly standard application such as this either.

I just think there are probably non-EU-necessitated rights for UK people here.

ohnonotgmail

JonMac wrote: »

I am a British citizen who moved to Ireland in 2005 after I retired. This is my home and I've decided to apply to become a citizen.
Section 5 Residency Permissions asks if you have been absent from the state for more than 6 weeks in any of the last 5 years.
Last Winter we rented an apartment in Spain and were gone for 12 weeks.
Does this ruin my application?
I've seen comments about the need for continuous residence in the year prior to the application.
Thanks.

the rules are quite clear. you do need to have been resident for the previous 12 months. if you were away last winter you will have to wait for 12 months from the date you returned to elapse. A friend of mine had the same issue.

from http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/becoming_an_irish_citizen_through_naturalisation.html

Have had a period of 365 days* (1 year) continuous reckonable residence in the State immediately before the date of your application for naturalisation and, during the 8 years preceding that, have had a total reckonable residence in the State amounting to 1,460 days* (4 years). Altogether you must have 5 years (5 x 365 days*) reckonable residence out of the last 9 years - see ‘calculating reckonable residence’ below, and

Dandelion6

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the rules are quite clear. you do need to have been resident for the previous 12 months. if you were away last winter you will have to wait for 12 months from the date you returned to elapse. A friend of mine had the same issue.

This is not necessarily true. It depends on the specific circumstances. Without going into too much detail a client of mine had an absence that would probably have seemed impossible to overcome on first glance, but we did it with the right amount of documentation to prove he remained resident in Ireland. An experienced solicitor can advise you on this.

ohnonotgmail

Dandelion6 wrote: »

This is not necessarily true. It depends on the specific circumstances. Without going into too much detail a client of mine had an absence that would probably have seemed impossible to overcome on first glance, but we did it with the right amount of documentation to prove he remained resident in Ireland. An experienced solicitor can advise you on this.

i would be very surprised if wanting 12 weeks of winter sun counts as extenuating circumstances

wokingvoter

JonMac wrote: »

I am a British citizen who moved to Ireland in 2005 after I retired. This is my home and I've decided to apply to become a citizen.
Section 5 Residency Permissions asks if you have been absent from the state for more than 6 weeks in any of the last 5 years.
Last Winter we rented an apartment in Spain and were gone for 12 weeks.
Does this ruin my application?
I've seen comments about the need for continuous residence in the year prior to the application.
Thanks.

No not at all. They will want to know exactly what day you left and returned and why you went.

Dandelion6

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i would be very surprised if wanting 12 weeks of winter sun counts as extenuating circumstances

The issue is residence in the State, not physical presence in the State. But again, it all depends on the circumstances.