The Irish Department of Justice has introduced a platform that enables candidates to submit their citizenship applications online, simplifying and making the process more accessible.
According to a press release by the authority, the forms provided at this platform will make the process seamless and help guide applicants through what is required in the following steps.
So, candidates for Irish citizenship will now be able to complete their application form, upload their documents and make payments online, removing the unnecessary bureaucratic procedures entirely. However, the paper-based application will remain available to those who cannot access an online service. Approximately 31,000 applications are currently on hand.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee pointed out that the new online system for citizenship applications will improve the public service and increase the efficiency of the application process.
One of my strategic priorities as minister for justice is to deliver a fair and balanced immigration system which is fit for the digital age. Accelerating innovation and digital transformation across the justice sector to ensure our systems are modern, efficient and accessible is key to this.
She also pointed out that applications for citizenship have been increasing in the last years, reaching up to 17,000 last year alone. So far this year, 16,000 citizenship applications have been submitted, and this number can continue to rise until the end of the year.
The digitisation of the citizenship application process will also improve the capacity of my Department to process the growing number of applications efficiently.
From a sustainability and customer service perspective, reducing paper-based systems is a strategic objective across government, and I am pleased that my Department is also making positive progress in that regard.
According to data from the Department of Justice, the number of citizenship applications in Ireland has increased significantly since 2019, jumping from 12,307 to 17,139 in 2022, which is a 39.2 per cent increase.
However, applications experienced a drop in the pandemic times, only reaching 10,785 and experiencing a slight increase in the following year – 11,974.
Moreover, there are significant changes within the naturalisation process as the Citizenship Division expects it to become more efficient, with one of the improvements being the reduction of waiting times for files to be registered. There has been an improvement recorded on the matter, as it took seven months to be registered, and now it takes a few weeks to process.
