High Court ruling ‘paves way to challenge’ delays in citizenship applications
The High Court last month granted two clients of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) leave to apply for judicial review of the Justice Minister’s failure to decide on their citizenship applications in a timely manner.
In one of the cases, the ICI says the minister has delayed for more than four years deciding on an application for citizenship by an Iraqi refugee.
In the other, the minister has allegedly “failed to decide within the six months stipulated under EU law whether to grant a residence permit to a Pakistani woman who fled from her EU-national husband in Ireland due to domestic violence, and is now seeking to remain here on an independent basis.”
On 11 June last in the High Court, Mr Justice Cooke granted leave to apply for judicial review in the case brought by a Mr Al Ansary, who fled Iraq in 2003 and was granted refugee status in Ireland in 2004.
He also granted leave to apply for judicial review in the case brought by a Ms Iftikhar, who has been resident here since 2007 following her marriage to a Belgian national working in the State.
Commenting on the proceedings, ICI senior solicitor Hilkka Becker said: “We are pleased the High Court has granted us leave to apply for judicial review of both cases. This paves the way for us to challenge these undue delays.
“We are aware of many other cases before the High Court challenging administrative delay in these types of immigration and citizenship cases,” she added. “The case of the Pakistani woman again highlights the need to grant independent residence permits to victims of domestic violence and to make decisions on their applications within the timeframe specified under EU law.”
She also noted that the ICI “has long highlighted how delays in processing applications negatively affect many migrants seeking to reside in the State. Indeed, in December 2011, the High Court ruled that a delay of three years and nine months in processing a naturalisation application was excessive.
“So this Iraqi man – who has been waiting for over four years for a decision on his case – has been left with no alternative but to issue legal proceedings in order to attempt to force the minister to make a decision on his application.”
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has introduced reforms of the naturalisation process following the Fine Gael-Labour coalition Government taking office last year.
Since early this year, average wait times for citizenship applications have been reduced from two years to a matter of months in many cases.
