I propose to take Questions Nos. 155, 156, 157, 158 and 159 together.
The Spouse of Irish National (SOIN) Unit of the Immigration Service Delivery in my Department deals with complex cases involving detailed assessment of the individual circumstances and compliance with relevant scheme criteria and various legal requirements. While every effort is made to process such written applications efficiently, processing times will vary due to a number of factors, such as the number of applications on hands, individual circumstances, the complexity of applications, whether further information is required, and the resources available.
The Unit endeavours to process applications as quickly as possible and I am advised that some cases may be processed within months of receipt. However more complex applications take in excess of 12 months to complete.
To be fair to all applicants, applications are dealt with in chronological order by date received and there are currently 289 applications at various stages of processing, details provided in the table below;
Unit
|
0 to 6 months
|
6 to 12 months
|
12 to 18 months
|
24 months +
|
Total
|
Spouse of an Irish National
|
180
|
81
|
27
|
1
|
289
|
Currently the Spouse of an Irish National (SOIN) Unit has 4 staff, a Higher Executive Officer, an Executive Officer and 2 Clerical Officers.