The Court ruled that the Civil Registry and Migration Department failure to warrant the request with a simple response was wholly unjustified and is thereby ordered to provide an answer with immediate effect.
According to the facts of the case, the Jordanian national, born in Doha to a Jordanian father and a Cypriot mother, filed a request on July 5th 2010 for registration as a Cypriot national so she could receive citizenship given her maternal connections.
After 12 years of silence from the Civil Registry Department, the claimant filed an appeal to the Administrative Court as an adult and based on Article 146 of the Constitution, requested that the department be forced to decide on her application.
The Republic claimed that the documents and birth certificates issued by Arab countries needed further and time consuming investigation, as they were based on information that the applicants provided and not a national database, adding that the application was being processed.
In its latest decision, the Court noted that 16 years on, the request is still pending, disputing the Republic’s position that the application is being considered as the Jordanian woman’s file does not contain any other documents beyond the application and accompanying document, a lawyer’s letter dated March 9th 2015 requesting an update and the application to respond.
It therefore rules that the department did not act within a reasonable period of time and establishes failure to carry out its obligations.
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