By Thorbjorn Bjornsson

The Althing (the Icelandic Parliament), on 27 December 2013, adopted Act no. 145/2013 on the Amendment of Various Acts Due to the Assignment of Tasks from the Ministry of Interior to District Commissioners and Specialised Agencies (hereafter, the Amendment). The Amendment transferred the responsibility over certain administrative procedures for naturalisation under the Citizenship Act no. 100/1952 (articles 7-11 of the Act, see EUDO CITIZENSHIP Country Report on naturalisation procedures in Iceland).  However, no changes as to the modalities of acquiring citizenship or the substantive conditions for naturalisation were introduced.

The task of awarding citizenship will now be in the hands of the Directorate of Immigration instead of the Minister of Interior, while administrative decisions on citizenship may be appealed to the Ministry. 

The preparatory document accompanying the Amendment states that the main goal of the reform is to increase efficiency and make better use of specialised knowledge in certain agencies. In the instance of citizenship, it is pointed out that under the previous procedure the Ministry was required to seek information from the Directorate of Immigration before making a decision on granting citizenship, but the agency is, inter alia, responsible for issuing residence permits. Thus, by entrusting the Directorate with this task previously held by Ministry, a certain synergy between the two would ensue, thereby resulting in a shorter process for citizenship applicants. Additionally, the general part of the preparatory document argues that the Amendment increases the protection granted to individuals as administrative decisions can now be appealed for revision by a higher authority on an administrative level, in line with general principles of Icelandic administrative law.