The Directorate of Immigration has started using the Digtal Mailbox on Island.is in communication with applicants for Icelandic citizenship. This means that the Directorate will no longer send documents by mail or e-mail to applicants, such as requests for further documents, notifications of granting citizenship or refusals of applications.

All individuals with an Icelandic ID (kennitala) have access to their own Digital Mailbox on Island.is. The Mailbox can be configured to notify its owner by email or by a push notification to the Island.is app that a new document is waiting for them in their Mailbox.

Please note that when documents have been made available in a Digital Mailbox, they are considered to have been disclosed to the recipient and have legal effect. It is not necessary for the recipient to log in to the Mailbox and read the documents, instead the documents have been disclosed as of the date when they were made available in the mailbox and the recipient could have read the documents. Deadlines mentioned in documents from the Directorate start counting from the date when documents have been made available in the Mailbox. This applies for example to deadlines for submitting further documents for the processing of applications or deadlines for appealing the Directorate's decision.

So far the Directorate has taken six out of nine Digtal Steps defined by Digital Iceland. Connecting to the Digital Mailbox is a very important one as it increases efficiency of application processing and reduces costs. The Mailbox also improves service to applicants who will receive documents from the Directorate of Immigration faster and more securely than before.

In the next phase, the Mailbox will be implemented for communication with applicants for residence permits.