If you have an Irish parent or grandparent and have been thinking about applying for citizenship, know that it is doable. But first you need to know if you qualify and then figure out how to apply for Irish citizenship.
It is doable by yourself if you qualify. Unlike some countries with onerous requirements that almost require you hire an agent in country to navigate the process, Ireland is relatively straightforward.
Who qualifies for Irish citizenship?
If you have a parent or grandparent who was born on the island of Ireland, you qualify for citizenship. In fact, if you were born on the island of Ireland prior to 2005, you automatically have Irish citizenship, and the same holds true if your parent was born in Ireland.
If you have a grandparent born in Ireland, you can apply for citizenship through the Foreign Births Register, which is the focus of this article. I went through this process personally and can share exactly what I did and can happily report that I am officially an Irish citizen.
There are other ways to gain citizenship through adoption and through naturalization, for example. Those are more complicated and not what I did.
Can you have dual citizenship with Ireland?
In many cases, you can have dual citizenship with Ireland and your home country. The United States and Canada both allow dual citizenship, which is where many who are looking to gain Irish citizenship are from.
Ireland does allow dual citizenship, so if you are a citizen of another country, verify through that country that they allow dual citizenship, as well. Some countries will terminate your citizenship if you gain citizenship of a second country, and you need to make that decision carefully.
What is the benefit of getting your Irish citizenship?
As an Irish citizen, the main benefit is having an Irish passport and being able to live and work in Ireland without requiring a visa or having other restrictions. Since Ireland is part of the European Union, these benefits apply to all the member states of the European Union, as well.
This is the main reason that people want to get Irish citizenship, and it’s why I decided to apply for it myself. There are other rights you have as an Irish citizen like being able to hold office, vote in elections, and receive diplomatic assistance from the Irish or EU embassy when traveling on your Irish passport.
Note that if you choose to travel on your Irish passport, you do not necessarily retain the ability to have assistance from the United States embassy (for example), but that doesn’t mean you are without assistance. It can also make going through customs faster when you use your Irish passport in the European Union.
Once you hae your Irish citizenship, getting your Irish passport is pretty straightforward. I had my passport under two months from when I requested it. This article shares exactly how to get your Irish passport when you’re ready.
How long does it take to receive your citizenship?
When you look at the official website, it currently states that it will take approximately nine months to process applications for Irish citizenship once they receive them. This is an estimate, and it depends on the volume of requests and how complete your application was.
When I applied in October of 2023, the timeline was 24 months or more on the website, so the processing time has changed significantly. It may change again, so just like getting your United States passport, don’t count on the listed processing times as being a guarantee.
I was lucky that I received confirmation of the approval of my Irish citizenship in just under 11 months from when I sent in my application. Note that this was my experience and not everyone’s.
Gaining your citizenship does not mean you have a passport. That is a separate step that you can choose to do once you receive your record of Foreign Births Registration, but this is also a very straightforward process.
How do you get an Irish passport?
Once you have your Irish citizenship, you can apply for a passport. My mom, for example, qualified for automatic Irish citizenship as her father was born in Ireland, and we were able to apply for her passport without jumping through additional hoops.
The application is easy to do, and the turnaround is much faster. My mom received her passport in under two months from the time she sent if off.
How much does it cost to apply for the Irish Foreign Births Register?
The current fees to apply for your Irish citizenship is 278 euros for adults and 153 euros for children under 18. This is the total fee from the Irish government, and it includes shipping your documents back to you at the end of the process.
In addition to the fees for the application that you pay once you submit the online portion of the application, you also need to have a printed passport photo. You also need original copies of all your documents, and you generally will need to request them from the original sources and pay for those copies.
Lastly, you have the cost of postage to mail your printed application and supporting documents. Make sure that you send it via registered mail which costs a little more; for me, it was a little under $30.
Altogether, plan to spend a little over $400 for adults and $275 for children – depending upon the current exchange rate. This will vary slightly depending upon what documents you already have in hand and which you need to request.
What documents do you need to apply for your Irish citizenship?
If you are applying for Irish citizenship via the Foreign Births Register, gather all your documents before you begin your application online. You need to know all the dates of your, your parents, and your grandparents’ birth, marriages, and deaths, as applicable both to get the documents and to fill out the application.
For your grandparent born in Ireland, be sure that you know not just the date of their birth but also the town and county where they were born. If you don’t know the county, you can look it up to confirm that you have the correct data.
When I am talking about parent and grandparent as it relates to documents, it refers to going up the line to your Irish descent. For example, my grandfather was born in Belfast. I needed his information as well as the information for my mother (his daughter), not for my father or any other grandparents.
The documents you need include:
- Your original birth certificate (not a copy and not the one from the hospital)
- If you changed your name, your marriage certificate or change of name document (original and not a copy)
- Certified copy of your current and valid state-issued identification (yes, a photocopy this time, and it can be your driver’s license, your passport, or a national identity card – more on the certified piece in a bit)
- Two proofs of your address (not copies – bank statements, mail from the government, utility bills, etc count for this)
- Four color photographs (more on this below)
- If you are applying for a child, you must include a letter from the child’s school or doctor that verifies your address
- If you are applying for a child, you must also provide proof of guardianship (birth certificate showing you are the parent or legal adoption papers or other guardianship documents)
- Your parent’s original birth certificate
- Your parent’s original marriage certificate or name change (if there was a name change)
- Your parent’s certified copy of current state-issued identification or certified copy of the death certificate if they are deceased
- Your grandparent’s original birth certificate (yes, the birth certificate from Ireland, which takes a couple weeks to receive)
- Your grandparent’s original marriage certificate or name change (if there was a name change)
- Your grandparent’s certified copy of current state-issued identification or certified copy of the death certificate if they are deceased
If you do not have copies of any of these documents, you will need to request them from the relevant agency before you mail in your application. You can submit the electronic application without them, but know that you have just six months to submit the paper application and supporting documents from the date you submit the application.
You also have to pay for the application when you submit it. This is not an insignificant investment, so I recommend you gather your documents before you complete your application.
How do you get a copy of the original Irish birth or marriage certificate for a grandparent?
If you do not have an original certified birth certificate for the grandparent born in Ireland, you can request it online. You need the long-form birth certificate for this, not the uncertified copy you can order via phone or walk-in.
You can follow this same process if your grandparents married in Ireland. Order the copies at the same time, as you can save on postage.
If your grandparent was born in Northern Ireland, you can request it through the General Register Office of Northern Ireland. If your grandparent was born outside Northern Ireland, you can request it via the Ireland General Register Office, which is slightly more expensive than the one for Northern Ireland.
I was able to order my grandfather’s birth certificate via the Northern Ireland site, and it arrived very quickly. I also ordered multiple copies, as it was 15 euros for one certificate and 8 euros for each additional copy plus about 2 euros for postage and my mom was applying for her Irish passport at the same time.
The document from the Ireland General Register Office costs 20 euros no matter how many you order, though there is a limit of 10, with a 3 euro fee to mail it outside Ireland. Both ship directly to you within a couple weeks, and no, you do not need the certificate authenticated.
To make the application, be sure you have the full names of everyone involved, the relevant date of the birth or marriage, the address (or at least the town) where it occurred. If you have only estimates, you can provide those, but it may take longer to do the research to provide you with the certificates.
What counts as a certified copy of documents?
Some of the documents you provide need to be certified as true by a professional recognized by the Irish government. That includes the copies of all government identification you need to provide, as well as two of your passport photos and two of your child’s passport photos if you are applying for the Foreign Birth Registration for a minor.
The copies must include the statement ‘Certified to be a true copy/translation of the original seen by me’ on the document, then they must sign and date the document, print their name under the signature, and add their occupation, address and telephone number.
Be sure they attach their stamp or seal, business card if they do not have a stamp, or include their professional register reference number. It sounds more complex than it is, so don’t get too hung up on this.
They must also sign and stamp the form you print when you complete the online application. For the photos, simply sign and verify on the back of the photo and note that you also have to sign and date two of the photos.
The good news is that there is a wide range of people who can do this service for you, so you should be able to find someone relatively easily. The person cannot be related to you, but so long as you know them and they are currently practicing in their profession, they may sign.
Personally known to you means that you have proven your identity to them. It does not mean that they have to be a personal friend.
You can choose from:
- Police Officer
- School Principal, Vice Principal, Teacher, School Secretary, Pre-school Manager, Montessori Teacher, or Lecturer
- Member of Clergy
- Medical Doctor
- Nurse
- Physiotherapist
- Speech Therapist
- Pharmacist
- Dentist
- Lawyer
- Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths
- Peace Commissioner
- Bank Manager or Assistant Bank Manager or Credit Union Manager or Assistant Manager
- Accountant
- Elected Public Representative
- Vet
- Chartered Engineer
What are the passport photo requirements for your Irish Foreign Births Registration?
I initially found it confusing when the application talked about passport photos for my Irish citizenship application when I was not applying for my passport yet, but this refers to the style of the photo. These are similar to the photos you take when you apply for your standard United States passport, but there are some differences.
First, you need four photos, not the two you typically provide when you apply for a passport. Just like with a United States passport, you can choose to take them yourself or get passport photos from an agency like Walgreens or CVS or AAA or other places that take passport photos.
You cannot smile in your photo, and your head must be straight on without any tilt or turn to it. If you wear glasses, make sure there is no glare, though are are allowed to wear glasses in your photo.
You do not need to show one ear like you used to, but your hair cannot cover your eyes. You want to have your head about 70-80% of the image and that your top of your torso also shows.
Make sure you do not attach the photos to the printed application form as they will reject anything with staple or pin marks on them. They need to be loose, so you can put them in a small folder or leave them in the printed passport booklet that most agencies provide.
How do you apply for your citizenship?
All applications must be submitted online via the Department of Foreign Affairs. Be sure you have all the required information before you start, and know that you need to print the completed application after you submit your payment and mail it within six months.
Most of the application is fairly straightforward. The first tricky place is on the first page, however, where it asks how your parent acquired Irish citizenship. For most people, this will be born abroad to a parent born in Ireland, not the Foreign Births Registration that you are applying for.
In terms of terminology, know that forename refers to the first name, and surname is the last name. Also be aware throughout the application that they use the European date system, so it is date, month, year and not month, date, year that we’re used to in the United States.
The second page asks for your information, and the third page asks for the information of your parent. The last question on the first section asks for the mother’s birth surname, which is your parent’s mother’s maiden name.
In general, neither you, nor your parent, nor your grandparent will have made a declaration of alienage to renounce the Irish citizenship, nor were any names generally changed via deed poll. If they were, you would know about it, so you can usually safely answer no to both questions.
The fourth page asks for the same information for your grandparent, including needing to know your grandparent’s mother’s maiden name, which you will know from having requested the birth certificate. You also need to know your grandparent’s county of birth, so remember this from that same request.
Pro tip: I created a document when I started that included all the relevant information so I could access it easily. You can create a copy of my template for yourself and fill out the applicable fields to make everything go faster.
The fifth page is pretty self-explanatory, as it simply asks for your contact information like address, phone number, and email address. You have the option to tick a box to not receive email updates, but email is the fastest method to communicate if there are issues or when you have approval, so I would not check that box.
From there, you simply need to print your application and submit the payment. Once you print the application, make sure you have the correct documents – which will be listed on the application again – and that the ones that need to be signed and verified by you and an official witness are completed.
The mailing address is listed on the application along with instructions about how to submit it. Place it in a manila envelope and mail it via registered mail, then wait.
What happens when your application for Irish citizenship is approved?
You will not get any updates until your application is approved or refused. If your application is approved, you will receive an email letting you know that the certificate has been approved and is being mailed to you.
You need to sign for the letter when it arrives or it will be returned to the post office for delivery another day. I had to go to the post office myself to pick it up as I was not home on the original delivery date that was just over a week after I received the email confirmation.
The package includes not just your Certificate for Foreign Births Registration but all of the documents you originally submitted. The only thing not included is three of your photos – the fourth is laminated and included on your certificate.
What if your Foreign Births Registration is refused?
If you do not provide all the required documents or if something is not accurate or does not meet the Foreign Birth Registration requirements, your application may be denied. If this happens, you will receive a letter of refusal in the mail that explains exactly why your application was refused.
You can appeal the decision, but you have only six weeks to do so from the date of the letter. You must appeal in writing to:
Foreign Birth Registration Appeals Officer
Foreign Births Registration Section
PO Box 13003
Balbriggan, Co Dublin
Ireland
What other questions do you have about how to apply for Irish citizenship?
