Irish Citizenship by Birth

Irish citizenship by birth revolves around you and your parents. Therefore, if a parent or you were born in Ireland before 2005, this automatically makes you an Irish citizen, and passport applications can be made with no need for a citizenship application. However, if your parents or you were born in Ireland after 2005, then some factors will be taken into consideration regarding your citizenship.

Both the parent’s citizenship at the time of birth and the residency history of one of the parents before birth need to be considered.

Being an Irish citizen means that the person is recognised on a formal basis as a national of Ireland and therefore an EU citizen as well. This grants the citizen certain rights, including the right to an Irish passport and the right to work and live in the EU and Ireland.

The applicant can also request consular assistance from Irish embassies and other consulates abroad, such as those of any EU member states in countries of which there is no Irish representation.

Page Contents

• Irish Citizenship By Birth
• Who Is Eligible For an Irish Citizen By Birth?
• Requirements For Irish Citizenship By Birth
• How Long Does It Take To Get Irish Citizenship By Birth?
• How To Apply For Irish Citizenship By Birth
• Application Cost For Irish Citizenship By Birth
• Processing Time For Irish Citizenship By Birth
• How IAS Can Help
• Frequently Asked Questions

All people who were born in the Republic of Ireland before January 1st, 2005, automatically gain citizenship by birth, no matter the nationalities of the parents.

However, those who have been born in the country since this date will gain Irish citizenship by birth if at least one of their parents is considered to be an Irish citizen or is entitled to be an Irish citizen, British citizen, or a resident that has no time limit for their stay in the Republic of Ireland, or is a resident who has been domiciled in this country for at least three of the previous four years.

People who were born in Northern Ireland are typically entitled to Irish citizenship, although this is not automatically granted, and this is typically done under the same terms.

Foreign nationals can become Irish citizens by naturalisation after meeting a minimum requirement of residence, which is typically five years.

If your grandparents were born in Ireland but you and your parents were not, this would be considered citizenship by descent, not birth. This is its separate path to citizenship and can be beneficial if the individual can prove eligibility. Citizenship by birth is a reference only to the birth in Ireland of the applicant and their parents.

Those born to an Irish citizen parent or British citizen parent may be able to become Irish citizens if the following circumstances apply to them:

• If either of your parents were an Irish or UK citizen but died before your birth.
• If either of your parents was an Irish or UK citizen when you were born, and you were born in Ireland
• if either of your parents were an Irish or UK citizen when you were born and you were born in Northern Ireland.

Additionally, if you were born on or after January 1st, 2005, in Ireland and your parents were born UK citizens or Irish citizens, you can still become an Irish citizen if the following applies to you:

• One of your birth parents lived in Ireland, or Northern Ireland, for three out of the four years before your birth.
• One of your birth parents had the right to live in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland with no restrictions when you were born.

Several factors will determine the specific documents that will be required to acquire Irish citizenship. A person who seeks citizenship who was born in Ireland before January 1st, 2005, will not be required to apply.

However, those who were born in Ireland after January 1st, 2005, may need to complete an application, depending on the specifics of their situation.

If you are applying for Irish citizenship by birth after 2005, you will likely have to take the same path as those applying for Irish citizenship by descent. Your birth will need to be registered on the Foreign Births Register if it is not already.

This means if you have a parent who was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, you will need to register your birth on the Foreign Births Register before you start your citizenship application.

To do this, you will need to have documents prepared. These documents include the following:

• Your original birth certificate, showing your parent’s details.
• Two documents showing proof of address. These documents cannot be photocopied.
• Four passport-size photographs.
• A certified photocopy of a current and official state-issued ID.

You will also be required to provide documentation on the claim for citizenship. Therefore, if your parent was a citizen at the time of your birth, you will need to provide information regarding this.

Documents that can be provided will include the following:

• The parent’s original birth certificate.
• A change of name document if this is applicable.
• Original marriage certificate.
• A certified photocopy of any current state-issued ID or a certified death certificate copy should the parent be deceased at the time of application.

Once these documents have all been gathered, you will need to complete the online application form. There is an application fee, which you will be required to pay. This is €153 for under-18s and €278 for adults.

A part of your application for the Foreign Births Register is that the application is witnessed by a person who is personally known to you, the applicant, but is not a relative. This part of the process simply requires you to sign a printed copy of the form in front of the witness.

The witness will then need to stamp the form with an official stamp, or if they do not have one, provide a business card. They must then certify that the state identification copy is a true copy and then sign and verify two of the four passport-size photographs.

The application process for getting Irish citizenship by birth does vary. However, if you apply through the Foreign Births Register, you can expect it to be processed within six months. That being said, in some cases, it can take up to a year for an application to be processed.

It is important to ensure that if you’re applying through this route, you provide all relevant documents in good time to support your application. If not, the application processing time may end up being extended, or your application may be refused.

What Should I Do If My Application Is Refused?

If your application to the Foreign Births Register is refused, you will receive a letter that will explain the reasons why the application was refused. Should you have provided all of the required supporting documentation along with your application, you will have the right to appeal this decision.

You will need to write an appeal letter within six weeks of the date the application was refused if you wish to appeal this decision.

If this should happen to you, then seeking out a lawyer and legal advice is pivotal and can make a massive difference. If you wish to appeal against an application refusal, speak to one of our consultants at IAS at +44 (0)333 305 9375 for some help in doing so.

Those who were born outside of Ireland and have parents also born outside of Ireland but were Irish citizens at the time of their birth or were entitled to Irish citizenship at their time of birth will also be entitled to Irish citizenship.

To claim Irish citizenship, you will need to have your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register. This is unless your parent was abroad in the public service at your time of birth.

Should you be entitled to register, then your Irish citizenship will be effective from the date of your registration, not from the date when you were born.

If you were born in Ireland before January 1st, 2005, you will not need to complete an application to gain citizenship.

The application fee for a Foreign Births Register application is €153 for persons under 18 and €278 for persons over the age of 18. There are no additional costs noted for this application.

It can take between six and twelve months for an Irish citizenship-by-birth application to be processed with the Foreign Births Register. Ensure you submit all necessary documents correctly and supply all needed information to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible and reduces the chance of any potential delays in your application being processed.