Citizenship
Frequently asked questions about Irish citizenship
- If I apply for Irish citizenship will I have to surrender my existing citizenship?
- I was born and am living in Northern Ireland. I don’t hold any passport. Am I an Irish citizen?
- I was born and am living in Northern Ireland. I hold a UK passport. Am I an Irish citizen?
- How do I get an Irish passport?
- Can I apply under any circumstances if I have not been resident in the State for 5 years?
- Can I have the fee waived?
- What happens if I leave the State while my application is being processed?
- Can my spouse and children apply at the same time?
- What does "good character" mean?
- My child was born in Ireland after 1st January, 2005, are they an Irish citizen?
- Citizenship by Descent
- What happens to my application after I submit it?
- How is my period of residency calculated ?
- Q. If I apply for Irish citizenship will I have to surrender my existing citizenship?
A. As far as Irish law is concerned, there is no difficulty about holding Irish citizenship and at the same time citizenship of another State. Some other countries, however, have citizenship laws which do not permit the holding of another citizenship alongside their own, or place restrictions on the holding of more than one citizenship. If you are already a citizen of another country and are considering becoming an Irish citizen (whether by exercising an entitlement, making a declaration or applying for naturalisation), you would be well advised to check first what the position is under the law of your present country of citizenship, in case any step you might take might be regarded under that law as depriving you of that citizenship.
Back to top - Q. I was born and am living in Northern Ireland. I don’t hold any passport. Am I an Irish citizen?
A. You are if you want to be. As a person born in the island of Ireland, you have an entitlement to be an Irish citizen. You don’t have to obtain an Irish passport in order to be an Irish citizen (though having an Irish passport is of course a convenient way of showing that you are an Irish citizen).
Back to top - Q. I was born and am living in Northern Ireland. I hold a UK passport. Am I an Irish citizen?
A. You are if you want to be. As a person born in the island of Ireland, you have an entitlement to be an Irish citizen. That entitlement holds even if you have obtained a UK passport. You don’t have to obtain an Irish passport in order to be an Irish citizen (though having an Irish passport is of course a convenient way of showing that you are an Irish citizen). As far as Irish law is concerned, there is no difficulty about holding Irish citizenship and at the same time citizenship of another State such as the United Kingdom.
Back to top - Q. How do I get an Irish passport?
A. Every Irish citizen can apply for a passport. Responsibility for granting passports lies with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Department of Foreign Affairs processes all applications for passports, either through the Passport Office, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 (if you are resident in Ireland) or from your nearest Irish embassy or consular office (if resident abroad). Your passport application may need to be supported by documentation showing that you are, or are entitled to be, an Irish citizen. Full information about obtaining a passport is available from the Department of Foreign Affairs website at www.irlgov.ie/iveagh.
Back to top - Q. Can I apply under any circumstances if I have not been resident in the State for 5 years?
A. There are some circumstances where the Minister, in his absolute discretion, may waive some or all of the conditions for naturalisation, including the residency requirement. If you are married to an Irish citizen for at least three years, you may qualify after only three years’ residence: see Naturalisation of spouses of Irish citizens below.
Naturalisation of spouses of Irish citizens.
If you are married to an Irish citizen and living in the island of Ireland, you may meet special conditions for naturalisation based on that marriage if:- you are of full age (i.e. eighteen years or older, or married if younger than eighteen)
- you are of good character
- you are married to your Irish citizen spouse for a period of not less than 3 years,
- your marriage is recognised under the laws of the State as subsisting,
- you and your Irish citizen spouse are living together as husband and wife and your Irish spouse submits to the Minister an affidavit in the prescribed form to that effect,
- you have had immediately before the date of the application a period of one year’s continuous residence in the island of Ireland, and
- you have had, during the 4 years immediately preceding that period, a total residence in the island of Ireland amounting to 2 years,
- you intend in good faith to continue to reside in the island of Ireland after naturalisation and
- you make a declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State (see below for the point in the process at which this is required).
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has power (in his or her absolute discretion) to waive one or more of the conditions outlined above in the case of a non-national spouse of an Irish citizen applying for naturalisation if satisfied that the applicant would suffer serious consequences in respect of his or her bodily integrity or liberty if not granted Irish citizenship.
If you are married to an Irish citizen but don’t meet all of these special conditions, you may nonetheless qualify for naturalisation under the general provisions set out earlier in this leaflet.
Calculation of period of residence in relation to application for naturalisation.
When calculating periods of residence in the State for the purposes of an application for a certificate of naturalisation, certain periods may be excluded from the reckoning. These are periods where your presence in the State was not properly documented, or (in certain cases) periods covered by a permission to remain which was for study purposes or while having a claim for asylum examined. The details are as follows:- EEA nationals
If you are a person to whom the European Communities (Aliens) Regulations 1977 apply (i.e. a citizen of an EU state (other than the UK) or a citizen of Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein), any period for which you did not hold a residence permit or document granted under those Regulations or the European Communities (Right of Residence for Non-Economically Active Persons) Regulation 1997. (UK citizens are not required to have residence permits or documents under those Regulations, and so all of the time that a UK citizen has spent in the State is reckonable for naturalisation purposes.) - Non-EEA nationals
If you are not a citizen of an EU state or of Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, any period where you were required by law to have permission to remain in the State, but did not, will not be reckoned (remember that certain non-nationals are exempted by law from the requirement to have permission to remain). In addition, periods of residence in the State will not be reckoned which were covered by a permission to remain if that permission was—
for the purposes of study (whether or not that study involved you being in employment during any of the period of study), or
while your claim for asylum was being examined.
The law covering naturalisation is at sections 15,15A,16 and 16A of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts 1986, 1994 and 2001).
Back to top - Q. Can I have the fee waived?
A. Under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Fees) Regulations 2008, the following new fee structure will come into effect from 1 August 2008.
The following fees shall be paid by the applicant on the issue of a certificate of naturalisation:
(a) where the application is made on behalf of a minor, a fee of €200.00;
(b) where the application is made by a widow or widower whose spouse was, immediately before death, an Irish citizen, and who has not, subsequent to the spouse's death, become a naturalised citizen of a state other than the State, a fee of €200.00;
(c) in the case of all other applications, a fee of €950.00;
(d) the fee payable under (a), (b) or (c) shall be nil, if the application for the certificate concerned is made by or on behalf of a refugee or stateless person or by or on behalf of a programme refugee
Back to top - Q. What happens if I leave the State while my application is being processed?
A. If you are leaving the State on a temporary basis, it would be preferable that you advise the Department of the circumstances, so that officials will be aware of the situation if they need to contact you in relation to your application. The legal provisions governing naturalisation require that a naturalised person continue to reside in the State after naturalisation, and any long-term absences will be assessed in that light.
Back to top - Q.Can my spouse and children apply at the same time?
A. Any person over 18 years of age who fulfils the statutory criteria can apply for a certificate of naturalisation. Normally, an application on behalf of a minor child cannot be made until one of the parents or guardians is naturalised.
Back to top - Q. What does "good character" mean?
A. The Garda Síochána (Ireland’s national police) will be asked to furnish a report about your background. Any criminal record or ongoing proceedings will be taken into consideration by the Minister in deciding whether to grant naturalisation or not. Details of any proceedings, criminal or civil, in the State or elsewhere, should be disclosed at Question 6.1 on the application form.
Back to top - Q. My child was born in Ireland after 1st January, 2005, are they an Irish citizen?
A. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 2004, which commenced on 1 January, 2005 provides that certain non-nationals are required to be resident in the island of Ireland for a three year period prior to the birth of their child, for that child to be entitled to Irish citizenship. This altered the previous situation whereby a child born in the island of Ireland was automatically entitled to Irish citizenship. Information on making an application for a passport for a child born on or after 1 January, 2005 can be found on the Department of Foreign Affairs website www.foreignaffairs.gov.ie
Back to top - Q. Citizenship by Descent.
A. A person whose father or mother was an Irish citizen at the time of his/her birth is automatically an Irish citizen. A person whose grandfather or grandmother was born in Ireland may become an Irish citizen by registering in the Foreign Births Register at an Irish Embassy or Consular Office or at the Department of Foreign Affairs. A person whose great-grandfather or great-grandmother was born in Ireland may register for Irish citizenship provided that their parents had registered in the Foreign Births Register at the time of the person’s birth. ( Note: If, in the last instance, the parent had registered prior to 31st December, 1986, the person can register at any time. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986, introduced a provision whereby registration in the Foreign Births Register after the aforementioned date granted citizenship from the date of registration only.)
Back to top - Q. What happens to my application after I submit it?
A. Upon receipt, an initial examination of each application is carried out to determine if the statutory application is completed fully. Incomplete application forms are returned to the applicant for amendment. Valid applications are then examined to determine if the applicant meets the statutory residency criteria set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended. Passports and other documentation are examined in detail and enquiries with the Garda National Immigration Bureau may also be necessary. Applicants are informed of any shortfall in their residency, within a matter of weeks from the date the application is received, and will be able to re-apply when they have the required residency.
Further processing takes place at a later stage and involves assessing an applicant’s financial status in respect of their ability to support themselves in the State. Enquiries with the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social and Family Affairs may be necessary in this regard. At the same time enquiries are also made with the Garda Síochána to clarify if the applicant can be deemed to be of good character. Depending on the complexity of any given case, these processes can take a lengthy time to complete. Once all enquiries are completed, the file is referred to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for a decision.
- Q. How is my period of residency calculated ?
A. Permission to remain in the State as confirmed by the Gárda National Immigration Bureau is a matter of vital importance for all applicants for Citizenship. Applicants must ensure that their registration with the Gárda National Immigration Bureau, 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2, is kept up to date during their residency in this country.
Part of the procedure employed to determine an applicants residency, in the processing of Citizenship applications, is a thorough examination of GNIB residency stamps. The requirement to renew GNIB registration at regular periods allows for greater control over the immigration process whereby checks can be carried out to ensure that a person is still meeting the conditions attached to the type of permission he or she was granted.
Work permits, letters from employers, or other Departmental letters are not in themselves evidence of having remained in the State.