WIBU to move to Ireland to give birth

[DahlTheGalah]

So that my baby would be an Irish and therefore EU citizen?

It seems farfetched to me, but I'm half serious. I am still so sad about Brexit, and being pregnant is bringing it home more as I've had the most wonderful and enriching experiences studying, living and working in Europe and am sad my baby may well not have those opportunities in the same way.

Currently, babies born on the island of Ireland to British Nationals get Irish (and therefore EU) citizenship. I am not Irish, but British currently living in Britain, and would be just making use of this law.

Has anyone else thought of doing this for the same reasons, or actually gone ahead?

How U am I being?

If you have family connections in Dublin, perhaps you can apply for Irish citizenship yourself and then your baby would have more chance of getting it. I have dual nationality (irish /british) and got the irish part through my mum’s family. I don’t need to look into it for my kids as they already have (different) dual nationality, but I definitely would if they weren’t already European. I agree with you on Brexit :( what a total fiasco it is....

As an English person married to an Irish man and having lived there for seven years and had our first baby there I would say this:

1/ having a baby is hard work and can feel very isolating. Moving to a country where you know no one seems absolute madness from that point of view. I had lived there 6 years before our baby was born and worked hard at making friends in the run up but I still missed my family loads with a newborn to care for.

2/ what people say about the Irish health service is true. It is very overstretched (although arguably no more so than the nhs). The attitude is quite different and from what I know you are much more likely to have a medicalised birth and access to much less support for breastfeeding. This may or may not be important to you but worth mentioning.

Also are you working at the moment? Are you planning to on Ireland? Tricky to find a job if pregnant and with no job you won’t get any maternity benefits.

Hope that helps

I'm sorry bc this is SO off topic and also controversial, but my take about President Obama's birth certificate was that in 1961, his father was a British citizen and since he was born to a British father and American mother, he actually had a dual citizenship? Nobody ever brought it up, bc it got clouded (stupidly) with WHERE he was born. Please do not abuse me. But this seems like the place of people who would know without prejudice?

BEST wishes for a healthy birth. Fwiw, my first birth was unexpectedly a butt first breach and both of us nearly died. (Cord, I'm small, he was big and stuck, shock afterwards)Instead of the future, be concerned with a healthy and safe birth. It was a scheduled c-section with a (i thought) reputable dr. All should have been safe, but nobody listened when i asked why a grapefruit kept poking out under my ribcage. Turns out (unfortunately) i was right; it wasn't ds's butt. Please be safe. Things political work out, but you need to get there first. Birth is not a simple matter for everyone.

As an Irish person, I opted to not have my babies in Ireland due to the shambolic state of maternity care there.

Your choice I gues..

I’m in a rather privileged position as far as this is concerned (double citizen, one Eu, one non-EU but in the Schengen area and married to a British DH) so I hope I won’t come off as smug.

I don’t know if this plan would work OP. But I don’t think that the idea of giving birth in NI or staying with your family in Dublin is particularly reprehensible.

Your ‘halfserious’ thoughts about citizenship are imo understandable and in the light of the situation with your child’s father... We’re all doing what we think is best for our DC. Good luck, OP.

(Btw: I might have missed an update. The thread is quite long.)

You could find an Irish man and marry him (or a woman) for the passport? Would that be another option Ha ha! Firmly off relationships/marriage!
My cousin's wife had their son at Holles St and said her midwives were amazing.

KnowItNo, Cookie and happygirly Thank you. Very helpful. really want to live near my closer family but they are too close to my ex, who the baby can't be near, and can't themselves move at the moment. Other than that I have more distant family scattered around, including in ROI (I myself don't qualify for citizenship). I'm working at the moment, was planning on moving (to NI or wherever) once starting maternity leave, with a view to staying and getting work after about 6 months' mat leave.

I would strongly advise you to research this thoroughly and there is no equivalent to the NHS there. Also people did travel extensively to work, study, for leisure etc before the EU you know!!

Ha ha love the way that some posters are complaining about coming over here to use our hospital services. Guessing they are all pro life as they wouldn't condone an Irish woman going to the UK to avail of BHS abortions 😁

Work and study will be restricted after Need it as the UK will no longer be a part of the EU and therefore it's citizens won't be covered under the Freedom of Travel that other member states are.

Some conflicting advice here. My mother was born in N. Ireland in 1908 long before partition. That makes me eligible for citizen ship and I intend to exercise my option. My elder son happened to be born in N. Ireland in 1964 ( we are there with the RAF). My husband was English. Said son has already got an Irish passport along with a British one. When I complete my application and get dual citizenship, my younger son, born in England, will also qualify as he will have a parent and grandparent ( and an Ulster Scottish lineage through me). If you can find a grandparent with an Irish birthplace (North or South) you can maybe get citizenship for yourself first, then baby. I share your intense annoyance with Brexit. I have a sister living in N. Ireland and visit her. It would also be nice to go south to Dublin and remain in Europe. Politics is sending Britain down a fatal slippery slope. As I see myself as Scottish I have extra reasons for wanting to be European. It is only the English vote that caused this whole thing.

Sorry but so ridiculous. Supposed to understand democracy and votes have decided this. Stand for YOUR country or move away altogether. UK passport gives easy and perfect access to so many destinations. No need to focus on negatives about Brexit - EU already is showing that they can blackmail us all they like. Sour people who cant over results are the ones that weaken this country. Accept and move on and make best out of situation.
To give birth in Ireland - can you afford? They dont have NHS. Is it safe? Will you know midwives etc How long will you stay there? Do you have death etc statistics in maternal wards? My friends in Ireland (Dublin) had absolutely shocking experience...
so dont let your political intollerant views affect your baby's health. Otherwise - do whatever you like really.
Just think what good have you done while moaning about Brexit? Did it lift people's spirits? Did it help locally? Did it unite differently thinking people?

Guessing they are all pro life as they wouldn't condone an Irish woman going to the UK to avail of BHS abortions 😁

Well the NHS doesn’t provide abortions in ROI or No so yes, going to Britain is the only option. (Nor do they hand out British passports when you have an abortion in England) Whereas maternity services are already available in England, Scotland and Wales.

Also, Irish women have to pay for their abortions in the UK.

Move to Northern Ireland, still UK, still NHS and still get a Irish passport AND a British one for your kid without any problem. Your child will be born in the UK to a UK citizen and therefore eligible for a UK passport and born on the ISLAND of Ireland and eligible for an Irish one. Automatic dual nationality of you want it for the child.

@Iprefercoffeetotea no, if I want to live long term I can get a visa in many EU countries and many commonwealth countries by just filling in basic paperwork (that's how I came to live in Britain, noninterviews, no secibddegree nothing) but as far as travel goes Australian passports give you what is practically a free pass to Europe. Brits are similarly placed at present-there is no reason to believe that the British passport would be much weaker than an Australian one post Brexit.

@VladimirsPoutine no, I am very much an Australian citizen. I just posted that to point out that you are all over dramatising this-if the Australians had taken the same view we would still be a British colony. I understand that a lot of you grew up in the EU but it's not really a big deal, certainly being a citizen of an EU member state doesn't really get you much that you wouldn't get as the citizen of any first world country. It's definitely not worth traveling abroad to give birth (although for the sake of avoiding the NHS I would consider it).

You could find an Irish man and marry him (or a woman) for the passport? Would that be another option

As a side note, this doesn't actually work. I am British and DH is Irish. We have been married for 10 years and have 2 children with 3rd on the way. We live in EU so have looked into various possibilities. Kids have dual citizenship but I can't get it without living in Ireland for at least 3 years and showing a commitment to staying there.

Which is fair enough.

People who plan anchor babies really piss me off. Thank goodness we have Trump as our president!

As a side note, this doesn't actually work. I am British and DH is Irish. We have been married for 10 years

I genuinely thought this was going to be a warning about the perils of marrying an Irishman!

Thank goodness we have Trump as our president!

We don’t!

It's not an 'anchor' baby Charolais, because you can't do that outside of the US usually. It's enjoying and keeping freedom of movement that we Europeans enjoy now for a child...

No need to focus on negatives about Brexit - EU already is showing that they can blackmail us all they like. Sour people who cant over results are the ones that weaken this country. Accept and move on and make best out of situation.

That's exactly what I'm doing by getting my EU citizenship - making the best of a bad situation

I didn't vote to have my EU citizenship stripped from me - I accept the result that 52% of people voted for us all to lose our EU citizenship, but I choose to try and secure mine via other means

I'm somewhat confused how my desire to retain EU FOM is going to weaken the country compared to something like the loss of passporting and the impact of the loss of the tax receipts from the financial services industry.

This thread isn't the place for the 'everything is going to be fine, just be positive, brexit means brexit, we make crumpets and tea towels and are a mighty nation and the EU are nasty and stole our dinner money and flushed our heads down the toilet' argument

For many of us, making the best of it means trying to retain EU citizenship. You don't want yours - that's fine. Some of us do!

PolarBearkshire
I know that votes have decided this. I haven't canted over results or moaned about Brexit.
Stand for YOUR country or move away altogether. I have thought about moving away altogether (In fact I've spent much of my life outside the UK anyway), but want to stay in the NHS, which has been managing my pregnancy from the off and amazingly helped safeguard me from the baby's father, to give birth -- hence considering a move to Northern Ireland.
To give birth in Ireland - can you afford? They dont have NHS. Is it safe Sorry, my fault for not being clear in original OP but this would be NI, with NHS.
so dont let your political intollerant views affect your baby's health. I need to relocate anyway, for the sake of the baby's health and safety. Because I value EU citizenship (I don't think this makes me politically intolerant) and would be in Northern Ireland a couple of months after the baby's birth anyway, this question of moving there a bit earlier occurred to me.

You are completely mad ... don't do it.... we managed before the EU and we were all fine.... we will be again.

@Charolais You honestly think Trump is a good president?

The real rub here is that baby's father is an EU citizen! However, on balance it is just not worth the risk of having him on the birth certificate.

Charolais

Thank God (and every Goddess) that we don’t.

banana I’m from a EU/Schengen country and I honestly don’t see anything wrong with this. I’d probably do the same if I was in your situation.

Stand for YOUR country or move away altogether.

WTF are you on about? Are you rallying the troops? @PolarBearkshire

OP, I must commend your measured responses to seemingly batshit remarks on this thread.