AIBU to ask whether you knew that NI citizens are now automatically British and not Irish

[Flyinga]

Apparently it's a new law that has been passed - first I've heard of it.

Previously they could identify as British or Irish, now they'll automatically be British and have to renounce their passport or something to become Irish.

Is this well known? As far as I was aware, it was part of the GFA that they could have either/both?

Article here

As far as I was aware all people in the UK are legally British as the UK of GB and NI is the name of this country. They may say they are Scottish, Welsh, Yorkshiremen etc but they are all British.

It was different for NI.
They could chose a nationality (I think).

Did you read the link?

I don't understand why you would have to rescind your citizenship - Britain allows dual nationality, and Irish nationals anyway have enhanced rights if they aren't British

From the article

There are two rallies set take place in Belfast and London in an attempt to raise awareness of British law which claims to take precedent over the Good Friday Agreement.

Previously, under the agreement, citizens born in Northern Ireland with one British or Irish parent had the right to identify as British or Irish citizens, or both.

However, a new ruling from the UK Home Office has now stated that people born in Northern Ireland are British, and they must renounce their British citizenship in order to claim their Irish citizenship.

Have you got any more sources OP?

NIdirect.gov.uk still seems to suggest if your born in NI you can be British, Irish or both?

I read the link and certainly hope it isnt true as I am planning on getting my irish passport as well as british and i was born in NI. If i have to renounce my British passport i will but it doesnt say why the GFA is considered to be overruled by this..

There’s no such thing as NI citizenship.

Everyone from NI born before 2005 has dual Irish and British nationality. For anyone born after that, it depends on their parents.

No other sources, it just came up on my News feed on FB.

It's the first I've heard of it.

Typo - I meant island of Ireland - they’re entitled to dual citizenship.

People born in NI have dual citizenship by birth. I tried to explain this to a boss at work (born outside the EU) who was insisting I needed a British passport for legal reasons when it’s my birth citizenship

The source isn't a broadsheet type source, but I don't think they tend to publish bollocks. I'm a bit disbelieving of it too to be honest.

What do you do if you already have both passports ?

@KenDoddsDadsDog Tell nobody!

Nothing, both Ireland and the UK allow dual citizenship.

I don't know where this news is coming from. They're usually a more chatty sort of news source than a research based one, but I don't think they'd make it up.

People in NI can carry on being dual nationals. What's changing is that the U.K. government will refuse to treat NI citizens as if they were only Irish, if they also have a right to U.K. citizenship.

This is important because being Irish gives some rights that being British doesn't eg the right to have a non-EU partner join you in the U.K. even if s/he doesn't meet minimum income requirements.

It's just another government ruse to remove rights from people while trampling all over the GFA.

But the article is saying that if you're born in NI you're automatically British and if you want to be Irish, you have to rescind your British citizenship.
Odd.
Not sure I believe it.

@Mistigri So it's accurate?

Here's a better article that explains the issue more clearly
www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/uk-immigration-rules-deny-ni-born-irish-citizens-access-to-eu-rights-1.3846117?mode=amp

There are rallies happening today / tomorrow. Lots of tweets surrounding it but I’m struggling to fathom it out.
If the government refuses to acknowledge ‘only Irish’ what does that mean for the GFA.

That's pure bollocks, I suspect, since you can have both passports at the same time.

Though I work with people from NI and they just have Irish passports and never bothered to get British ones in the first place. They are entitled to both, but couldn't be arsed as who needs both?

It seems to have flown under the radar for me anyway.

Oooh, that's not just people from NI if I read the article correctly (although they are the biggest group as it affects all of them), it's any EU national who was born in the UK. Like me.

This is a specific issue in Ireland because the GFA gave Northern Ireland residents (who would normally be British citizens) the right to identify as Irish, to have only an Irish passport, etc. It was part of the compromise that allowed the GFA to exist: unionists can pretend that NI is just another region of the U.K., nationalists can pretend that they live in a united Ireland.

That is now being chipped away by Westminster and of course by Brexit.

The British government seems to think the GFA is expendable.