Anyone applied for an Irish passport as a descedent recently?

[wanttokickoffbutcant]

My passport has expired and I was thinking of getting an Irish one as my dad is from Ireland. I have looked on line and it looks really complicated and I just wanted to know if anyone has actually done it and is it that bad? I also want to get my daughter one and was hoping she could just get one if I do or do I have to go down the whole FBR route?

Can you apply for a civil marriage certificate from whatever country your parents were married in?
Was the original certificate used for name change on bank accounts or for pension entitlements?

Your DD will need to be added to the foreign birth register. Then she can apply for her Irish passport

www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/citizenship/born-abroad/registering-a-foreign-birth/

We have had two children do it even though neither of their parents are Irish citizens and both born in UK but have Irish grandparents.
The complications and delay is getting on the register of foreign births if the parent who has an Irish parent, their grandparent, was born outside Ireland and not an Irish Citizen and didnt register on the foreign birth register. This is common for Irish who came to UK and had children and stayed in UK. Their children usually got UK passports. When they had children their children can get Irish passports but have to be registered as a foreign birth by proving their parents were born to Irish citizens and that they were married. The grandparents being married is a requirement when their parents was born. They need proof grandparents are Irish, proof they are married, proof their parent is the child of that marriage and proof they are the child of the child of the marriage of the original Irish citizen. That's why there is paperwork. Once you get on register you can get an Irish passport no issue. The delay to process for register hit 2 years after covid but is around 6 months now. If your parents are Irish or non Irish but on the foreign birth register to Irish parents then you can apply and it's straightforward in you just prove they are Irish and that you are their child.
Nobody can apply for Irish citizenship by registering as a foreign birth to Irish parents to support a registration of their child as a foreign birth if they were not registered before the birth of their child. You can't start doing retrospective foreign birth registration.

There's some info about this on Shelter's website...
You could contact them for advice on how to get some action on this. They could publicise your case.. Send them your pictures. I hope you get some help soon https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/pests_and_vermin_infestations_in_rented_homes

I have an Irish parent and was able to apply for a passport after Brexit in 2017. At that time you could go directly to the Irish passport office in Earls Court, take a wait ticket number from a wall dispenser and do your application at the counter. I had already filled out the forms, photos etc and had supporting paperwork. They then advised me to go to a neighbouring post office and send recorded. They did child FBR app at the same time. Easy and friendly service and got the stuff back quick.
Fast forward to post covid and decided to get my husband a passport via his grandmother. It was all online and had ground to a halt. I was checking an online forum where others were posting their wait times. I think the total time for FBR and passport was about 18 months. Happy now and will probably not bother to renew British passports as they have nothing extra to offer.

Yes - thats our next step to try to find a marriage cert in the destination wedding country (Thailand - no idea which part). They did subsequently divorce but the lawyers say that all records are destroyed after a certain time. Yes they would have had to have a marriage cert for pension and banks - I can maybe try that route - but no idea which banks or pension providers.

DH has just got his - his Dad was born in Northern Ireland so had himself got an Irish passport. Applied online 14th November. You provide certain information and that generates a cover page that you then print off as you need to use that to send off your evidence by post. Note you are only given 14 days to get the paperwork to them from the date your cover page is generated and with international postage, it’s really more like half that time. Papers must be originals or certified copies where they are acceptable. They do return the originals promptly.

In DH’s case that was:

Husband’s birth certificate
His father’s birth certificate
His parents marriage certificate
Proof of address - we used a bank statement
Proof of name (bank statement, utility bill or government correspondence- we used an HMRC letter)
Proof of ID eg passport (certified copy allowed)
ID verification form signed by an approved witness

We sent off the application by tracked post on the 20th November. Mid January they contacted to say they needed proof of ID )even though I know we’d sent a certified copy of his passport in with the original bundle but hey-ho). We re-sent this shortly after - again we had to get it certified by our witness and returned within the 14 day timescale and the passport arrived through the post on 14th February!

My advice would be to make sure you have someone primed who meets their criteria to verify your identity as they WILL contact them by telephone to confirm and the application will not progress until this has happened. Also as mentioned above, as you don’t get long to send off your paperwork after you apply online once your cover document is generated, if you need to get documentation together or get your witness lined up, do that all BEFORE you submit the online application and avoid the stress!!

DH christened his Irish passport on our recent holiday to Greece and it’s our means to a visa-free move to Spain once our mortgage is all paid off in a few years time.

It was actually me who did all the admin for this, so I’m more than happy to answer any questions if you need a hand.

Sorry, meant to attach a screenshot of the approved professions for your witness.

Hi. Could I ask a question please. My father (now deceased) was Irish, my mother English (also deceased). I have an English passport. My daughter wishes to have an Irish passport to expand her future job opportunities in the EU (she is currently at university). Do I need to apply for an Irish passport first before she can start the application process? This is something we were going to start the ball rolling with over the summer so it’s been really fortunate that this thread was started. Thank you

I applied in 2019 for citizenship via my Irish grandfather (I've not yet done the actual passport) before my kids were born - so they can apply if they want to.

The staff were really helpful! My application for fast tracked because I was pregnant. My advice is that you need to send every certificate even if you have the same surname as your Irish relative. So I had to send my grandfather's birth certificate, my grandparents marriage certificate, my dad's birth certificate, my parents marriage certificate, my birth certificate and my marriage certificate even though I've not changed my surname.

No, you don't need to have a passport because you automatically have citizenship by descent if your parent was born on the island of Ireland. She needs to apply for citizenship via descent from her grandmother. Once she gets this, she can apply for the passport.

I think if your dad was born in Ireland it should be very quick and straightforward. I’ve done Irish passports for both my children, they were born in the UK and it was a matter of weeks.

I have an Irish passport as I’m the daughter of an Irish citizen. My son would like to apply to join the foreign births register. We have all of his grandmothers documents but will he need to send his own passport in?

We got a notarised copy. It’s different to a witnessed copy so you need to explain to a solicitor what you need- a notarised copy. It needs particular wording and the stamp of the notary. Solicitors can act as notaries and is much cheaper than a public notary. We were lucky that the solicitor I picked had done the FBR process for his own kids so knew what we needed.

i got notarised or certified copies of everything- including the FBR cert for passports. I don’t think I sent any originals.

i sent everything I could think of, whether they asked for it or not 😂. I did both kids at once and did a cover note showing where each document fit in for the FBR.

one thing I will say is the process is much, much easier for u18’s. Especially passports.

No.

you are an Irish citizen. So she can apply to be added to the foreign birth register (FBR). Once she has her “Irish birth certificate” she can the use that to get her Irish passport.

i got FBR for both my children, then applied for all our passports at the same time.

interestingly I’m in the EU at the minute and a lot of tourist attractions seem to be cheaper if you’re under 25 and an EU citizen.

DH did this as his dad Irish, now DC going through process - lots of documents needed and forms to complete To get on FBR, sent off everything in April and had email in May to say all recieved, nothing yet but was told 9-12 months.

If you are in London, the Irish Centre in Camden will help you with applications. They have a dedicated day every couple of weeks you can have an appointment for. They helped my husband as the online system kept rejecting the photo we uploaded for the passport. We tried dozens of times. They got it right first time. They also signed as a witness as they could see the original documents. Crucially they can call Ireland with queries and have their back channels to help you. It was all free.

I agree, but please be aware that not all older people are bigoted idiots. DH and I fall into that age group and are appalled by Brexit. I cried when I saw the result of the referendum.

Please don’t generalise. Plenty of ‘old farts’ did not vote for Brexit and quite a few younger people I know did.

I did it about 6 months ago it was straightforward. My father was born in Northern Ireland and did not have an Irish passport himself. I had two glitches:

1. I initially had the short form of my father’s birth certificate, I had to get a copy of the long form.
2. The first person I had to confirm my identity did not answer their work phone, I had to get another picture signed and submitted.

Once everything was OK it took about a week for the passport to arrive.

I’m just about to start the process to get my Irish passport. I’ve just obtained my relevant documents and will be completing paperwork this week. My cousin has just got hers after a 3 week wait

When I read stuff like this I do wonder why you have just started to embrace your Irish heritage now? Why not pre-Brexit also?

I always loved my Irish heritage. My father was Irish. Therefore, that made me Irish too. I just hadn’t got around to applying for my Irish passport until Brexit gave me a kick. I agree with the implication in your post though, that lots of those applying for an Irish passport have no affinity for their Irish heritage.

I am going to sort ds's soon.

Did you have to send your British passport off? I'm about to apply but someone told me I would have to send my current (UK) passport off with the other documents and I'm supposed to go abroad in October.