AIBU to feel miffed about my family getting Irish passports?

[Honeysucklelane]

AIBU to feel miffed my DH & kids are getting Irish passports? They all have UK passports and it seems a luxury to pay twice.

I can’t get an Irish passport, but my DH and DC’s can. I’ve pointed out I’ll be stuck in the long non-EU queues at airports whilst they go ahead through the EU queue.

Realistically unless any of them travel somewhere alone, it’s highly unlikely they’ll be with other family or friends with Irish passports so they’ll always be waiting on whoever they’re travelling with anyway so what is the point?

DH was very sheepish when a neighbour popped round with the signed forms this evening and was avoiding telling me what he’d dropped round for.

Don’t you want your kids to have every advantage in life? I want my kids to have everything I didn’t. I find your attitude of resenting your children for their EU passports quite odd.

I am so very sorry that this thread has, yet again, turned into a ridiculous pile on. I have only read your responses, but based on them, some people have gone totally bat shit, aggressive. Over a passport and worries about queuing.
I really hope you’re ok mate. Enjoy your time away,

So are you anxious or miffed, they are too very different things and almost opposites.

Responses could be forgiven for assuming you described your actual emotion in the title

It's definitely a massively good thing for your children and reopens all the possibilities they would have had without Brexit.
Queues at airports are such a trivial and tiny element of giving your children the gift of freedom to study, travel and work in the entire EU as young (and older) adults. Your DH may have done it for trivial and petty reasons but the outcome for your children is priceless.

So yabu

So, you would deny your children the opportunities an EU passport affords because you’re too anxious to stand in a queue on your own for 5 minutes? I’m not getting it.

I’d be absolutely over the moon for my children if they could get Irish passports. My DD lost her place on the Erasmus scheme after brexit, and had always planned to teach in Spain, but of course that is so much more difficult now with just a UK passport. The loss of freedom of movement has been quite a kick in the teeth for us.

I’d really like to know the answer to this, too. I had no idea until now that airport queues were so terrifying. I wish I’d known sooner as I could’ve brought my fainting couch and put on quite the dramatic performance.

Having EU passports is definitely an advantage. I mean even Nigel Farage ,the architect of Brexit, has children with EU passports!

Yeah that’s a bit shit of him. The Fact he hasn’t even discussed it with you? I would have an issue with that - if he did then I think it’s a great idea myself.

My H got an Irish passport through his Northern Irish grandfather. He didn't vote in the referendum and our kids can't get them because of the grandparent rule. I was pissed at that, especially the not voting thing. If our kids could get one, I'd have been delighted.

Why will your dh qualify? Are you living there? Asking as dh and I are getting ours but our children aren’t eligible. Wondering if there is a way I’m not aware of that they will become eligible.

You’re completely missing the bigger picture for your DC @Honeysucklelane, this will give them the freedom to live & work in the EU that you may not have taken advantage of but it was there if you had wanted to. Passport queues pail into insignificance compared to the other benefits of an EU passport - your DH has just opened up a massive amount of opportunities for the DC at a time when young adults are struggling to get jobs in the UK. Be pleased he got on with it and didn’t just talk about the possibility and then do nothing about it/expect you to do all the work.

OP you don’t have to be left alone- they can go through the “other” queue with you even if they have eu passports if standing in a queue is stressing you that much.

but this means when they are adults, your dcs can work in the EU, which is the main thing! It’s not about holiday now.

Or are you also anxious about the idea of your dcs living abroad as adults?

YABU - why would you not want your children to have that when they grow up? It’s easier to get it done now.

My dh is Irish, he has an Irish passport does this mean I can go with him or is it only if you have dependants with you?

Op it’s really not a big deal to be standing in a queue with lots of others some who are also on their own. No one is thinking about you standing on your own and immigration aren’t all ogres. I travel a lot with work all over the world and am always alone. I quite like it. Everyone else is far too busy wrangling kids, looking for passports, listening to whatever. I feel totally invisible it’s great!

Did you vote for Brexit OP?

so many Brexiteers now complain about the airport queues without acknowledging that the situation is entirely of their own making.

I would be angry about this - you don't apply for additional citizenship for children without discussion/agreement from the other parent. That feels deliberately deceitful to me - he wants to present you with a fait accompli. I would be viewing that as a red flag in a relationship, irrespective of the particular issue.

I also think that citizenship is a big deal - if he doesn't want it because he feels it's his heritage/wants to live there/has loyalty and commitment to the country, then he has no business in applying for it. Your children aren't Irish, culturally - did you say they've never been there? I think it's morally wrong tbh.

No, I suspect most ppl would not want to impoverish and restrict their children’s life opportunities because they have anxiety about standing in a queue on their own at an airport.

I take it you do travel by air occasionally and not every week? it’s unfortunate you suffer from anxiety but this should not deny your children the benefits of an EU passport.

Yep, it's hard but you know what, once you have done it you can feel proud of yourself and know that you can do it. And you will gradually feel less anxious that way.

Get a grip OP - what about this makes you anxious? That they're going to run away and abandon you forever because you have to wait a bit longer in the airport queue?

If they actually makes you feel anxious, you need to get help.

I am from Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, and am 100% Irish by virtue of having been born (and raised) on the island of Ireland.

I also live abroad with my Irish husband. Our children were born abroad and are not entitled to the nationality of the countries in which they were born. Like all children, they have inherited their parents' nationalities (each of us dual Irish and British).

When our children grow up and have children, I hope they are able to pass their Irish nationality to my grandchildren because it should be their right to do so.

My children do not have Irish accents, don't live in Ireland but they are Irish and when they have children, they should be entitled to Irish nationality too. It isn't always about passport shopping for convenience.

My kids have EU passports and I'm thrilled about the future work options this opens up for them. Couldn't imagine being resentful about it. How horrible.

You aren’t supposed to split from the group you are travelling with.

Ireland isn't the only option open to them for uni, there are courses taught in English in Germany and Scandinavia and the fees there are something like 0 - £400.

I do find it off that he did all of this in secret.