Getting my kids onto the Register of Foreign Births

[Radiatorvalves]

Hello everyone! I am after some advice - I am about to register my 2 boys onto the Register of Foreign Births (thanks to their late grandmother) and have all the paperwork, but can't find the answer to one question...

Can I submit the 2 applications together with just one set of accompanying docs (ie my birth certificate, marriage cert, and my late mum's birth, marriage, death cert). Or do I need to submit separately (which would be a massive pain, and even more expensive!)

Many thanks in advance.

You can submit both together. (And they'll eventually get an FBR each with one covering letter to both of them IME - 'Dear x and y, congratulations on becoming citizens...!)

Titchy - thanks so much! That is a relief. I thought i'd wait until my Irish passport arrived (last month - hurrah!!) but RFB is going to take forever, and one of them is 18 next month. right - will crack on and get a friend to sign the 100s of forms!

One further question (sorry if it’s daft), as the applicant do I need to submit 8 photos? Usually it’s 4 (2 signed and marked with the application number and 2 blank). With 2 kids, I assume I need 8? Otherwise I would won’t have any blank ones!! Thanks in advance.

Yes four photos each.

Thanks so much!

Hi, can I jump in here to ask is it really going to take 2 years to get on the FBR, as it suggests on the website?

Took us a year in 2018. So yes the wait may well be two years by now.

Any reason to do the RFB as opposed to just applying for passports for them?

Getting added to the RFB gives you citizenship.
You can't get an Irish passport unless you're an Irish citizen.

Depends on how you are claiming citizenship. My DM & DF (& DSis) were all born on the island of Ireland, so I was a citizen regardless and could applied for my passport directly

If you claim is based on grandparents, then the first step is to have your foreign birth register, then claim your passport.

It took 18 months to get my daughter on the FBR in 2020/2021 and we were already living in Ireland at the time. Her passport then took 8/9 weeks and came through about a month ago.

Thanks Ballygowan. I hope things might speed up but we will have to wait and see. My boys are doing GCSEs and A levels this year, and having their Irish passports will make a big difference to what they can do in terms of universities and possibly summer jobs. I should have got my act together earlier.