Countersiging an Irish passport application

[AgnesG]

The rules for people eligible to witness an Irish passport application state that the signatory should not be related to the applicant 'by blood or marriage' (similar to UK rules). Does anyone know if this would exclude the spouse of your spouse's sibling e.g. your husband's brother's wife?

@AgnesG

The rules for people eligible to witness an Irish passport application state that the signatory should not be related to the applicant 'by blood or marriage' (similar to UK rules). Does anyone know if this would exclude the spouse of your spouse's sibling e.g. your husband's brother's wife?

I thought an Irish passport application had to be signed by a 'person of social standing' - teacher / bank / doctor / priest (!) These aren't my words ! My (Irish) husband has to go to a 'public notary' (and paid) as he did not know anybody responsible in society (we are peasants and only mix with peasants )

I don't know what it's like if your not in Ireland but here most solicitors provide this service for €20. You bring form, proof of address and ID and they sign.
I don't know how related your husband's sister in law would be viewed under the rules but if you both took your husband's names on marriage it would possibly be questioned?

Thanks for the quick resonse. The person I want to ask is a teacher, I just wanted to check she wouldn't be excluded on the basis of the relationship. (Our issue is also that most of the people we know are peasants!)

(And we have different surnames)

I am also a peasant. Fortunately I went with my neighbour to see the notary and the notary knew my neighbour well. So the notary asked how long my neighbour has known us (the application doesn't state how long the witness has known you for) so she vouched for us on the basis of the neighbour knowing us.

We did this for my husband. We got my sister to sign it and she's a nurse. We have different surnames though. Not sure it is 100% legit.

'Husband's brother's wife' is related by both marriage and blood, I'd err very much on the side of caution and try and find someone else.

(I'd sign my boyfriend's brother's wife's passport but not my sister-in-law's brother's - no legal connection to boyfriend)

They will call the person to verify the relationship and confirm that they know you and you say who you are. The professions reflect people in positions of standing who should answer those questions truthfully.

I used a similar connection only they aren’t married so technically it was ok. Only reason I chose that person was because they were around at the time to sign the form and photo id.