Irish Passports - Children

[wishfulthinking25]

Hi all,

Wondering if you can help. I am an Irish citizen. Born in UK to 2 Irish parents (both born there), I have only ever held an Irish passport never British, despite being born here and living here all my life.

I’m trying to get DCs Irish passports, which they are entitled to as I was an Irish citizen when they were born. I know I need to apply for foreign births register but when doing so it says “Minor whose parent is an Irish citizen through naturalisation” or “minor applicant whose parent is an Irish citizen through entry on the foreign births resister”. I am neither, as my parent was born in Ireland therefore that automatically gave me citizenship.

Of course I could go through “grandparent born in Ireland” however, neither have their birth certs and my mum’s given middle name is her first name on all UK docs, even her Irish passport despite never changing it (very odd I know).

Has anyone been in a similar situation and can give me some advice?? Thanks

Edited. Totally misread your post. Can you try just applying normally?

There’s a very helpful Facebook group called the Irish passport office - hints and tips. It’s public so you can just post.

The first one.

Where were you born and do you have an Irish passport . You do not automatically have Irish citizen if your parents are Irish unless you were born in Ireland. If you are UK born you too have to get an Irish passport through FBR .

Did you really not even bother to read the first paragraph that says she was born in the UK?

OP you are naturalised Irish through your parents, so option 1.

Did you post this exact thing a couple of days ago?

If you were born in NI, there's no problem. If you were born in GB though, then your children have to apply for Irish nationality - they can (and usually are, I believe) be given it but it's not just a matter of getting a passport that you're automatically entitled to.

My DGS is currently waiting for his, or rather his mother is.
She had to apply to the Dep of Foreign Affairs. You start by registering a foreign birth: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-foreign-affairs/services/register-a-foreign-birth/

You weren't born in Ireland so I presume you are registered as a foreign birth. I didn't knowingly register my daughter as a foreign birth, but I presume it was done when I applied for a passport for her.

In any case, I know her child is not automatically entitled to citizenship in the way she was (and you were) because this is now second generation born outside Ireland.

That's what she says she's trying to do - register the foreign birth. She just doesn't know which option to choose.

I'd go for one, but I'm not sure if it's right!

Yes I think I clarified that with an edit as you were posting.

Also she can phone them if she has a query. They were very helpful to my DD.

OP is this the page you’re stuck on? You should select “Born abroad to a parent born in Ireland” because that describes how you, the applicant’s parent, acquired your Irish citizenship

o/p is not naturalised, she was born Irish. She does not need a FBR

o/p it has to be done via the Irish born grandparent. You technically don’t have an Irish birth certificate (born in Ireland/FBR) so it has to be done that way.

you should be able to get birth/death certs online.

Thank you! I was thinking the same but then it asked for a certificate of naturalisation and I don’t have that, which through me. & no, defo didn’t post anything like this before. Thanks so much

But I’m applying for my children, so in theory their parent (being myself) wasn’t born in Ireland, I acquired it because my parents were born there. It says if a child was born abroad to a parent who was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth, they are an Irish citizen but I first need to register them on the FBR. When I try to it says I need a naturalisation certificate or I need to have an entry on the FBR. I have neither as I got a passport because my parents were born in Ireland, it’s really throwing me.

The Link posted clearly says this applies to the applicants (ie your kids) parent - ie you.

Yes you’re exactly right, I didn’t need FBR or naturalisation because my parents were born in Ireland. I was really hoping I wouldn’t need to do it through the grandparents as I think my mum’s situation with using her middle name on all docs will cause a lot of problems as will my dad having a passport that expired probably 15 years ago.

Yes, but it asks for a naturalisation certificate which I don’t have

Did you select the option in the screenshot? ‘Born abroad to parents born in Ireland’?

I submitted everything for my two sons in September and waiting for the outcome (FBR). My mam is Irish born in Ireland and I have a passport applied for on that basis same as you do I think. When I did the application I couldn't apply directly through myself as I wasn't born in Ireland (and my older son was born before I got my passport, second after) so had to send my mam's birth certificate and marriage certificate - made a little easier as we already had both, if not then I believe you have to apply for copies. I can't remember what the form said exactly but I did see parts about naturalisation and just ignored them - are you seeing a bit where that is there and you HAVE to select something regarding that? I think saw those things but was just able to ignore them. I did have to have my son's things as my mam's passport copy notarised which was a pain and costly but all very easily arranged.

I then sent the printed forms, my son's British passport copies notarised, my notarised Irish passport copy, my mam's passport notarised copy, my mam's original birth and marriage certificates, proof of address here, letter from their school/nursery and notarised photos of all three I believe. These can also be signed by appropriate professionals you know but I couldn't find the right person within our circles so contacted the notary. I think that was all and was definitely able to get all the way through without encountering an issue on the form but if you are finding a hurdle could you maybe screenshot and post the screenshot so we can see where the issue is arising? It's a bit of work and stress but hopefully well worth it in the end!

Thank you. I’m assuming you were born in Ireland and your daughter wasn’t, but because you (the parent) was born in Ireland your daughter automatically qualified for an Irish passport. Her son, being born to an Irish citizen born abroad first needs to register on the FBR before applying for a passport? Can I ask, what did your daughter enter as she was not ‘naturalised’ or ‘entered on FBR’ because she didn’t need to be. Apologies if I’ve got this all wrong but this sounds exactly like my situation with my children!

You’re right! Sorry, I was on the Irish gov site before when it gave the drop downs and was really misleading as to who can be registered on FBR. It does ask for the grandparent details, which is fine as long as I can get a birth certificate online. Thank you so much for your help.

Not sure what you need but having only recently applied and got my passport from Irish passport office, I can sing the praises of their support staff. I used the chat facility on their website and got a real human within a minute who took me through the process and helped me navigate all the steps. The service and customer support is amazing. (Nothing like phoning our UK passport office). You are right though I think in that your children are already Irish citizens because you have citizenship and hold a passport so maybe they foreign birth register isn't needed.

Yes it's the same situation, except I'm in the situation of your mum and you're in the place of my daughter!

And I can check with her if need be, but I'm pretty sure the PP who kindly clicked through the first pages gave you the right screenshot: they ask how YOU got your Irish nationality - you were "born abroad to irish parents".

That means your child doesn't have automatic nationality, and you will need to get them put on the foreign births register. It's a bit of a pain TBH.

I am afraid OP that as you were born abroad ie not in Ireland you need to go down the grandparents route. Your parents did not apply to put you on the foreign births register and applying for a passport does not automatically put you on it.
My sibling is in the exact same position. So your kids will get passports by virtue of your parents as they were born in Ireland and you will need to get birth cers etc. The good news is that you only need it for one of the parents not both. Although you do need their marriage cert

I initially thought so too for my DGS but it wasn't the case. Maybe because we're from Northern ireland but I don't think that was why - it was the fact that he was the 2nd generation born outside Ireland - and Ireland includes NI in that.

If you have a parent born in Ireland you are born a citizen, so the FBR is not relevant to you. You can just go ahead and order a passport.

the parents could not have applied to put o/p on the FBR register- that is for people whose parents were Irish citizens, but not born in Ireland.

the kids will get passports because their parent, o/p, was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth. They have to register FB as o/p is in a Irish citizen not born in Ireland.