Am I eligible to apply for Irish citizenship?

If you are not an Irish citizen, but one (or both) of your parents held Irish citizenship at the time of your birth (other than through birth in Ireland), you may apply to be entered into the Foreign Births Entry Book at the Embassy. We refer to this as Foreign Births Registration (FBR). Upon entry into the book, you become an Irish citizen.

What if one (or both) of my parents was born in Ireland?

Then you acquired Irish citizenship automatically at birth.

Can I apply through an Irish born grandparent?

The Foreign Birth Registration process is sometimes colloquially referred to as “the grandparent rule” because, if one or more of your grandparents was born in Ireland, their child (your parent) acquired Irish citizenship automatically at birth. Therefore, unless your parent renounced their Irish citizenship before your birth, one of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth and and you meet the criteria to apply.

Is anyone else eligible to apply for FBR?

Eligibility is not limited to grandchildren of people born in Ireland. The criterion is that at the time of your birth one or both of your parents held Irish citizenship other then through birth in Ireland. The FBR process is therefore also available to the foreign-born children of naturalised Irish citizens, and to children born to Irish citizens who themselves acquired citizenship through FBR.

What if my parent became an Irish citizen after I was born?

It is not possible to apply on the basis that your parent acquired Irish citizenship after your birth, except in the very limited cirumstance that your parent became a citizen through FBR prior to 1986 and you were born after 1956. This arises from previous legislation. Current legislation only provides for persons who, at the time of their birth, had a parent who held Irish citizenship other than by birth in Ireland.

How can I apply for Irish citizenship by Foreign Birth Registration?

To apply for Foreign Birth Registration please follow the instructions here.

I read that Irish citizenship rules are changing- am I now eligible to apply?

Irish citizenship rules have not changed. There has been recent media speculation about possible changes, but no such changes have yet taken place.

Furthermore, the source of the media speculation seems to be a speech made in the USA in March 2009 in which the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland stated “..we will arrange [../..] a fast-track naturalisation regime for those who have studied in Ireland and who have Irish great grandparents”. Naturalisation is a separate process from Foreign Birth Registration (explained above). Applicants for Irish citizenship by naturalisation must meet a residency requirement. We do not anticipate therefore that there will be any change to eligibility for Australians resident outside Ireland.

How long does it take to process an application for Irish citizenship?

It currently takes approximately five months to process FBR applications at this mission, if all necessary documentation is provided. If we have to seek additional documents, the processing time is longer.

We receive many requests from people asking that we accelerate the processing of their application for one reason or another. We ask all applicants to understand that this is not possible as it causes unfair delay to other applicants.  

No travel arrangements should be made on the assumption of having an Irish passport by a certain future date.  Once you have been notified that your application is successful, you may apply for an Irish passport. Current processing time for passport applications at this mission is approximately five weeks.

You said that the supporting documents have to be originals but I don’t have the originals of some old certificates- what should I do?

When we say original documentation we mean that the document should be from the competent issuing authority – (ie not a photocopy, even if certified). You can obtain a new original from the competent authority. For Irish certificates this is the General Register Office http://www.groireland.ie/ . Certificates from Northern Ireland can be obtained via www.groni.gov.uk.