Irish citizenship

IRISH CITIZENSHIP

Irish citizenship may be obtained:

* by birth or descent
* by naturalisation
* by marriage to an Irish citizen.

Irish citizens are entitled to carry an Irish passport, to live, travel and work in the European Union or European Economic Area and to vote in Irish elections.

Irish citizens living outside Ireland are entitled to an Irish passport, as well as support from Irish embassies and consulates abroad. Irish citizens may also be citizens of another country, though some countries do not recognise dual citizenship.

Citizenship by birth

Under Article 2 of Bunreacht na hEireann (the Irish Constitution), everyone born on the island of Ireland, its islands and its seas is entitled to be part of the Irish nation. That is to say, they are Irish citizens.

The main laws governing Irish citizenship are the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts of 1956, 1986, 1994, 2001 and 2004. Under Article 1(vi) of the British-Irish Agreement, people born in Northern Ireland also have the right to be Irish citizens.

With very limited exceptions, if you were born in Ireland before 31 December 2004, and at least one of your parents was Irish, you are entitled to be an Irish citizen.

If you were born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 and at least one of your parents was an Irish citizen, then you are also an Irish citizen. But children born to non-Irish parents on or after 1 January 2005 are not automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.

Non-Irish parents of children born in Ireland on or after 1 January 2005 must prove that they have a genuine link to Ireland, by showing that they were legally resident in the state for three of the four years immediately before the birth of the child. Time spent in Ireland as a student or asylumseeker does not count.

Citizenship by descent

If either of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, then you are automatically an Irish citizen, wherever you were born (except in very limited circumstances). It does not matter whether your parents were married to each other when you were born.

If one of your grandparents was born in Ireland, and one of your parents was an Irish citizen born outside Ireland, then you are entitled to become an Irish citizen. Before you can claim Irish citizenship, however, your birth must be registered in the Foreign Births Register. You can apply for registration through your nearest Irish embassy or consulate.

If one of your grandparents is an Irish citizen but neither of your parents was born in Ireland), you may be entitled to become an Irish citizen. You should apply have your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register.

Since 1986, a person whose birth is registered in the Foreign Births Registry only becomes an Irish citizen from the date of registration, not from the date of birth. This means that children born to that person before registration are not entitled to citizenship. Irish embassies and consulates process up to 15,000 applications for Irish citizenship through the Foreign Births Register every year, so the Waiting time can be as long as 15 months.

If your parents or grandparents were not Irish citizens when you were born, you cannot claim Irish citizenship through your great-grandparents. Neither can you claim citizenship through other Irish relatives, such as cousins, aunts or uncles.

Citizenship by adoption

If a child who is not an Irish citizen is adopted by an Irish citizen, the adopted child becomes an Irish citizen.

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