Irish Citizenship by Descent

Parent Born in Ireland

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says: "You are automatically an Irish citizen if one of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, and was born on the island of Ireland. You don't need to apply to become an Irish citizen in this case." The FBR is not required for this path.

Grandparent Born in Ireland

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says: "If your grandparent was born on the island of Ireland, your parent was born outside Ireland, and you were born outside Ireland, you can apply for entry on to the Foreign Births Register."

Great-Grandparent or Further

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says: "The Foreign Births Register is for persons who can apply to become Irish citizens through their Irish-born grandparents or their parent who was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth, but was not born in Ireland."

The Exception: A Parent or Grandparent Abroad in the Irish Public Service

Registration is not the only mechanism, and the exception is easy to miss because part of it was added recently and reaches back. Sections 7(3)(b), 7(3A), 7(3B) and 7(3C) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 deem a person born abroad to have been born in the island of Ireland where the parent they derive citizenship from was, at the time of that birth, "abroad in the public service" — a diplomatic posting, Defence Forces overseas duty, or a civil servant posted abroad by a government department. Do not rule your family out on the employer: Section 2 of the same Act defines "public service", in relation to the employment of a person, as "employment in the service of the Government, whether or not in the civil service, or in the service of any public corporation or authority maintained wholly or partly out of public funds or in respect of which a Minister of State is responsible". Section 7(3B), the limb for an ancestor born in the island of Ireland, was inserted by the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 and has been in force since July 31, 2023; Section 7(3C) applies Section 7(3B), and only Section 7(3B), to a person "born before or after" that date. Section 7(3A), the limb for an ancestor born abroad, was inserted on December 13, 2017 with no clause of that kind. Two dates are therefore unanswered — that one, and Section 7(4), which provides that "Nothing in this section shall confer Irish citizenship on a person not an Irish citizen immediately before its coming into operation", measured against a Section 7 that was substituted by Section 3(1) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2001 with effect from December 2, 1999 under Section 9(3) of that Act and added to afterwards. If the exception reaches your family, a registration you were about to pay for may not be required at all. Establish the posting, then put the dates, with everyone's date of birth, to the Foreign Birth Registration Customer Service Hub (+353 1 568 3331) before you apply.

Application

Submit your FBR application online at fbr.dfa.ie. After electronic submission, print the completed form, sign it in front of a qualified witness, and mail it with all original documents to the address printed on your form. The DFAT's embassies and consulates in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Australia do not process Foreign Birth Registrations — every application is processed in Dublin.

Fee

€278 for adults (18+), €153 for minors (under 18). Paid online during electronic submission. Non-refundable.

How Long It Takes

What the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade publishes about how long Foreign Birth Registration takes is quoted on our page “Irish Citizenship Processing Times”.

Witness

A currently practising professional (US Notary Public accepted) who is personally known to you must countersign your form, certify your ID copy, and sign 2 of your 4 photos. The DFAT requires a witness “who is personally known to you” and is not a relation — a notary who has never met you does not satisfy this.

1935 Act — Foreign Naturalization

Whether this Act touches your line depends on facts the free eligibility check asks about.

27th Amendment (24 June 2004) and Section 6A (1 January 2005)

Article 9.2 of the Constitution, inserted by the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 2004, enacted 24 June 2004: “1° Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, a person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, who does not have, at the time of the birth of that person, at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen is not entitled to Irish citizenship or nationality, unless provided for by law. 2° This section shall not apply to persons born before the date of the enactment of this section.”

Section 6A(1) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, in force from 1 January 2005: “A person born in the island of Ireland shall not be entitled to be an Irish citizen unless a parent of that person has, during the period of 4 years immediately preceding the person's birth, been resident in the island of Ireland for a period of not less than 3 years or periods the aggregate of which is not less than 3 years.”

Section 6A(2) begins “This section does not apply to—” and lists who; read it whole in the Law Reform Commission’s revised text of the Act.