thanks for this video Brian. Very informative and encouraging. My maternal Grandmother was from Cork and I knew I could get Irish citizenship this way but was put off by the faff. I think I'll have another go. Leaving the EU was the worst thing this country ever did.
I'm an Irish citizen and I applied online to renew my passport on Wednesday 7th August and it arrived this morning the 9th August. I cannot believe that I received it in the mail in only two days. I didn't pay any extra to have it expedited either. Now there's a fast turnaround for you especially in light of the fact that so many people are applying for an Irish passport, especially our British cousins...
That’s fascinating. I’ve been interested in Irish history and migration since I was little. I wrote a novel about a young Irish woman’s journey to New York in the 1890s
Good video, and a nice story. I will say, you should've done this YEARS ago, because now your children (assuming you have children, I have no idea) won't be entitled to Irish citizenship. If you had done this before they were born, they would be "born to an Irish citizen" and be automatically entitled, no matter where they are born. This is the situation I find myself in as my dad, who has an Irish grandparent, finally received his citizenship/passport when I was about 1 year old. Because of this 1 year difference, I, with my Irish great grandparent, am not entitled to anything. I can apply for "Irish by Association", which I have done but this comes down to a minister reviewing your case and saying yes or no and that's it. It also takes up 36 MONTHS to hear a decision... You're lucky you have an Irish grandparent!!
@@feensta yes, I did come to this far too late. It’s not something most of us ever considered when our UK passport covered us for Europe. Of course that’s all changed and hindsight is clear as day
Great video! I obtained my Irish citizenship through my grandma about a year ago and it’s the best thing I have ever done. Travelling with an Irish passport is an amazing feeling - especially in the EU. I’m also a UK citizen but never use my UK passport anymore. My gran was from Co. Mayo (Ballina to be precise) and I visited last summer. Going back to my roots was so interesting and to discover more about my family history. I wish you the very best of luck with your application and hope you hear back soon 🍀
@@jackvoda4649 out of pure interest since my grandmother was from Ballina too what was the family surname, my great grandmother was a McHale. You never know, we could be related as towns and villages were a lot smaller then
The Irish passport site won't allow selfies, wth the most wonderful error "Your photo may be taken too close or too far away". It reminds me of the scene in Father Ted where Dougal is discussing cows that are "very small or far away"
I usually go and have my photo taken in a proper passport type booth as they also produce the electronic photo which has the confirmation code for the passport offices.
That’s because selfies from a mobile phone tend to be a little distorted due to them have a wide angle lens as standard. Hence the “trout pout” style of image.
I did the same. Applied for FBR online in April '22. Submitted documents in Aug '22. Received a congratulations email and then my FBR certificate in June '23 (10 months). I applied for my Passport in June '23 and received it in Aug '23 (about 20 days). I did not have to send in the actual FBR certificate. A color notarized copy was sufficient.
This has really been helpful as I’m at the start of this process .. I’ve got my grandfathers birth cirtificate (born in Ireland). I’ve got my dads (born in UK) and mine. However why/ would I need any marriage certificates? My dad was estranged from his mum from when he was a baby and my grandfather is no longer with us so no clues/ ideas in respect to marriage certificates.
@@NinjaMonkeyguy to be honest I’m not sure apart from recording a full ancestral record in the same way as if you’d been born there. You can email the FBR office of the Irish government. I found them very helpful to talk to.
Great video, and honestly, I wished I had this information 12 months ago when 2 of my pals were asking me the exact procedure, as I lived and worked in Liverpool for 17 yeas until last October, when sadly, Liz Truss economics forced me back to Dublin. Since the regulations have been always changing because of the high demand due to Brexit, and since Jack Charlton bought the Irish football team to Eurom88. your great grand uncle would suffice, e.g., Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton and half of Man Utd. I am Irish but through naturalization. (born outside of Ireland while parents were contractors abroad), but grew up from the age of 2 in Dublin. My Dad is from Westport, and was also born in Castlebar hospital. Just a small note regarding pronouncing the town "Ballina". Of the 3 syllables in the name, you're saying the middle syllable incorrectly saying "in" as "een". Therefore, you are saying "Balleena" instead of the correct pronunciation "Ballina". Just a small point if you have to have a meeting with an immigration officer ever 🙂 Best of luck to Mayo and Cyprus.
You have a full Irish brogue. So why do you need Irish citizenship? You are obviously an Irish citizen. But thanks for the information for those of us who need it.
Hi Brian Thanks for sharing your journey to get an Irish Passport. My story is very similar to yours. My grandmother and great grandmother were both from county cork Ireland.,they have both deceased . I only have my grandmother date of birth and when she died. Im scared to pay a lot of money if I don’t have the right info but like you i want to know where i come from and live abroad one day too. My mums 93 the only surviving sibling and the youngest of 9. So I have to find everything out myself. Im a bit confused with the registration of my birth to the foreign birth and registration system but there is a little of confusion with different wed sites. Did you do all the process on line ? Kind regards Jo
@@joanneakerman8112 yes I did it all online and by myself. I have not found it too difficult to be honest as the FBR site is pretty straight forward and you cannot progress until you have completed the stage you are on. You only need to use the official Irish government FBR site, all the rest, official as they may look, are just doing the job for you and charging you for doing so. You still have to do the hard work of collating all the information for them to enter onto the government site on your behalf and that’s the easy bit. One thing, if you can persuade your mother to apply for her passport, yes I know you said her age, but it’s very easy for first generation foreign born to het her passport and registration (she actually doesn’t need to get a passport, merely the registration). Then it makes your journey much easier as your mum is fully registered as a citizen. One thing I found out just after making this video is that I am actually already a citizen, it’s the registration of that citizenship which I am going through which enables citizens rights and facilities such as applying for a passport. This is why I don’t go through (or pay for) a citizenship ceremony, as I already am one and so are you. Hope this helps. Ps my nine months is up and yesterday was my birthday, I was so hoping I’d get the email through as that would have been the perfect birthday present. It was not to be though. Never mind.
@@ThatMicro43Guy oh happy birthday and sorry you never received that special birthday gift your Irish passport! 🥲 I read a lot last night on line and the only conflicting info is the part about citizenship at birth . My mother was born in London but my grandmother was born in Ireland. So my mother is already an Irish citizen ? or did she have to be on the FBR .,i have my grandmother mothers maiden name but her mother my great grandmother was also born in Ireland but not sure of her maiden name we think she got married in London as she come over with my grandmother as a small child with her brother as a single parent we believe.
I enjoyed your video and journey to becoming an Irish citizen. I am on a similar journey and a similar age to yourself. My Mother was Irish, I was conceived in Dublin but born in Wales and then put up for a forced adoption. After years of searching I found my sadly deceased Mother and my also deceased Father who was Greek from Chania Crete. A Greek Passport was too difficult to obtain but as I automatically had Irish citizenship after very little paperwork I have been able to obtain an Irish passport. Unfortunately my partner has no EU ancestors recent enough to obtain a Spanish passport (great grandmother). I still have to comply with the rules for non EU citizens when we travel together. Will be watching your progress and cheering you on.
My husband has just started this process we have read about the certificate costing €950 which will be needed to get Irish passport any info on that. Great informative video 👍
@@dianedunn8872 it depends upon which route he’s taking and if he’s doing it himself or through a citizenship specialist. I can only talk on citizenship through descent I.evif a parent or grandparent was Irish and/or born on the island of Ireland. Please don’t take this as advice, it’s just what’s happened with me. As a descended you are already an Irish citizen you are just needing to prove it with evidence such as birth, marriage & death certificates. With an Irish parent I believe it’s a very cut down process. Either way for parents & grandparents you are being placed on the foreign born citizen register. That costs around €275. When that comes through then you apply for your passport somewhere between €8 & €100 depending if you also want the passport card. That’s it for the costs unless you need to order replacement certificates. It’s an easy process, the only difficult part is getting all the certificates together. The site is estimating around 9 months for the process, it was as high as 2 years. I’m currently toward the end of the waiting stage ready to order my passport There are other ways of chaining citizenship through investment and living in the country but I know little of those processes. Hope this helps Best of luck
@@ThatMicro43Guy thank you so much for your reply! Yes my husband has Irish grandfather and we sent off all the forms and certificates last week. Just reading up on the web and saw to get the certificate was €950 which worried us somewhat! Good luck with your process and getting your passport soon!! 🤞
@@AntonioHSam I really have fancied visiting Portugal. It looks a lovely country. I’d hate to bring my Wife’s Cousins Brazilian partner with me to translate, lol
You're so lucky having an Irish grandparent, the rights this gives you were all taken away from the rest of us by Brexit. Welcome to the sunny uplands!
That's not correct... It's still very easy to emigrate since Brexit without being an EU citizen!... There's tonnes of ways to do... Brits have been emigrating to non EU countries for decades without issues when we were in the EU so that's no different to moving to other parts of Europe now without being in the EU... If you need EU citizenship to move to another part of Europe from the UK, it usually means that your own house isn't in order because if you've got your head screwed on, it's still easy enough to migrate to mainland Europe from the UK.
My great great grandfather knew an Irishman can I have an Irish passport please? If I was American I'd believe that that made me as Irish as St Patrick.
I'm currently on the same path, been 3/4 months now. but they've receieved everything and not heard anything negative. HAve you had any updates recently?
@@MrLZVlogs only that the wait period has dropped from 2 years to around 9 months. It’s 9 months for me this week so I’m on tenterhooks. I’ve been told that the first you hear is getting an email confirming your address to send your certificates to.
Just for clarification please. I understand need for Grandmother's birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate AND need for my birth certificate, proof of ID etc but do I also need all this for my mother too?
@@peterwalmsley7271 yes, you need all birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates for everyone in the chain between (and including) you and your grandparent. So I needed my grans B,M,D my mothers B,M,D and by own B,M certificates, there were no divorces in my family line.
@@ThatMicro43Guyso you have to get them off the birth death marriage site then send . I don’t like to send originals just incase they don’t send back do you send recorded delivery
i never found out my true ancestry through DNA, and i dont think i have anyone of irish descent or by birth. only south africa or canada, here. so im SOTL. as much as i want to leave, i can't either way.
@@ProbablyAnAmateur there are ways to move to another country, reside there for a certain period of time then apply for nationalism . I think Ireland is reside there for 5 years then apply. If you can get work in the country before you go then that usually fills the criteria. Each country have different rules, some easy some hard, some inexpensive some cripplingly so. I’m actually looking toward emigrating to Cuprus as an EU citiczen once my Irish passport comes through. The residency rules are similar there. In many countries you can obtain citizenship through investment. E.g. buy a property of a minimum value as a full time home or invest a minimum value in creating a business there or relocating your current business there. Many countries now allow remote workers to reside there while their main employer is abroad. A colleague of mine does only online teaching of finance using zoom, he lives in Cyprus but his employer is the British arm of an American financials company. He’s almost (next year) qualified to apply for Cypriot citizenship. There is a lot of videos online for most countries even if your parents are not citizens of your intended domicile
That’s very interesting. I didn’t know that you could use grandparents rights as a way to get an Irish passport. 2 of my grandparents were born in Ireland around 1900. Another was Irish and Scottish, but I think she was actually born in Canada. I wonder if I could track down their birth information and pursue this myself?
I’d have to go back to great-grandparents or great-great ones for Eire (Limerick) and Northern Ireland (Fermanagh) and no, having visited, I don’t want to live there. I found the country rather wet and dull, although bright green! I did have a British grandfather, have his b/d/m certificates, but I certainly don’t want to live in Britain either, especially these days! No, I’ll stay in Australia (where they all ended up) and maintain my singular (not dual) nationality. That way I know where I live, i.e. not having a foot in two countries. Dual nationality, allowed in Australia, has sometimes created untold problems and people with it tend to not know who they are or where they live. With one nationality you don’t have that problem. Thanks Brian, interesting. I didn’t realise that about Eire. I’ve traced my roots back to 1670s in the UK and not as far back in Ireland, and my DNA (done twice) literally proved it.
@@trishf29 yes, have to be careful what’s said on YT these days but I know what you mean. It’s going to get worse with this new government over here I fear.
Fantastic place to have roots! It's a beautiful place on the Wild Atlantic Way. I go there regularly - you will fall in love with the place. Probably a good place to go, when Cyprus gets too hot! Pro tip - it's pronounced differently, shorten the I and lengthen the a. Balla nah.
That's not quite true,l did have an Irish grandfather, my mums dad, who can and stayed in England after the war to help rebuild England, l've been living in Ireland for over 15yrs,have a job here, an Irish wife,our daughter is Irish, pay taxes here, bought a house here,Irish driver's license etc etc you get the drift but for me to get an Irish citizenship would for me to pay in or around €1200 last time I looked having an Irish grandfather and an Irish wife will not 100% guarantee you immediate Irish citizenship and I should know
@@sidwallace6053 did you go down the online FBR route as described at were you using your residency status? The residency route is more expensive I believe, the FBR online system doesn’t worry about your residency at all. Genuinely interested to know to avoid possible pitfalls
@@ThatMicro43Guy mate it could well be different for you and to be honest I’m in no real hurry to gain an Irish citizenship,I’d still be called an English bol##$ks at work,by the way it’s just banter haha,anyway back to the point,I tried every avenue a while back even visiting our local TD (UK MP) and although helpful as best he could be with all of my documents etc he to couldn’t help me become an Irish citizen without going down the expensive route,as I said this was a while back,maybe 3yrs ago so unless things have changed regarding applying for said citizenship then you may well be ok,I’ve come across no pitfalls living here being a British citizen,British passport holder etc,maybe for travelling to another European country perhaps,my wife wanted me to apply hence the reason I went down that route,that’s the reason why I wasn’t guaranteed a citizenship here without the expense you maybe ok I wasn’t
@@sidwallace6053 thanks for that. I’m really interested in other people’s experiences particularly because I’m by no means an expert. One thing I did find and I forgot to mention in the video is that I did the whole process myself, I know other people who are getting an agency to do it for them and it’s costing them thousands for exactly the same as they can (I have) done myself. Very best wishes
Getting citizenship through your Irish grandparent will make you a citizen for the purpose of getting an Irish passport whereby you can live and work anywhere in the EU. But if you are retired and go to live in Europe you will not be entitled to use the health care system of any country unless you work there also. Basically, it allows you freedom of movement for travel. If you retire in Ireland as an American with Irish citizenship you have to have private insurance. Which is fair.
@@janroach1852 there is a reciprocal system in Cyprus which doesn’t kick in until I’m retired, till then I need to pay private health care. After I’m retired I’m ok for free health care in Cyprus
@@patricklynch6547 If you are retired and want to travel in Europe for a few years, a U.S. passport is more than useless. We are completely Irish through our grandparents and great grandparents genetically but we are New Yorkers through and through. Our grandparents when talking to their Irish friends used to refer to the grandchildren as "the Americans", lol. But for those Americans who still want to long term travel, I say God bless Albania. We can stay there for a full year and it looks like a beautiful country near Italy and Greece with spectacular beaches and mountains. And inexpensive.
