You may eligible to apply for Irish citizenship through naturalization if you living in the state or if you are living on the island of Ireland and married to an Irish citizen. Having Irish citizenship comes with a lot of advantages. However, some are lucky enough to be able to obtain Irish citizenship through birth or descent. While the process of becoming an Irish citizen is a bit more complicated for someone who has no family ties to Ireland.
The list below is the guide we will be talking about on this page you are free to get in touch with visas comment from the box or email from the official contact page for more easy guide.
- Citizenship for spouses of Irish citizens
- How to apply for naturalization
- 1 – check that you qualify
- 2 – fill in an application form
- 3 – Gather your documentation
- 4 – Make a declaration
- 5 – Send your application and pay the fee
- What happens after I send my application?
- Citizenship ceremonies
- Revoking citizenship
- Certification fees
- What can I do if I lose my certificate of naturalization?
- Further information and contacts
What is Naturalization?
Naturalization is the procedure whereby a foreign national living in Ireland might apply to become an Irish citizen. To request naturalization in Ireland, you need to have been physically resident in Ireland for a specific duration of time.
Moreover, all applications for Irish citizenship through naturalization are determined by Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) on behalf of the Minister for Justice. The Minister has complete discernment regarding whether to approve naturalization. The Minister takes into consideration a variety of details readily available to her in order to make a notified decision on an application for naturalization.
However, you need to make use of the most current versions of the application forms on the Immigration Service Delivery website. Moreover, there’s an application charge of EUR175. If your application is approved successfully, you might need to pay an additional charge of as much as EUR950.
Citizenship for Partners of Irish Nationals
However, if you are married to, or in a civil partnership with, an Irish national, you can apply to become an Irish resident by naturalization. Meanwhile, you can apply if you reside in Ireland or Northern Ireland as well as satisfy the list of requirements below:
- You are 18 or over.
- You have actually been married for 3 years or even more.
- Moreover, you have actually resided on the island of Ireland for 3 out of the 5 years prior to you starting your application.
- You need to have resided in Ireland or Northern Ireland continually for twelve months prior to the day of your application.
- Also, you plan to reside in Ireland after you have actually obtained Irish citizenship.
- You live with your partner.
- Lastly, you are of ‘good character’.
Naturalization Application Process
To obtain Irish citizenship through naturalization, you need to follow these steps:
- Examine that you are eligible
- Complete an application form
- Gather your supporting documents
- Make a statement
- Send your form to Immigration Service Delivery together with the application charge
1. Examine That You are Eligible
To obtain Irish citizenship through naturalization, you need to fulfill the requirements that are set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956. These are:
Age
You need to be 18 years or older. Moreover, you can apply on behalf of a child if:
- The child was born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 and also did not receive citizenship by birth
- The child is of Irish descent
- The parent of the child is a resident by naturalization
Character
You need to be ‘of good character’. There is no extensive lawful interpretation of what ‘good character’ implies.
The Garda Síochána (Irish national police) gives a record regarding your background. As part of this, the Minister receives details concerning:
- Your criminal record
- Driving offenses you might have committed.
- Ongoing investigations against you.
- Pending criminal cases (that have not been heard in court yet).
- Warnings or various other cautions you have actually gotten from the Gardaí.
- Specific civil situations (for instance, if you underwent a preventing order).
Residence in the State.
Just like any other country’s citizenship requirement, you need to have resided in the State for a specific length of time. The particular needs are that you:
- Have a duration of 365 days of continual reckonable residence in the State instantly prior to the day of your application for naturalization and also
- Throughout the 8 years prior to that, have actually had an overall reckonable residence in the State of 1,460 days (4 years).
Moreover, you can leave Ireland for as much as 6 weeks (overall) each year and also still be considered a resident in that year. If you leave for greater than 6 weeks in one year, you must not count this duration when you are calculating your reckonable residence. You need to clarify in your application in case you had to leave Ireland for longer than 6 weeks due to an emergency situation.
Furthermore, you might have to wait up until the next year to make an application if you stay over 6 weeks outside of Ireland in the year instantly prior to your application.
To sum up, you need to have 5 years (5 x 365 days ) reckonable residence of the last 9 years. You need to{include 1 day for any duration that includes 29 February (a leap year).
The Minster’s Power to Waive Requirements.
Moreover, the Minister for Justice has the power to waive several of the requirements or conditions for naturalization in the following conditions:
- If you are of Irish descent or of Irish associations.
- If you are a parent or guardian applying on behalf of a small child of
- Irish descent or Irish associations.
- If you are a naturalized parent applying on behalf of a small child.
- If you are the partner or civil companion of an Irish national or a naturalized individual
- Moreover, if you have actually been resident abroad in the public service.
- If you are identified as a refugee (under the 1951 Geneva Convention connecting to the Status of Refugees) or a stateless person (under the 1954 UN Convention relating to Stateless Persons).
For partners and civil companions of Irish nationals, you can obtain naturalization after 3 years of marital relationship or civil partnership and also 3 years of reckonable residence in Ireland.
For children of adults that have actually obtained Irish citizenship by naturalization, the child needs to typically have actually resided in Ireland for 3 years.
Once they have 3 years of residency, an individual given refugee standing can apply for Irish citizenship through naturalization. Residency is calculated from the date of arrival in the State.
2. Fill in an Application Form
Moreover, note you need to make use of the current versions of the application forms on the Immigration Service Delivery website. However, the current application forms are as follows:
- Form 8 for an individual aged 18 or over.
- Form 9 for the small child of a naturalized Irish national
- And also, Form 10, which needs to be completed online by parents of a small child of Irish descent or Irish associations.
- Lastly, Form 11 needs to be completed online by a parent or guardian of a small child born in the State that was not entitled to Irish citizenship at birth.
References
Moreover, you need to include the information as well as signatures of 3 recommendations that want to serve as a referee for you. Your referrals need to be Irish nationals that have actually known you well enough to create a viewpoint concerning your personality.
3. Gather Your Documents
The supporting files you require depend on your circumstance. If your papers are in a language aside from English, you need to get them translated by a professional translating service. The Irish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Association has a checklist of professional translators.
In all instances, you will certainly require to provide proof of your identity as well as|and also nationality.
You need to send a complete color photocopy of your passport. You do not need to send your original passport. Your copy should be accredited licensed by a lawyer, commissioner for oaths, or a notary public. It needs to consist of every page, including empty pages and also the front as well as back covers. You must also send photocopies of previous passports that cover your residence background in Ireland.
However, if your application for naturalization is based on your marital relationship with an Irish national, you will certainly need to send papers that show your partner’s citizenship as well as proof that you have actually been married for 3 years.
Moreover, some of the papers you require to send need to be accredited as ‘real copies’ by a lawyer, notary, commissioner for oaths, or a peace commissioner. You can ask a lawyer to certify your papers when you are making your legal declaration| These include:
- Your birth certification.
- Your partner’s birth certificate (if your application is based on marital relationship to an Irish national).
- Moreover, your marriage certification or civil partnership certification (if your application is based on marriage to an Irish national).
- You passport
You can find a complete checklist of the documents you require to send on your application form.
Issues with Documents
However, if you are not able to include documents that are required and you have actually made an attempt to get copies of the documents but are not able to, you need to clarify the reason why you can not include the documents.
4. Make a declaration
You will certainly have to make a legal statement when you have actually completed the application form and are prepared to send the form as well as supporting documents. A statutory or legal declaration is a method of swearing that something is true. It is a written statement and needs to be witnessed by a person that is authorized to witness your declaration.
However, your witness should be either a:
- Lawyer
- Commissioner for oaths
- Notary public.
- Peace commissioner.
Moreover, all grown-up candidates need to complete a declaration. Your Irish national partner or civil companion needs to also make a statement if your application is based on your marriage or civil partnership with an Irish national.
However, you will certainly be charged a fee if you choose to make use of a lawyer to witness your legal statement.
You have to also ask your witness to sign and also date the back of the 2 color passport photos that you need to send out with your application.
5. Send your Application and Pay the Charge
You |need to examine your form prior to sending it and also ensure you have all the documents that you need to send out copied as well as included. The form has a thorough checklist that you need to follow.
You have to pay EUR175 to apply. This should be a banker’s draft. No other sort of payment is accepted. You can get a banker’s draft from any type of financial institution (you do not need to have an account with the bank). However, the draft must be made out to the Secretary-General, Department of Justice.|
You will not get a reimbursement of this payment if your application is declined.
What Happens After I send my Application?
Most applications for naturalization are processed within twelve months.
Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) will call you within a couple of weeks to inform you if your application has actually passed the preliminary processing stage. You might be asked to send more paperwork or clarify some information that you gave in your application. You will certainly obtain an application number.
Citizenship Ceremonies
You will typically receive an invitation to attend a citizenship ceremony if you have actually been approved for naturalization. At the ceremony, you make a statement of fidelity as well as commitment. After that, you will get your naturalization certification.
As soon as you have actually obtained your naturalization citizenship, you are an Irish citizen. You can then proceed to apply for an Irish passport.
Citizenship Certification Charges
The cost for every application for naturalization is EUR175.
However, the following are the charges to be paid when the certificate of naturalization is authorized.
- Application on behalf of a minor — EUR200.
- Widow, widower, or surviving civil partner of Irish citizen — EUR200.
- Refugee, stateless person, or program refugee — No charge
- Others — EUR950.
Bottom Line
Moreover, if your certificate of naturalization is lost or stolen, you need to contact the Citizenship Department of ISD. You will not get a replacement certificate but rather you will certainly be offered a declaration validating your Irish citizenship. There is no charge for this service. If you are requesting an Irish passport you will certainly require this declaration to accompany your passport application. You can check out our homepage for more immigration updates.
