How to Qualify for an Irish Passport With a Grandparent From Ireland

It doesn’t matter if they were born in Dublin, Donegal, or Dingle. As long as you have certain close relatives who were born in Ireland, you may qualify for an Irish passport. Ireland is one of many countries in the world that recognizes citizenship by descent going back to two generations, which means you may be eligible if your grandparent hails from the Emerald Isle.

With Irish citizenship, you can apply for an Irish passport that allows you to go through the European Union lines at immigration, which are often faster. It also enables you to travel, work, and live anywhere in the EU. And unlike other EU passports, the Irish passport also allows you to live and work in the United Kingdom, which makes it one of the strongest passports in the world.

Here’s everything you need to know if you want to apply for Irish citizenship by descent.

What do I need to prove my Irish ancestry?

“Irish citizenship by descent is most commonly acquired through Foreign Birth Registration (FBR),” explains Ángel Bello Cortés, a Dublin-based partner at Frangomen, a firm specializing in immigration law. The FBR is essentially a database full of people who were born outside Ireland but are still considered to be Irish because of their blood ties to the country. “In very rare circumstances, an applicant can also apply through a great-grandparent, but the vast majority of FBR applications are based on a grandparent born in Ireland,” Bello Cortés tells Travel + Leisure.

While you don’t need to have lived in Ireland for any time period to claim citizenship by descent, you do have to prove that your grandparent did. To do this, you’ll have to gather several supporting documents for both you and your grandparent, including birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and state-issued identification cards, among other documentation. Some of the documents must be originals, while others can be certified copies.

Where can I apply for Irish citizenship by descent?

There’s no need to visit your nearest consulate to apply for Irish citizenship by descent. The only way to apply is online through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website. After you do that, you’ll have to make a trip to the post office to mail your documents to Ireland or another processing center, possibly a consulate in your home country. While you’ll eventually get the documents returned to you, it could take several months, so make sure you have copies.

Applying for an Irish passport involves a similar process. Once you have obtained Irish citizenship, you can apply via Passport Online. If approved, you’ll be required to mail in your supporting documents, which will eventually be returned to you.

How much does it cost to apply?

Considering you don’t have to travel to your nearest consulate for an in-person interview as you would to get Italian citizenship by descent, applying for Irish citizenship by descent is relatively affordable. Count on paying a €278 (approximately $320) fee for an adult application. You may also have to pay for postage to gather your supporting documents, especially if they are located in other states or countries. Remember, for many of these documents, you’ll need to track down the originals, not copies. Finally, you might have to pay a small notary fee for any certified copies.

How long does it take?

The amount of time it takes to get Irish citizenship by descent depends on a few factors. First, you’ll have to gather all the necessary documents before you can even take into account the processing times. “It probably took a month or two to gather everything that we needed and ship it off to Ireland,” says Jessica Martin-Biggins, a Montana-based nurse whose husband, Michael Biggins, recently applied for Irish citizenship via his grandfather, who was born in County Mayo. “It was difficult because a lot of the records we needed were in Cleveland, where my husband’s family emigrated to.”

Once you have acquired all your documents and submitted your application, you’ll have to wait around nine months, the current expected processing time. If you’re missing any documents or they were submitted incorrectly, you can tack on a few more months. The good news is that once you have secured your citizenship, you can instantly apply for a passport. If you choose to do so online, expect it to take an average of 20 days; if you mail your documents in, it can take up to eight weeks.