Non EU national looking for EU passport

MarkPH

Hi.

I know some of this has been covered in the Americans moving to Ireland thread, but I was wondering if anyone knows the exact answer to my question.

Basically, I have a friend who is wanting to move to Ireland. She is Australian. Her father however was born in Austria, but moved to Australia when he was young. He is now classed as an Australian citizen.

She sought to get an Austrian passport to help her come to Ireland and be able to travel around Europe with more ease. However the Austrian embassy said she cannot get one as she is over 18 and she would have to live in Austria for 5 years before she could apply for one.

I was of the understanding that anyone with a parent or grandparent could get a passport form the country of their birth. She has her fathers birthcert, her parents marriage cert and his citizenship for Australia.

If anyone knows anything about this I would be very grateful for their help. Or if you had any links to sites or numbers to call for more enquiries it would be very appreciated.

Thanks.

Ruu_Old

Well to get an Irish passport for example, you have to be an Irish citzen. That could be through being born here or through descent from Irish grandparents, married to an Irish citizen or naturalisation (living here for a certain amount of time). I don't know if it is the same in Austria or not but will do some looking.








*edit* only goes back as far as grandparent, not great grandparent in Ireland*;)

Afuera

MarkPH wrote:

I was of the understanding that anyone with a parent or grandparent could get a passport form the country of their birth. She has her fathers birthcert, her parents marriage cert and his citizenship for Australia.

There are no hard and fast rules on this kind of thing. It's at a countries discretion how they deal with returning emigrants and their families.

MarkPH

Ruu wrote:

Well to get an Irish passport for example, you have to be an Irish citzen. That could be through being born here or through descent from Irish great-grandparents, married to an Irish citizen or naturalisation (living here for a certain amount of time). I don't know if it is the same in Austria or not but will do some looking.

Yeah, and I thought it would be like that for all EU countires too. I have other friends in the same situation getting British passports, altho I know they are part of the Commonwealth so its a bit different in their case. But I have a distant cousin in Australia, who's mother was born here and he got an Irish passport even though she is now an Australian citizen. Just seems weird that it wouldnt work the sme for Austria. Was told on the phone that it would be ok, but then at the embassy they said no. I just thought it was a bit weird.

The_Conductor

Ruu wrote:

Well to get an Irish passport for example, you have to be an Irish citzen. That could be through being born here or through descent from Irish great-grandparents, married to an Irish citizen or naturalisation (living here for a certain amount of time). I don't know if it is the same in Austria or not but will do some looking.

This was tightened up considerably in 2002. Marriage to an EU citizen, or to a person entitled to Irish citizenship by descent- no longer entitles a person to Irish citizenship (habitual residence (over a 5 year period) here would be the determining factor). If claiming Irish citizenship through descent, this must now be done by petitioning the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs through the Irish Embassy of the country in which you are normally resident (you are not allowed to do this from Ireland). Citizenship through marriage to an Irish citizen, may be granted after 5 years of residence in Ireland or the UK, or by appeal to the Minister of Justice (14 successful appeals in 2005).

Irish citizenship rules are a lot tighter post 2002 than most people think.......

BrianCalgary

My mother was born in Dublin and I got a passport in about 2000.

My wife was born in ireland and my kids are now seeking their passports, mu oldest is 18.

Any problems?

Hells_Belle

BrianCalgary wrote:

My mother was born in Dublin and I got a passport in about 2000.

My wife was born in ireland and my kids are now seeking their passports, mu oldest is 18.

Any problems?

None. Your kids are covered.

But it isn't the same in all EU countries. My husband is Irish but raised in the UK; we live here in Ireland because after we got married, I was automatically entitled to live here and can wait 3 years to apply for a passport. The UK had some hideous process that would have required me to sit on my newlywed arse in the US while he applied for a visa in the UK for me, and the visa would have barred me from working in the UK for the first year.

The restrictions here may have tightened, but they have not yet choked all the humanity out of the thing, at least.

The_Conductor

This will probably be of assistance to you- it contains current information:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/moving-country/irish-citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent

BrianCalgary

smccarrick wrote:

This will probably be of assistance to you- it contains current information:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/moving-country/irish-citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent

Thanks, we are OK, my kids get to Irish.