I can't get an Irish Passport, but I've been here all my life

Tipperary Iron

Hi everyone, I hope this is in the right section. I was born in the UK to UK parents in 1992. Within 4 months my family moved to Ireland and has been here ever since. I grew up with Irish friends, an Irish accent, and I really love the country. When I was a teenager, the time came to get a passport, but the Irish authorities wouldn't let me have one. I wasn't born in Ireland, neither did I qualify on family grounds, but I felt Irish. Despite this, I had to get a British passport, a place I feel I have no affiliation to. I was told that when I was 18 I could apply for Irish citizenship. I eagerly awaited the day I could apply. But then I realised I had to pay nearly €1200 in fees. I was 18, I couldn't afford it, and I'm not from an affluent background and so I couldn't expect my parents to pay. I wanted to vote and be a proper Irish citizen, and when the elections came round, I was sent a polling card. My local authority assumed I was Irish, seen as I was on all of their registers from pretty much birth, through school and on to third level. So I have voted in every election and on referendums. But now the time has come for me to leave my undergrad next year and I want to leave the country and study abroad. I still can't afford the fees, but once I leave, I can't apply, despite living here for all 22 years of my life. I contacted my local politician, but he says they can't waive the constitution and the fees for one person. This issue plagues me so much. Has anyone heard of someone in the same boat, the fee being waived? What should I do, I have to contact the minister himself? Or am I being ridiculous and should I just take a loan and pay up? Advice would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Avada

Put simply, just because you feel Irish, doesnt make you an Irish citizen. You have to be naturalised, like everyone else in your position, why should the fees be waived for you?

Don't bother writing to the minister, it is a legal process that can't be exempted every now and then on a whim. You'll get a more formal version of what I've wrote in response.

Stick with your UK passport until you can afford the Naturalisation process.

cml387

And UK citizens resident in Ireland can vote in all Irish elections (and vice versa).

cml387

cml387 wrote: »

And UK citizens resident in Ireland can vote in all Irish elections (and vice versa).

Not in Referendums or I think Presidental elections. Local, Eu and General only.

Carawaystick

Tipperary Iron wrote: »

I was born in the UK to UK parents in 1992.

Where in the UK? GB or NI?

LegallyAbroad

Carawaystick wrote: »

Where in the UK? GB or NI?

Pedantry level 100. He says he moved to Ireland in the next sentence. I think you can take it he was born in Britain.

LegallyAbroad

LegallyAbroad wrote: »

Pedantry level 100. He says he moved to Ireland in the next sentence. I think you can take it he was born in Britain.

I think he was going to suggest if it was NI, he'd be entitled to an Irish passport. The topic heading is misleading as he wasn't in Ireland all his life, he was born in UK, presumably mainland UK.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

What about the Irish Grandmother thing? Works for footballers!

EunanMac

A UK passport has lots of advantages too.

Mr. Incognito

Can you not save and pay the fee?

LegallyAbroad

I think the fact that one of your initial thoughts was to ring the Minister to get around the rules is proof enough of your nationality.

You're defo one of our own.

johnnyskeleton

Just for some perspective, if a person born in ireland to irish parents were to move to the uk at a young age and seek to naturalise, he/she too woukd have to pay c. £900. So i suppose everyone gets the first citizenship for free, the second they got to pay for.