WillQR, Celtic1967 - Congratulations!
Welcome as Irish citizen, and having the actual physical proof of Irish citizenship, respectively!
Great to finally see some good news appearing in this thread. And pleased to be able to add some more! Appears that my FBR 'journey' is also finally at an end. My certificate arrived via recorded post on Friday afternoon... sod's law when I'm a few hundred miles away in Wales! Something very nice to come home to upon my return on Sunday though.
My 'final' timeline:-
* Application submitted in person to Edinburgh Consulate:
31-Jul-18
* Additional documentation submitted via post to Edinburgh Consulate:
02-Aug-18
* Email confirming receipt in "Dublin" (/Balbriggan?) and "priority processing"; request for additional documentation:
27-Nov-18
* Email acknowledgement of documents received, "submitted to supervisor for approval":
04-Dec-18
* Entered onto FBR (unbeknownst to me):
12-Dec-18
* Email reply received to enquiry, confirming FBR entry / "you are an Irish citizen as of 12-Dec-18":
17-Jan-19
* Certificate printed -
10-Mar-19
* Certificate received in post -
29-Mar-19
Total FBR 'journey' length =
7 months, 29 days
Now on to the passport phase. Thankfully I had signed and had my forms witnessed in January upon finding out I had become a citizen, so had everything lined up for an expedient turnaround. Travelled through to Glasgow Post Office this afternoon (01-Apr-19) to apply for my own and my mother's, using their Passport Express service.
Very very fast and efficient service - barely more than 5mins from being called forward to counter, to walking out of branch. As expected they know exactly what they are doing... must be processing quite a few of these! And thankfully helped that our paperwork appeared to all be in order. Though admittedly did feel a bit weird to spend months waiting for the FBR cert to come from Co Dublin... only to then see it for two days, and post it straight back to Cork!
Ours appeared to get added to a pack of what appeared to be 6 or more applications, I assume all from that day. Teller advised of lead times of 3-6 weeks, which tallies with the current guideline times on the DFA site. So though we will miss the 'new' Brexit date of 12th April, shouldn't be by much - all being well, hoping to have full Irish travel documentation by the end of April, or latest(?) mid May. Shall update my timeline with more info as I have it.
Thanks all for the support. Got there in the end! Best of luck on your continued journeys...!