Irish Citizenship by decent?

Hey guys,

Firstly forgive me if this is posted in the wrong place.

My grandparents on my fathers side are both Northern Irish born in Northern Ireland, however my father was born in Manchester England as was I. (To mix things up a bit my mother is Hong Kong Chinese). Am I entitled to an Irish citizenship by decent? If so would it effect my current British Citizenship? Would it require my father to take on an Irish citizenship?

Thank-you for any help with this.

Also if I am entitled to an Irish citizenship would my wife? From what I gather she would need to have lived with me in Ireland for 2 years first, however would she automatically have the same rights to work for those 2 years as my wife?

GOOD NEWS, BUT A LITTLE WORK WILL NEED TO BE DONE. SEE BELOW FOR LINKS:

Citizenship through descent from Irish grandparents
If one of your grandparents is an Irish citizen who was born in Ireland, but none of your parents was born in Ireland, you may become an Irish citizen. You will need to have your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register.

If you are entitled to register, your Irish citizenship is effective from the date of registration. The Irish citizenship of successive generations may be maintained in this way by each generation ensuring their registration in the Foreign Births Register before the birth of the next generation.

Since 1 July 1986, a person registered in the Foreign Births Entry Book after 1986 is deemed to be an Irish citizen only from the date of his/her entry in the Register and not from the date of birth. This means that children born to that person before his/her date of entry in the Register are not entitled to citizenship.

People registered before July 1986 are deemed Irish citizens either from the date the original Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act came into force, that is, 17 July 1956, or their date of birth, whichever is later. Only children born after 17 July 1956 can claim citizenship in such cases.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/mo ... scent.html
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP11000024

Re: your other questions:
It would not affect your British citizenship at all. Many thousands of people have dual British/Irish citizenship.
You can apply without your dad being registered as an Irish citizen, but you will need to register on the Foreign Births Register (FBR).
Your wife would NOT be entitled to Irish citizenship just because you become Irish, neither would your children who are already born before you get Irish citizenship.

What citizenship does your wife hold? I'm guessing it's from a non-European country. If so, this brings in a whole other debate...let us know which citizenship she holds first and we can discuss from there.

Your wife would have to have lived with you on the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) for THREE years first before she would be eligible to apply for citizenship. Of course there are other requirements to be fulfilled. I am in this position now with my Chinese civil partner. I am an Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland and he will apply for Irish citizenship after being here for 3 years.

Brilliant!! thank-you. I wasn't sure whether the rules for decent were the same regarding grandparents if those grandparents were Northern Irish. My wife actually holds a British passport. We plan to travel a lot as our family members are scattering across the globe and having two passports will make this a lot smoother.

One more question? Would we need my Northern Irish grandparents assistance/consent to get their details as I don't want to rock their Unionist hearts too much, they're old and may not take to kindly to their grandson becoming a citizen of the republic. I definitely don't feel that way but I know to many of the elderly generation its much more important. They had enough of a shock when my father married a Chinese woman, if its possible to do it all myself I think it would rock the cradle less.

jellyingabout wrote:Brilliant!! thank-you. I wasn't sure whether the rules for decent were the same regarding grandparents if those grandparents were Northern Irish. My wife actually holds a British passport. We plan to travel a lot as our family members are scattering across the globe and having two passports will make this a lot smoother.

One more question? Would we need my Northern Irish grandparents assistance/consent to get their details as I don't want to rock their Unionist hearts too much, they're old and may not take to kindly to their grandson becoming a citizen of the republic. I definitely don't feel that way but I know to many of the elderly generation its much more important. They had enough of a shock when my father married a Chinese woman, if its possible to do it all myself I think it would rock the cradle less.

You probably would need their assistance to find out where they were born, their birth certs etc. I understand that a lot of people feel that way but I'm not sure where else you would get that info You might be able to do it with your dad's assistance, if his birth cert has their names and place of birth. I'm not sure how that works! Sorry You could speak to your dad first to see how much he knows about where your grandparents were born.

You wife could get an Irish passport if you lived in either NI or ROI for 3 years together.

Remember: people born in NI before 2005 will probably have a right to Irish citizenship no matter what, even though they don't want it! This is exactly the same as someone who was born in the ROI.

Would I be allowed to claim Irish Citizenship through my mother who is a Unionist born in Northern Ireland? She wouldn't claim Irish Citizenship and I was born in London. I hold British Citizenship. As far as I know, none of her family have claimed Irish Citizenship.