Naturalisation conundrum - Advice needed!

Hi everyone,

I'd be really grateful for your advice on my case and my desire to get naturalisation by Irish association:

I was born in 1989 in England, and my family moved to Ireland when I was 18 months old, in 1990. From 1990 to September 2014, I lived in Ireland continuously, completed all my schooling and university there -- 24 years of continuous residence, no criminal convictions, contributions to civic life etc. -- before moving to Scotland to do a PhD from 2014-2017. During this time I unfortunately didn't have access to the €1000 needed to apply for/obtain citizenship.

I returned home to live in Ireland September 2017 - January 2018, at which point I went travelling for 5 months, maintaining my primary residency in Ireland. In August 2018 I took up a job at a university in the Czech Republic, where I currently reside.

I thus fail to qualify for naturalisation due to the stipulation that you must be resident in Ireland for the 365 days prior to making the application. Obviously, it seems fundamentally unjust that someone can live in Ireland all their life, go to school there, speak the language, have family living there (two sisters who are Irish citizens, having been born there in 1999 and 2000; a mother with a British passport albeit eligible for naturalisation), and not have a right to apply for citizenship, while millions of others - many of whom have never set foot in the country - have the right to do so.

This is, unfortunately, a major concern for me, given the current political situation - my family home is in Ireland but I am not a citizen there.

Given this, I am wondering if I show significant associations with Ireland (that I spent 23 of the first 24 years of my life there) and that I have sisters who are Irish citizens, that this is feasible grounds for waiving one of the conditions of application? (granted that the answer won't be certain and everything remains within the minister's discretion, of course).

Happy to answer any questions.

You must reside in Ireland for the last 365 days (with no more than 6 weeks abroad) before you can apply for naturalisation. Otherwise, your application gets denied in the initial stage before anyone will even be able to review your background.

Also there isn't any case where one can be naturalised without the 365 day requirement. I presume you were comparing it the birth rights and foreign birth registration, which are two different issues (as they are not considered birth rights instead of being "naturalised").

Thanks littlerr. I know it's unusual but couldn't that 365 day stipulation be one that the minister would be able to waive with his total discretion?

I know that exceptions are made in certain cases (for instance, sports players)

Yes the minister might apply his discretion, but your application wouldn’t reach him until the final stage. Your application will likely get rejected on the initial stage by a clerical staff who just checks for dates and passports etc.

There are cases where one person has to travel a bit more than 6 weeks in the last 365 days. When that happens they tend to go over your application to see if there’s any explanation. But since you are not in this situation yours might got turned down right away.

You can always write them a letter to explain the issues first. If they come back and tell you that you can go ahead applying for it, you can attach their written reply to your application. At least that is some sort of assurances.