First-time Irish passport application

I have a relative who was born abroad to an Irish-born father and would like to apply for a passport.

We have the baptismal certificate for the father but there appears to be no civil birth certificate. We previously corresponded with the Irish Registrar of Births but a search failed to locate a record of the father's birth.

I contacted the Irish consulate in our city and was informed that they require a civil birth certificate for passport applications. I explained that we have not been able to locate it. It was then suggested that we contact the General Register Office and request to register the Irish-born father's birth based on proof of the baptismal.

I am kind of confused by this suggestion! How exactly does the process work? I thought that a baptismal certificate would be sufficient in the absence of a civil birth certificate and a letter from the GRO? (I also contacted the DFA about this but they steered me back to the consulate to liaise.)

rnc312 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 13, 2019 5:19 am

I have a relative who was born abroad to an Irish-born father and would like to apply for a passport.

We have the baptismal certificate for the father but there appears to be no civil birth certificate. We previously corresponded with the Irish Registrar of Births but a search failed to locate a record of the father's birth.

I contacted the Irish consulate in our city and was informed that they require a civil birth certificate for passport applications. I explained that we have not been able to locate it. It was then suggested that we contact the General Register Office and request to register the Irish-born father's birth based on proof of the baptismal.

I am kind of confused by this suggestion! How exactly does the process work? I thought that a baptismal certificate would be sufficient in the absence of a civil birth certificate and a letter from the GRO? (I also contacted the DFA about this but they steered me back to the consulate to liaise.)

In such cases it is necessary to contact the GRO and apply for a late registration of the Irish born father's birth. You can find the appropriate contact details here:

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/GRO_Contact_Us.aspx

I have no direct experience of this myself, but I do know that you will have to download a form, fill it out and return it to the GRO. This form should be filled out by a qualified informant. For example the son / daughter of the person to be registered. In addition to this, the baptismal certificate and a statutory declaration from the informant will be required. Originals or certified copies of certificates (such as marriage / death certificates) related to the person whose birth is to be registered will also be needed.

Once the late birth registration process is complete, a certified copy of the civil birth certificate can be ordered in the usual way from the GRO and used as part of an Irish passport application.

You may want to take a look at page 25 of the Foreign Birth Registration thread. More information can be found there towards the end of the page. One user, BrexitEscapee, has been through this and Flyingmum is going through this now. I am sure if you leave either of them a message in that thread they will do their best to help you out. Link to the thread below:

ireland/foreign-birth-registration-t277641-480.html

Thank you. I appreciate the information you provided.