Foreign Birth Registration

[lukys]

What's ETA? I tried searching and just got results for "electronic travel authorisation".

[htwhtg]

In USA it is "estimated time of arrival."

[J_W]

Yes, in the UK it means estimated time of arrival. It's the prompt on the passport tracker which says "Estimated" and then a date, add a few weeks on from that as they are running quite behind with the sudden influx of passport requests.

[Polly28]

Hi

There is another board - First Time Passport Application Discussions, looks like its just started. They are receiving their passports in the timeline given on the tracker - approx one month. Good luck everyone !!

[Tams]

Update with my timeline

Applied online: October 23 ish!!!! (No option to pay though!
Application form & Docs posted: 05/03/2024
Application form & Docs Delivered: 12/03/2024
Confirmation email: 16/04/2025
Address Verification: ——
Congrats email: ——-
Cert received: ——-

I have seen people talk about updating a spreadsheet? What is that and where would I find that?

Thanks

[IntravenousTea]

Hello again fellow FBR adventurers Congrats to all since I last posted!

I have seen people talk about updating a spreadsheet? What is that and where would I find that?

Thanks

Hi, here's a link to the shared google spreadsheet, it's a great resource where everyone doing FBR adds their dates (see 'data' tab) for: application done online/post was confirmed received/any address checks/congratulations received/actual FBR received (with a column incase you want to make any notes about your process or circumstances).

It helps all of us in the same boat get a rough idea how long the process is currently taking/what kind of times should be expected between events. (Naturally averages that include expectant parents who have a shorter process will tend to skew the average months a little lower, but not by too much).



As you can see, quite a few submissions for mid-late July 2023 should now be expecting news and you can rest most assured my fingers are crossed also being in said group

[IntravenousTea]

Drats, not quite quick enough to edit my post to avoid loading the spreadsheet inside it.
Was going to suggest a shortened link or that you go to the link itself in the signature of user GoingBackToEire on e.g. page 297 called "The Almighty Spreadsheet - Resurrected!".

[Tams]

Drats, not quite quick enough to edit my post to avoid loading the spreadsheet inside it.
Was going to suggest a shortened link or that you go to the link itself in the signature of user GoingBackToEire on e.g. page 297 called "The Almighty Spreadsheet - Resurrected!".

Very helpful. Found it and updated thanks. Did anyone else not get an option to pay when they applied online? Has a request for payment come later?

[tdogg8]

Hi all. I’ve posted before but not my timeline. So here it is.
- [x] July 26th 2023- Online Application
- [x] August 11th 2023- Application recieved
- [ ] Address Confirmation-???
- [ ] Congratulations Email-???
- [ ] FBR Certificate received-???
Hood luck to everyone, the waiting is killing me!

[IntravenousTea]

Did anyone else not get an option to pay when they applied online? Has a request for payment come later?

That's very strange, I remember it asking for payment along with the application before it gave an application number and allowed for the form to be printed off.
I mean, there's no getting around the payment for the process but were I in your position, if you're absolutely sure you've not paid on your bank statement, I would contact them as soon as you can and check that it's been paid for now rather than get to the stage where they contact you, realise the error and risk any delays. Some of the payment seems to go towards getting your stuff back/postage fees afterall.

Hi all. I’ve posted before but not my timeline. So here it is.
Hood luck to everyone, the waiting is killing me!

Hi, tdogg, thanks for your dates! I know exactly what you mean, the patience muscle gets a good workout with this

[adlarson]

I made it through the FBR process in 8 months from docs arrival to certificate in my hand, all went very smooth. However, getting the passport is turning out to be tricky

* Got estimate 4 weeks out for when passport would be sent out, a week after that date I get an email saying they could not contact my witness so I needed to redo the witness form and mail it in
* I mail in new witness form using a new witness and included a business card this time
* Get a new estimate when passport would be ready in 4 weeks
* 2 weeks later I get all my submitted docs sent back with no accompany letter
* 2 weeks after that, my estimated completion date comes and goes, says “application processing”
* 1 weeks after that…no change

My 2 question are…..are folks also having issues with witnesses getting rejected and are they seeing it taking more than 20 days to get their passport sent out?

[jgclancy]

I made it through the FBR process in 8 months from docs arrival to certificate in my hand, all went very smooth. However, getting the passport is turning out to be tricky

* Got estimate 4 weeks out for when passport would be sent out, a week after that date I get an email saying they could not contact my witness so I needed to redo the witness form and mail it in
* I mail in new witness form using a new witness and included a business card this time
* Get a new estimate when passport would be ready in 4 weeks
* 2 weeks later I get all my submitted docs sent back with no accompany letter
* 2 weeks after that, my estimated completion date comes and goes, says “application processing”
* 1 weeks after that…no change

My 2 question are…..are folks also having issues with witnesses getting rejected and are they seeing it taking more than 20 days to get their passport sent out?

From the different discussion sites I follow it seems that both questions are answered YES.Although, they are not rejecting your witness but stating they could not be reached. If they can't contact the witness they make you redo it with a different witness. The passport office does do this often enough. The passport office at this time also seems to have an increased volume of applications so it has slowed down.

jgclancy

[lukys]

In USA it is "estimated time of arrival."

Of course. Looking back, it was obvious from context and it's a thing in the UK too. I feel silly

[SonoLento]

Feels like there's been no movement on the spreadsheet for a couple of weeks in terms of address checks/congrats emails.. Anyone submitted mid July 2023 and heard back recently?

[cainey1991]

Have a look at the FB group. I've seen a few for mid July 23 come through over the past couple of weeks. I'm sat waiting for the 17th July 2023 received dates to be progressed !

[jgclancy]

Have a look at the FB group. I've seen a few for mid July 23 come through over the past couple of weeks. I'm sat waiting for the 17th July 2023 received dates to be progressed !

Yes. June /July are getting there. About 9-10 months processing time unless more documents requested.

jgclancy

[Firecracker777]

Hello!

New to this group. It’s been super helpful looking through everyones experiences. Added to the spreadsheet too, here we go;

Applied online: 15/03/24
Application form & Docs posted: 04/04/24
Application form & Docs Delivered: 10/04/24
Confirmation email: _ _
Address Verification: ——
Congrats email: ——-
Cert received: ——-

[martine313]

Feels like there's been no movement on the spreadsheet for a couple of weeks in terms of address checks/congrats emails.. Anyone submitted mid July 2023 and heard back recently?

Seems like this is the case. I haven't seen much movement since the early-mid July folks. I'm early August and have been checking religiously... so I can't tell if this speed is slower than usual, if I'm just being too anxious/eager, or a combination of both.

Early/mid July people who got your congrats emails - what teams worked on your applications?

[pookidooki]

This is my first post to this forum though my entry in the spreadsheet has been there for the better part of a year now. I am one of the early-mid July 2023 applicants who received an email in the early part of April. However, unlike many others who received a confirmation email, the email I received contained only a request to clarify who should receive the common documents (parental/grandparental certificates) returned for all of our applications since I did a joint application with siblings. We all responded identically within a day. The email also advised that our personal documents would be returned to us at the addresses given on our individual applications, to which I requested they return my documents to a different address since I moved house.

It has since been 20 days with neither a follow-up email nor any documents being received in the post. At the 14 day mark, I sent a follow-up reply to check whether all of our responses had been received successfully. No response either. Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks since we all received that email. I'm not exactly sure what this means but I thought you all might appreciate the data point since there does appear to be some kind of lull in application processing at the moment.

Cheers

[SonoLento]

I knew it.. it doesn’t even seem like a slowing down, just a dead stop in progress. That’s a really frustrating point to be stuck at - sorry to hear PookieD!

[pookidooki]

I knew it.. it doesn’t even seem like a slowing down, just a dead stop in progress. That’s a really frustrating point to be stuck at - sorry to hear PookieD!

I tried briefly searching and browsing recent pages of this thread to find a similar occurrence but was not successful. It seems most people now report receiving a congrats email directly without any address check. I don't know if the email I received counts as an address check since I was not asked to confirm my address, merely to name the recipient of the common documents. It would certainly be easier to wait patiently if the email had also confirmed a positive decision on our applications. I feel like I'm in limbo.

Cheers

[IntravenousTea]

I knew it.. it doesn’t even seem like a slowing down, just a dead stop in progress. That’s a really frustrating point to be stuck at - sorry to hear PookieD!

"The spacetime continuum has been disrupted creating an alternate 2024"

I can't really speculate not knowing the kind of departmental structure or how it operates internally. Increased demand for passports has been uncharacteristically high and meant staff need to focus onto those and hold off on FBR portfolios? Some big policy change? Widespread holiday leave? No clue.
I would hope there'd be some sort of announcement if anything major was happening, but best we can do is sit tight. There's plenty of company in limbo, Pooki lol Any day now, someone will post that they've had some sort of update (collective sanity may depend on it!)

[sarzone]

Adding a timeline for everyone's reference as I helped my mother submit her FBR

Submitted: 1 January 2023
Approval e-mail sent: 16 October 2023

All in all about a 10 month processing time. No follow ups were necessary for address confirmation, etc. All handled via solicitor so not sure if that sped up the process or not.

Sarzone, I think on the 2023 timeline you list your application as naturalisation by descent? Forgive me, and please ignore this question if intrusive, is that an application by association (3 or 5 years residency plus great-grandfather documents) or something else?

Yes, I want to learn more about that too!
According to the Immigration website, it appears like it's only a reduced residency requirement for naturalization unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Yes...I've posted about 2 different applications. My mother's (FBR) and my own (naturalization by descent at great grandparent level) Both of my mother's grandparents were natural born Irish citizens, and by law, my grandmother (mother's mother) was Irish by birth, despite never having applied for citizenship herself, since she was born abroad to 2 natural born Irish citizens.

For mine - citzenship by descent - it is basically a workaround to the residency requirement in the application because of my Irish heritage, but it requires additional items that I believe the residency application does not. I have been working with a solicitor to help my case since it's at great-grandparent level instead of grandparent. But I have additional circumstances - I studied abroad at University College Dublin so I have previously lived in Ireland for some time (though I don't currently), and I have a very large community of friends there who have graciously provided references etc. for me. At this descent level, it's advised to add anything possible to the application that will show connections to Ireland, so I included pictures and passport stamps of my visits there (I travel to Ireland very frequently...1-2x a year), along with proof of my membership in Irish American societies, my participation in Irish history and Irish language courses, and of course my college transcripts to prove I went to UCD. I also had to provide the standard birth marriage and death certificates for everyone in my lineage dating back to and including my Irish great grandparents, minimum of 3 references from Irish citizens, and a personal statement of why I want to be an Irish citizen. My solicitor thinks I have a very strong case, but of course, it's still pending, so I hope the Irish government agrees!

Does that help? Happy to answer any more questions if it's helpful.

Hi sarzone - I would love to hear an update on your case if you have one? I'm working on an application via the same route. I saw your timeline post where you had made it to e-vetting, which seemed promising?

Hi - sorry I am just seeing this now as I have been traveling and haven't been on the boards much! There is no update unfortunately so I am choosing to think 'no news is good news' - I have sent additional documents over like passport stamps along with my mother's passport information (her FBR application was approved in October and she's been working on getting her Irish passport), and have received confirmation of receipt but my application status is still pending. I was advised this type of application would take up to 3 years to process and I'm just now reaching about the half way point for that 3 year timeline, so hoping for good news soon.

[USIrish]

Hi All..
First post on this journey. It’s been helpful to see everyone’s progress, I hope my updates will do the same.

Application submitted: 01/08/2023
Documents received: 28/08/2023
Documents received email: 07/09/2023

Cheers

[timfountain]

I made it through the FBR process in 8 months from docs arrival to certificate in my hand, all went very smooth. However, getting the passport is turning out to be tricky

* Got estimate 4 weeks out for when passport would be sent out, a week after that date I get an email saying they could not contact my witness so I needed to redo the witness form and mail it in
* I mail in new witness form using a new witness and included a business card this time
* Get a new estimate when passport would be ready in 4 weeks
* 2 weeks later I get all my submitted docs sent back with no accompany letter
* 2 weeks after that, my estimated completion date comes and goes, says “application processing”
* 1 weeks after that…no change

My 2 question are…..are folks also having issues with witnesses getting rejected and are they seeing it taking more than 20 days to get their passport sent out?

I went through 2 witness rejections before the 3rd time was good. First time they couldn't contact my dentist. The second time was a ridiculous discrepancy between the online witness form that just states 'Engineer' and the online website that says "Chartered Engineer. 3rd witness was a notary. They will call..

Each new witness seemed to add about 3 weeks to the process. I applied on Nov 4th 2023. My passport card and book were mailed to the US on Feb 26th 2024.... They arrived in the US Feb 27th. I received the passport book almost 2 months after it arrived in NY. I am still waiting for the passport card to show up, but al tracking updates have ceased and it's likely lost. USPS is a complete shit show these days. I hope you aren't in the US.....

Also, the estimated issuance time was very inaccurate, the whole way through it was off by months. I honestly expect that the first time application will take a couple of months, if there are no talk to-ups.