Foreign Birth Registration

[Corkythecat]

Hello Tom,

I wouldn't worry if I were you. You are in the exact same position as many on here.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any contact open with the FBR team during the lockdown.

I applied just a few months before you in late August 2019 and like you have heard nothing beyond the original confirmation email. Before the strict lockdowns I was able to contact the FBR team on 2 occasions a few months apart, via webchat. They just reassured me that my documents were safe following the receipt email and apologised for the increasing delays.

The reason I was concerned was that my two siblings who applied in July 2019 had heard back . One has been done and dusted and now has a passport and ID card. The other who applied just a week later has been disrupted and is still waiting for the FBR to be posted. I am stuck waiting for a confirmation of address contact.

Before the strict lockdowns they were processing July/August 2019 applications.

When things crank up again i'm hoping to hear something within a month or so - but who knows?

So I'd just sit tight - It would be unlikely that your documents or processing are forgotten.

Regards and Good Luck!

[cdfly]

Hi! I applied with my sister back in July '20 as she needed an expedited application for her August due date. Her application was immediately approved and mine was put back in the pile for a bit.

My application was surprisingly approved Dec 14, printed/shipped Dec 17, and was lost in the mail for a good month (it popped up on my USPS informed delivery once it reached NY)... Received today Feb 3....

AND THEY PUT MY SISTER'S PHOTO ON MY CERTIFICATE. I'm dying. I must've sent 4 different options for them to choose for my passport photo, just to be over-prepared....and here we are with the wrong photo.
The letter said to contact the "listed below contact" if anything was incorrect, but then did not list a contact...Has anyone had any luck getting in touch with someone for a correction/experience with this?

I know the office is closed until March so thats a bit of a bummer, so this is mostly me venting

Just wanted to give an update on this -
Got in touch with the DFA contact who assisted me with my sister's expedited app over the summer. Within a day he put me in touch with the relevant staff and they have assured me that they will re-print as soon as the office reopens. DFA definitely take data breaches seriously, so its been a quick solve! My sister also received a lengthy email regarding the data breach. I definitely made sure to assure them that we appreciate everything they've done for us so far, and for my family its been more or less a good laugh.

On that note, relevant info for everyone: some FBR staff have a bit of access to their official emails for serious issues, but absolutely zero access to the office (and application files) until at least Level 5 ends. So I don't think they are even processing expedited apps currently.

[youthinkunoe]

I've just found this thread and it's been very helpful in that I have been worrying that I haven't heard anything about our FBR application and saw it had been emailed to others. I have now found it in the spam of an email account I only use rarely!

I made the application for my children in December 2019, acknowledgment email was dated 21st Jan 2020 and I still haven't heard anything further. Those of you who have applied since Covid hit the scene I think might be in for a longer wait than me and it's already been almost 14 months. I think the worst part is not having any clue whether it's been lost among the trillion applications or that once they start to process it they find tiny mistake on the form somewhere and then you have to resubmit and start again!

Im in the same boat with you over here
Documents received November 11, 2019

[Sooze]

... I think the worst part is not having any clue whether it's been lost among the trillion applications or that once they start to process it they find tiny mistake on the form somewhere and then you have to resubmit and start again!

There was a guy called Sulla on here who used to make an application progress list ordered by when people applied, so you could see how DFA were gradually working through the pile. He disappeared from here last year so no more list, but the pattern was that they tended to work through in order of application, with only a few outliers which were usually caused by weird postal arrangements between some embassies and the Irish authorities. As far as I can recall, the wait was around 12 months at the beginning of last year, so with Covid and Brexit both happening since then, I'd resign myself to a 2 year wait - at least that way, you might be pleasantly surprised rather than continuously frustrated...

Thank you for this, at least when you know rough timelines it stops you from worrying as much. to be honest, I stopped worrying so much once I found the missing emails! There's no specific urgency on this front so I can wait if I know it's being processed - it would be nice to have it ticked off my list though.

[Sooze]

I've just found this thread and it's been very helpful in that I have been worrying that I haven't heard anything about our FBR application and saw it had been emailed to others. I have now found it in the spam of an email account I only use rarely!

I made the application for my children in December 2019, acknowledgment email was dated 21st Jan 2020 and I still haven't heard anything further. Those of you who have applied since Covid hit the scene I think might be in for a longer wait than me and it's already been almost 14 months. I think the worst part is not having any clue whether it's been lost among the trillion applications or that once they start to process it they find tiny mistake on the form somewhere and then you have to resubmit and start again!

Im in the same boat with you over here
Documents received November 11, 2019

Looks like we're in for another six months or more by the previous posts!

[ct101]

Hi all, good news! My FBR certificate has just arrived in the mail 2 months later Just wanted to give some hope to the people who are still waiting!

[Waiting4Balbriggan]

Posting a disappointing update:

-29 weeks pregnant

Application submitted: 18 July 2019
Application paperwork received: 30 July 2019
(Crickets...)
Notified pregnancy via registered post: September 2020
(More crickets)
Renotified pregnancy: December 2020
Had a request for further documentation: proof my mother is still alive: December 2020
Sent documentation, AnPost notified it was received in Balbriggan: mid Jan 2021
(Crickets again....)

Baby is due on April 30, but could come early. I was very hopeful it would be sorted in time before, but I think his/her chances are now pretty low, given the need to get to level 3 before they do anything.

I’m very disappointed. I thought applying a year before we started trying to have a baby would be long enough!

[jamiepompey]

Posting a disappointing update:

-29 weeks pregnant

Application submitted: 18 July 2019
Application paperwork received: 30 July 2019
(Crickets...)
Notified pregnancy via registered post: September 2020
(More crickets)
Renotified pregnancy: December 2020
Had a request for further documentation: proof my mother is still alive: December 2020
Sent documentation, AnPost notified it was received in Balbriggan: mid Jan 2021
(Crickets again....)

Baby is due on April 30, but could come early. I was very hopeful it would be sorted in time before, but I think his/her chances are now pretty low, given the need to get to level 3 before they do anything.

I’m very disappointed. I thought applying a year before we started trying to have a baby would be long enough!

You might get lucky and they will reopen in time. If they reopen before the birth get onto them ASAP. I did it back in August (I was a July 2019 applicant like yourself) and they approved me on the 3rd of September. I was a bit stressed about it as the due date drew near (our daughter was born in Jan). I now have my passport as well but I was just so incredibly lucky that as soon as I had the FBR certificate in hand that I applied for the passport straight away as not long after I received it they closed again. Good luck.

[FrozenTundra]

Hi all,

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for information regarding foreign birth registration. Due to COVID it appears that the FBR team isn't answering any questions so I was hoping to make sure I have everything correct before submitting the FBR application for my son.

Some quick background information:

- My wife and I are married and live in the US. I am solely a US citizen, she is a dual US/Irish citizen with both passports active and unexpired.
- My wife's father was an Irish citizen at the time of her birth. He was born in Galway, Ireland.
- Technically, my wife was born in the US since here parents were briefly here for work. They moved back to the Republic of Ireland pretty soon after her birth. They later permanently immigrated to the US when she was 5 years old. Consequently, my wife's Irish citizenship is through "descent" as opposed to birth in Ireland. She was never registered on the FBR since she was the first generation born abroad.
- We had our first child, a baby boy, about 5 weeks ago in the United States.

Summarizing the above: my understanding is that it is irrelevant that my wife's parents were in the US temporarily; the fact that my wife was born in the US means that our son is the second generation born abroad and thus must register for citizenship through FBR. If this is incorrect please let me know.

Assuming I am correct, here is what I have gathered thus far in terms of documents (all documents certified copies):

- Fully filled out FBR application online today, and printed out the PDF today as well. I paid the €153 fee online by credit card today
- My wife's father's Irish birth certificate
- My wife's parents marriage certificate
- My wife's US birth certificate
- Our marriage certificate
- Copy of my wife's Irish passport
- Copy of my US passport
- My son's birth certificate
- Two copies of proof of our address (first is our electric bill and second is our water bill)

Here is what I am waiting on:
- My son's US passport (to be photocopied and used to meet the photo ID requirement for the application); expeditated processing and we should have this in two weeks.
- A photo copy of my wife's father's passport or driver's license - he will be coming to visit us in two weeks so will obtain it then.
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.
- A letter from my son's eye doctor on official letterhead indicating my son's address and that he is a patient.
- An application form witness from the list to sign everything once I get all the documents ready in the next few weeks.

Am I good as long as I have all that? Anything I am missing?

Also, we were going to have one of our good family friends who is a physician be the application form witness. Is there any specific form he is supposed to use to "attest" to all of our documents? Or does he literally just hand write and sign on each photocopy that it is indeed a true copy of our document?

Many thanks again all and hope all of you are staying safe during these trying times.

Kind regards,

FrozenTundra

[TrishMc]

Hi Frozen,

You say:
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.

What's the purpose of the photos of yourself? If you are not applying for FBR for yourself, why the photos?

TrishMc

[FrozenTundra]

Hi Frozen,

You say:
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.

What's the purpose of the photos of yourself? If you are not applying for FBR for yourself, why the photos?

TrishMc

Hi TrishMc,

I believe if applying on behalf of a minor you are supposed to attach photos of yourself too, is that not correct? From the DFA website:

You need to submit four passport-sized photographs with your application.

Your witness must sign and date two of these photographs.

If you're applying on behalf of a minor, you also need to submit four passport-sized photographs of yourself. They should also be signed and dated by you and your witness.

[TrishMc]

You are correct then. Apologies

[jgclancy]

Hi all,

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for information regarding foreign birth registration. Due to COVID it appears that the FBR team isn't answering any questions so I was hoping to make sure I have everything correct before submitting the FBR application for my son.

Some quick background information:

- My wife and I are married and live in the US. I am solely a US citizen, she is a dual US/Irish citizen with both passports active and unexpired.
- My wife's father was an Irish citizen at the time of her birth. He was born in Galway, Ireland.
- Technically, my wife was born in the US since here parents were briefly here for work. They moved back to the Republic of Ireland pretty soon after her birth. They later permanently immigrated to the US when she was 5 years old. Consequently, my wife's Irish citizenship is through "descent" as opposed to birth in Ireland. She was never registered on the FBR since she was the first generation born abroad.
- We had our first child, a baby boy, about 5 weeks ago in the United States.

Summarizing the above: my understanding is that it is irrelevant that my wife's parents were in the US temporarily; the fact that my wife was born in the US means that our son is the second generation born abroad and thus must register for citizenship through FBR. If this is incorrect please let me know.

Assuming I am correct, here is what I have gathered thus far in terms of documents (all documents certified copies):

- Fully filled out FBR application online today, and printed out the PDF today as well. I paid the €153 fee online by credit card today
- My wife's father's Irish birth certificate
- My wife's parents marriage certificate
- My wife's US birth certificate
- Our marriage certificate
- Copy of my wife's Irish passport
- Copy of my US passport
- My son's birth certificate
- Two copies of proof of our address (first is our electric bill and second is our water bill)

Here is what I am waiting on:
- My son's US passport (to be photocopied and used to meet the photo ID requirement for the application); expeditated processing and we should have this in two weeks.
- A photo copy of my wife's father's passport or driver's license - he will be coming to visit us in two weeks so will obtain it then.
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.
- A letter from my son's eye doctor on official letterhead indicating my son's address and that he is a patient.
- An application form witness from the list to sign everything once I get all the documents ready in the next few weeks.

Am I good as long as I have all that? Anything I am missing?

Also, we were going to have one of our good family friends who is a physician be the application form witness. Is there any specific form he is supposed to use to "attest" to all of our documents? Or does he literally just hand write and sign on each photocopy that it is indeed a true copy of our document?

Many thanks again all and hope all of you are staying safe during these trying times.

Kind regards,

FrozenTundra

Looks like you have it all covered. Make sure you put the application # on outside of delivery package when you send it. Not needed but I had all of my documents notarized . It was free at my bank so I figured that'd make all those signatures look more official. I added a short statement for ID's --i.e -I, "so and so", hereby attest that this is a true copy of , "whomever it is". Followed by signature/date. Best of luck.

[DanaMarie]

Hi all,

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for information regarding foreign birth registration. Due to COVID it appears that the FBR team isn't answering any questions so I was hoping to make sure I have everything correct before submitting the FBR application for my son.

Some quick background information:

- My wife and I are married and live in the US. I am solely a US citizen, she is a dual US/Irish citizen with both passports active and unexpired.
- My wife's father was an Irish citizen at the time of her birth. He was born in Galway, Ireland.
- Technically, my wife was born in the US since here parents were briefly here for work. They moved back to the Republic of Ireland pretty soon after her birth. They later permanently immigrated to the US when she was 5 years old. Consequently, my wife's Irish citizenship is through "descent" as opposed to birth in Ireland. She was never registered on the FBR since she was the first generation born abroad.
- We had our first child, a baby boy, about 5 weeks ago in the United States.

Summarizing the above: my understanding is that it is irrelevant that my wife's parents were in the US temporarily; the fact that my wife was born in the US means that our son is the second generation born abroad and thus must register for citizenship through FBR. If this is incorrect please let me know.

Assuming I am correct, here is what I have gathered thus far in terms of documents (all documents certified copies):

- Fully filled out FBR application online today, and printed out the PDF today as well. I paid the €153 fee online by credit card today
- My wife's father's Irish birth certificate
- My wife's parents marriage certificate
- My wife's US birth certificate
- Our marriage certificate
- Copy of my wife's Irish passport
- Copy of my US passport
- My son's birth certificate
- Two copies of proof of our address (first is our electric bill and second is our water bill)

Here is what I am waiting on:
- My son's US passport (to be photocopied and used to meet the photo ID requirement for the application); expeditated processing and we should have this in two weeks.
- A photo copy of my wife's father's passport or driver's license - he will be coming to visit us in two weeks so will obtain it then.
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.
- A letter from my son's eye doctor on official letterhead indicating my son's address and that he is a patient.
- An application form witness from the list to sign everything once I get all the documents ready in the next few weeks.

Am I good as long as I have all that? Anything I am missing?

Also, we were going to have one of our good family friends who is a physician be the application form witness. Is there any specific form he is supposed to use to "attest" to all of our documents? Or does he literally just hand write and sign on each photocopy that it is indeed a true copy of our document?

Many thanks again all and hope all of you are staying safe during these trying times.

Kind regards,

FrozenTundra

Congrats on the birth of your child!

You are missing from your list a photocopy of the Irish-born grandparent's "current state-issued ID document (i.e. passport, drivers licence, national identity card) certified as a true copy of the original by a professional from the list of witnesses OR original civil death certificate", since the application is being made through that Irish grandparent.

[jgclancy]

Hi all,

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for information regarding foreign birth registration. Due to COVID it appears that the FBR team isn't answering any questions so I was hoping to make sure I have everything correct before submitting the FBR application for my son.

Some quick background information:

- My wife and I are married and live in the US. I am solely a US citizen, she is a dual US/Irish citizen with both passports active and unexpired.
- My wife's father was an Irish citizen at the time of her birth. He was born in Galway, Ireland.
- Technically, my wife was born in the US since here parents were briefly here for work. They moved back to the Republic of Ireland pretty soon after her birth. They later permanently immigrated to the US when she was 5 years old. Consequently, my wife's Irish citizenship is through "descent" as opposed to birth in Ireland. She was never registered on the FBR since she was the first generation born abroad.
- We had our first child, a baby boy, about 5 weeks ago in the United States.

Summarizing the above: my understanding is that it is irrelevant that my wife's parents were in the US temporarily; the fact that my wife was born in the US means that our son is the second generation born abroad and thus must register for citizenship through FBR. If this is incorrect please let me know.

Assuming I am correct, here is what I have gathered thus far in terms of documents (all documents certified copies):

- Fully filled out FBR application online today, and printed out the PDF today as well. I paid the €153 fee online by credit card today
- My wife's father's Irish birth certificate
- My wife's parents marriage certificate
- My wife's US birth certificate
- Our marriage certificate
- Copy of my wife's Irish passport
- Copy of my US passport
- My son's birth certificate
- Two copies of proof of our address (first is our electric bill and second is our water bill)

Here is what I am waiting on:
- My son's US passport (to be photocopied and used to meet the photo ID requirement for the application); expeditated processing and we should have this in two weeks.
- A photo copy of my wife's father's passport or driver's license - he will be coming to visit us in two weeks so will obtain it then.
- Four passport photos for my son and four passport photos for myself - will obtain this as the last step.
- A letter from my son's eye doctor on official letterhead indicating my son's address and that he is a patient.
- An application form witness from the list to sign everything once I get all the documents ready in the next few weeks.

Am I good as long as I have all that? Anything I am missing?

Also, we were going to have one of our good family friends who is a physician be the application form witness. Is there any specific form he is supposed to use to "attest" to all of our documents? Or does he literally just hand write and sign on each photocopy that it is indeed a true copy of our document?

Many thanks again all and hope all of you are staying safe during these trying times.

Kind regards,

FrozenTundra

Congrats on the birth of your child!

You are missing from your list a photocopy of the Irish-born grandparent's "current state-issued ID document (i.e. passport, drivers licence, national identity card) certified as a true copy of the original by a professional from the list of witnesses OR original civil death certificate", since the application is being made through that Irish grandparent.

He lists that as: A photo copy of my wife's father's passport or driver's license - he will be coming to visit us in two weeks so will obtain it then.

jgclancy

[MKCG]

What’s the current wait time these days.
I’m coming up to a year shortly. I’m sure I submitted mine Mid March 2020, it was confirmed as received prior to the initial main lockdown

Would Another 6-9 months be fair to say ?

[ripforreallldo]

not sure how much longer it’s going to take. i’m right there with you being a spring ‘20 applicant. from what it sounds like here, they are still going through summer ‘19 apps. if they extend this current lockdown to easter it’s going to increase all of our waits even more. my partner and i are separated (me in usa, him in england) and this was going to be our quick easy path to be together. unfortunately, finance and spousal visas are also paused due to covid. i thought i would be fully moved by now, but i’m terrified we are in for another year wait. travel ban still in place here, v. close to flying to uk to get pregnant to expedite this app to get this show on the road but even so, from what i gather form this forum, that’s hardly a guarantee.

[SLwlss]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. I submitted an application in Oct 2019 for my wife and haven't heard anything yet which seems par for the course. My question is about 2 separate applications yet to be made:

1. Sibling of original applicant: The FAQs state that siblings residing in the same country can apply together as they will be using shared docs. At the time of original application the sister didn't live in the same country but now does. I had hoped to speak to the FBR team about appending now my wife's application with her sister's application and personal docs but given the lock down that is not possible. Should we send the sister's docs in with my wife's application number on the cover and an explanation order to get it processed at the same time?

2. Cousins of original applicant: A number of the extended family are understandably quite keen to gain Irish citizenship. There are 2 documents related to the shared Irish born Grandfather that cannot be duplicated so everyone is waiting for these 2 docs to be returned to my wife before teh next person can apply. Should the cousins submit their applications without these 2 docs (deed poll name change and marriage certificate) so they can get into the queue and submit the originals when they become available?

Thanks in advance.

[JuniorBatman]

What’s the current wait time these days.
I’m coming up to a year shortly. I’m sure I submitted mine Mid March 2020, it was confirmed as received prior to the initial main lockdown

Would Another 6-9 months be fair to say ?

And then some, I would guess. My children were mid-Nov ‘19 applicants and I had been quite obsessively tracking (and occasionally sharing) the wait times experienced. It was looking like mid-April ‘21 for us. But there’s another three months to add for lockdown, so perhaps 20 months in total.

But who knows? They did seem to be working their backlog quite hard, last year, they might be keen to turn them around as quickly as they can.

[Waiting4Balbriggan]

A better update to my ‘disappointing’ update from a few days ago.

I was able to pass a message on to the FBR team via the passport web chat that I was sure that my baby would be born before Dublin returned to level 3.

As all the documents I supplied previously had been checked and confirmed, they were able to register my birth in time for the birth of my child, but won’t get proof or confirmation until they get to level 3, so it will be a long time before I receive a certificate, but I don’t mind.

I’m over the moon to be able to registered in time so that I can register my soon-to-be child in the future. Now I can put my feet up and have a rest

I applied in July 2019

[tomriddle2u]

Looks like level 5 lockdown until May
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/c ... 07667.html

[JuniorBatman]

Looks like level 5 lockdown until May
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/c ... 07667.html

Yup. Looking like a two-year FBR wait for those caught at the wrong end of this, my kids' applications went in mid-November 2019 and before the currently lockdown the average wait suggested mid-April for registration, so we'll be adding six months to that.

Fortunately we're only doing it for post-Brexit study/work options, so they are a few years off needing them. It's not as if we are going on holiday any time soon!

[V3rvangen]

I have to say, the fact that the office is likely now closed again all the way until at least April is absolutely insane. I could understand the office being closed during the first lockdowns, when this situation was new and the whole world was caught by surprise and shut down, but they've now had a year to find a way to carry on service. Every other business has had to find ways to work from home, or make their workplaces safe. It is absolutely unacceptable to close such an important government service, which people like myself are depending on.
At this rate, I won't get my citizenship until 2022, when I'm intending to study abroad in September later this year, so I'll likely have to postpone that for a year.

[Mr_Knight]

Apparently there is a large anti-lockdown protest in Dublin right now. No masks & no social distancing.
Will this lead to easing of restrictions or another spike & longer lockdown restrictions

[chelsearob77]

I have to say, the fact that the office is likely now closed again all the way until at least April is absolutely insane. I could understand the office being closed during the first lockdowns, when this situation was new and the whole world was caught by surprise and shut down, but they've now had a year to find a way to carry on service. Every other business has had to find ways to work from home, or make their workplaces safe. It is absolutely unacceptable to close such an important government service, which people like myself are depending on.
At this rate, I won't get my citizenship until 2022, when I'm intending to study abroad in September later this year, so I'll likely have to postpone that for a year.

I agree with you most businesses approaching a year since the pandemic first hit have found ways to make their workplace Covid safe but the Irish Foreign Births Department are unable to operate? As are the Irish Passport Applications Department as their offices are also closed and no passports are being processed until Ireland is in Level 4 or lower which won’t be until April at the earliest!

Then once the offices are open they will have a big backlog and I’m sure the 12 to 18 months waiting time will increase!

So it does seem we are all in for a 18 to 24 months waiting time then gods knows how much longer upon applying for the Irish passport?