Foreign Birth Registration

[Poppy_19]

Hi everyone, been following this feed for while so i thought I would post an update on my application, to see if anyone is in the same boat? I've seen a lot of people getting the congratulation email, very quickly but i'm still waiting over a month for mine. Anyone else still waiting?

Application submitted: October 10th 2021
Documents received: (No message)
Confirmation of address email: 22/12/2022
Congrats email: Pending-

Just a little update:

I messaged the guy dealing with my application, and asked if there was an update regarding my application?
He responded with " I've sent your application to the last stage, you will receive an email when it is successful"
Been waiting 6 weeks after confirmation, hope its not much longer. Ive seen a lot getting confirmations recently.

[GoingBackBackToEire]

Postman didn't ask for a signature and just dropped it through my letter box.

Same. I didn't have to sign for my FBR cert and documents, nor any of the three deliveries for my Irish passport (returning my documents, passport book, passport card). US Mail left them in my mailbox.

[Rxp2023]

I had an experience where my grandfather’s birth was not registered. I did have a copy of his baptismal birth certificate which was from a church in Ireland, but I still needed to have a late registration to have an official birth certificate created. I didn’t have all of the required certification regarding his parents, so I contacted timeline genealogy Ireland info@timeline.ie and for a fee of €140 they conducted all of the additional research, applied to have the birth registered as a late registration, and ordered the birth certificate for me. Might be worth contacting them as they can probably tell you whether you have enough information to apply for a late registration and can assist you with any research needed. [/s]

I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience to me, and might be able to offer advice.

FBR registration rejected as there was no birth certificate for grandmother.

Great-grandmother married in Cork, had two children, then widowed in 1904 (still in Cork). She is on the 1901 census with husband and first child.

On 1911 census, she lives in Dublin as a widower with 2 children.

My grandmother was born in 1906, probably in Cork or Dublin - as she was illegitimate, I wonder whether this might have been the reason for the move to Dublin.

There was no birth certificate for my grandmother. She was baptised in Shrewsbury a month after her birth in 1906, with my great-grandmother listed as her mother, and the name of her father (different surname). It is likely that her parents were unable to have her baptised in Ireland without causing a scandal, at the time.

She was placed into a Catholic children's home in Westminster in 1908, with her parents names listed on the entry and a Dublin address given for her mother.

Her parents married in 1915 in Dublin.

I submitted all the evidence that I have for this, which does tend towards the strong likelihood that my grandmother was born in Ireland; however, without a birth certificate, the very nice lady who processed my application explained that she was unable to confirm my application. She told me that it would be worth appealing, then someone "higher" can look at the application.

I just wondered whether anyone else has a similar history and has found a way around this situation.

Thanks.

[bsprtsgrp]

Postman didn't ask for a signature and just dropped it through my letter box.

Same. I didn't have to sign for my FBR cert and documents, nor any of the three deliveries for my Irish passport (returning my documents, passport book, passport card). US Mail left them in my mailbox.

How soon after your congratulations email did you actually receive your FBR Cert.? Did you get tracking info sent to you?

[xRGHx]

My final timeline:

Aug 18th: began amassing documents
Oct 17th, 2020: online application submitted and paid
Dec 1st, 2020: application and documents mailed
Nov 16th, 2022: address confirmation and document request (Civil Death Certificate, not Proof of Death)
Jan 25th, 2023: application Approved!
Feb 3rd, 2023: cert received

it was left in my mailbox, didn't have to sign for it. Feels nice to have all my documents back, along with my long-desired FBR certificate. Before I head over to the spreadsheet, a thank you and farewell to this forum and its members....I've read the posts here once a day every day since Aug 18th 2020, and I think I would have gone crazy waiting if it wasn't for everyone's sharing of their experiences.
Slainte, my fellow irish!

[xRGHx]

My final timeline:

Aug 18th: began amassing documents
Oct 17th, 2020: online application submitted and paid
Dec 1st, 2020: application and documents mailed
Nov 16th, 2022: address confirmation and document request (Civil Death Certificate, not Proof of Death)
Jan 25th, 2023: application Approved!
Feb 3rd, 2023: cert received

it was left in my mailbox, didn't have to sign for it. Feels nice to have all my documents back, along with my long-desired FBR certificate. Before I head over to the spreadsheet, a thank you and farewell to this forum and its members....I've read the posts here once a day every day since Aug 18th 2020, and I think I would have gone crazy waiting if it wasn't for everyone's sharing of their experiences.
Slainte, my fellow irish!

[GoingBackBackToEire]

How soon after your congratulations email did you actually receive your FBR Cert.? Did you get tracking info sent to you?

It came pretty fast.

Address Check: 20 Oct 2022
Congrats email: 26 Oct 2022
FBR Cert Received: 31 Oct 2022


No tracking info for the FBR cert.
I did get tracking info for the passport book after it arrived.
And tracking info for the passport card (before it arrived)
No tracking for the return of my passport documents.


But that was three months ago. These days there seems to be a bottleneck in printing the certs.

My congrats email said my cert "has now been printed and posted" and more recent congrats emails say something else?

[ilikefrogs]

My certificate arrived yesterday; I'm over the moon.

I need to apply for my passport now, and the form asks for a certified copy of my UK passport.

Does anyone know if a black-and-white certified copy will suffice? I sent a colour one with my FBR application, but I can no longer access a colour printer.

[JCMD]

Documents sent Dec 5th 2021
Receipt email Dec 9th 2021
Address confirmation email Jan 3rd 2023
Congratulations email Jan 30th 2023
Certificate received Feb 3rd 2023

Had settled in for a longer wait than this when applying, the
process seems to have speeded up just recently. Have found this
forum very valuable source of information and support. Onto the
passport section.

[bsprtsgrp]

My certificate arrived yesterday; I'm over the moon.

I need to apply for my passport now, and the form asks for a certified copy of my UK passport.

Does anyone know if a black-and-white certified copy will suffice? I sent a colour one with my FBR application, but I can no longer access a colour printer.

I already applied for my Irish Passport anticipating arrival of my FBR Cert soon so I called the Irish Consulate in Boston about sending in my actual US Passport or a photo copy with my paperwork and they stated a certified photo copy of my US Passport is fine.

[ilikefrogs]

My certificate arrived yesterday; I'm over the moon.

I need to apply for my passport now, and the form asks for a certified copy of my UK passport.

Does anyone know if a black-and-white certified copy will suffice? I sent a colour one with my FBR application, but I can no longer access a colour printer.

I already applied for my Irish Passport anticipating arrival of my FBR Cert soon so I called the Irish Consulate in Boston about sending in my actual US Passport or a photo copy with my paperwork and they stated a certified photo copy of my US Passport is fine.

Yep, I sent a photocopy for my FBR, only that was in colour.

For my IRL passport application, the printout of my UK passport I have is in black and white, and not as good. I'll give them a call on Monday and see if its within the rules.

[greencath19]

Documents sent Dec 5th 2021
Receipt email Dec 9th 2021
Address confirmation email Jan 3rd 2023
Congratulations email Jan 30th 2023
Certificate received Feb 3rd 2023

Had settled in for a longer wait than this when applying, the
process seems to have speeded up just recently. Have found this
forum very valuable source of information and support. Onto the
passport section.

I dont think your assessment is quite accurate, my son applied 27 months ago and still doesn't have anything from them so it has not speeded up for everyone. I was adopted so my paper trail is complex, but I have my Irish passport already so I thought it would be easier for him. They have retained all my adoption documents for the last 27 months, I am very anxious about this, they are not replaceable like birth certificates are - has anyone experience of getting documents back safely after such a long time? My son has already moved house 3 times for work in the period they have had all my documents! Thanks

[Dalton_Trumbo]

Documents sent Dec 5th 2021
Receipt email Dec 9th 2021
Address confirmation email Jan 3rd 2023
Congratulations email Jan 30th 2023
Certificate received Feb 3rd 2023

Had settled in for a longer wait than this when applying, the
process seems to have speeded up just recently. Have found this
forum very valuable source of information and support. Onto the
passport section.

I dont think your assessment is quite accurate, my son applied 27 months ago and still doesn't have anything from them so it has not speeded up for everyone. I was adopted so my paper trail is complex, but I have my Irish passport already so I thought it would be easier for him. They have retained all my adoption documents for the last 27 months, I am very anxious about this, they are not replaceable like birth certificates are - has anyone experience of getting documents back safely after such a long time? My son has already moved house 3 times for work in the period they have had all my documents! Thanks

It is indeed very strange to simultaneously see Applications from a year ago approved and applications from 2 years ago being approved or pending as well. Seems to be a gap. Lot of folks getting their cert in even less than a year, Others still pending from over 2 years ago.I assume you've contacted them and not much of an update or explanation?

[greencath19]

Yes my son has contacted them recently, no explanation or reassurance. Incidentally my neighbour told me yesterday that she received hers last week after a 15 month wait. It seems that if you applied before covid you are somehow more disadvantaged, I dont understand at all. I just want my 10 original documents back, I think it is outrageous to keep them for this long

Documents sent Dec 5th 2021
Receipt email Dec 9th 2021
Address confirmation email Jan 3rd 2023
Congratulations email Jan 30th 2023
Certificate received Feb 3rd 2023

Had settled in for a longer wait than this when applying, the
process seems to have speeded up just recently. Have found this
forum very valuable source of information and support. Onto the
passport section.

I dont think your assessment is quite accurate, my son applied 27 months ago and still doesn't have anything from them so it has not speeded up for everyone. I was adopted so my paper trail is complex, but I have my Irish passport already so I thought it would be easier for him. They have retained all my adoption documents for the last 27 months, I am very anxious about this, they are not replaceable like birth certificates are - has anyone experience of getting documents back safely after such a long time? My son has already moved house 3 times for work in the period they have had all my documents! Thanks

It is indeed very strange to simultaneously see Applications from a year ago approved and applications from 2 years ago being approved or pending as well. Seems to be a gap. Lot of folks getting their cert in even less than a year, Others still pending from over 2 years ago.I assume you've contacted them and not much of an update or explanation?

[sloanb]

I've been on leave for a week with little to do but wonder what is happening to my application after my address check on 16th Jan. It doesn't seem uncommon to hear nothing for a few weeks based on recent postings and the variation on the spreadsheet, but it is making me wonder what is taking the time.

My application includes a deed poll name change for my mother, so perhaps not straightforward and is being checked in some way. So I wondered if there was a way to find out the address checks email addresses from some of the recent applicants that have received the congrats email almost immediately after the address check, and those that are taking longer. Are the address checks coming from different teams?

My address check came from fbrclarification@dfa.ie, and was written by a named individual that I won't name here, but I did note in a previous post that I got a thank you after responding with confirmation. What is other people's experience at this stage, is it a named person's own email at the DFA or a team number at the DFA? I have a theory that there is some sort of initial check, and anything that doesn't appear straightforward results in it moving to another part of the process, hence the delays some are experiencing compared to others.

Unfortunately it appears that a data sort around the 31 January 1555 version of the Almighty Spreadsheet hasn't been done properly and the usernames and the data is now mixed up, so I'm not clear on which forum members to target to specifically ask about their address check emails.

[EmilyEU]

I can fully understand all the frustrations on this forum.

I personally think we are too generous with our citzenship by descent rules here in Ireland but because of our past and current history of emigration in particular the older generation all emigrating to America or UK usually young and unmarried.

There's a lot of people who can apply.

Another thing is that then government don't invest in state services, we are years behind housing and healthcare targets even though economicallly as a country we are doing well, and we have plenty of corporation tax profits et. Anyone who has never lived in Ireland won't understand how things work here....we are a very slow country for everything work, services, waiting lists are our national slogan.
Whilst I appreicate all the effort made on this forum to track patterns and gather evidence in this country as we say some things are left to the gods....to decide.

[GoingBackBackToEire]

Lot of folks getting their cert in even less than a year

Not quite that quick yet. We've seen a few congrats emails in 11+ months, but looks like ~14+ months is the quickest to get a cert. (excluding those expedited due to pregnancy)
There hasn't been a <12 months to Cert since mid 2020

[GoingBackBackToEire]

BTW, the notes column in the spreadsheet is out of sync again. I suspect someone manually sorted the data without selecting that column and now the notes don't go with the correct username anymore. I don't think this is something I can fix.

[elizabeth7]

Hello - wondering if others have had delays in receiving their certificates in the mail. My congrats letter stated:
A certificate has now been printed and posted to the address provided by you. Please note that your application will be sent via Registered post and someone will need to be available to sign for the envelope.

Congrats/Approved email received on Jan 9, 2023
No Certificate delivery yet.

[martinifromavoca]

My final timeline:

My Application date 02-Dec-2021
Doc acceptance 20-Dec-2021
Address check 05-Jan-2023
Congrats email 06-Jan-2023
Email informing certs printed and sent to UK 01-Feb-2023
FBR certs received in UK 06-Feb-2023

I am a UK-based Dad, born in London, and was an Irish citizen when my two children were born in UK.

All the Best to you all,
Martini

[sloanb]

I've managed to restore the spreadsheet using the last version I could confirm was right (31 January 15:40), and then going back over the updates since then on the forum I've managed to complete the blanks. It looks correct now, but I can't be absolutely sure. And if anyone has updated the spreadsheet but not added to the forum since 31 January then that will be missing.

[sloanb]

BTW, the notes column in the spreadsheet is out of sync again. I suspect someone manually sorted the data without selecting that column and now the notes don't go with the correct username anymore. I don't think this is something I can fix.

It was worse than just the notes column, the address checks were wrong too, but hopefully I've managed to fix it

[bsprtsgrp]

Hello - wondering if others have had delays in receiving their certificates in the mail. My congrats letter stated:
A certificate has now been printed and posted to the address provided by you. Please note that your application will be sent via Registered post and someone will need to be available to sign for the envelope.

Congrats/Approved email received on Jan 9, 2023
No Certificate delivery yet.

Online Application Sent: April 30, 2021
Documents Mailed USPS Priority International: May 1, 2021
Tracking Mail Received in Balbriggan: May 11, 2021
Mailing Address Confirmation email received and sent: January 6, 2023
Congratulations email: February 1, 2023
FBR Certificate Received: February 6, 2023

I received my FBR Certificate today! Date of Entry into the Register is the same date as my address confirmation email if that helps anyone still awaiting their Cert.

Turning it around tomorrow and sending it back with my Passport paperwork.

[Mr_Knight]

Hello - wondering if others have had delays in receiving their certificates in the mail.
Congrats/Approved email received on Jan 9, 2023
No Certificate delivery yet.

Mailing Address Confirmation email received and sent: January 6, 2023
Congratulations email: February 1, 2023
FBR Certificate Received: February 6, 2023

I got a congrats/certificate printed & posted email Feb 1st.
It was delivered Feb 6th. Added to FBR on Jan 6th.

[Patpatriot]

I took this from someone’s FB post, might help explain things for those waiting….

“ I notice there are quite a few queries regarding the variable length of time between confirmation of address and congratulations email.
I had an email from the person who sent my confirmation of address explaining that she had forwarded my application to a team leader for final approval. Apparently not all staff are authorised to do the final approval, those that get a quick turnaround we’re lucky to have their applications assessed by someone who could also approve but she explained there are way more staff who check than those who can approve. The other kicker is, as they have been processing far more applications recently the backlog for approval has increased and up to 8 weeks would not be unusual.”