How to be eligible for irish passport?

The Constitution of Ireland is the basic law of the State and was adopted in 1937. It replaced the Constitution of the Irish Free State.

The Constitution of the Irish Free State granted citizenship to anyone living in the territory of the Irish Free State who:

It did not give citizenship rights to anyone born after the enacting of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. Instead, it said that this would be set out in law.

When this was replaced by the Constitution of Ireland, anyone who was granted citizenship of the Irish Free State under the provisions of the previous Constitution became a citizen of Ireland. Article 9 of the Irish Constitution says that the future “acquisition and loss” or Irish citizenship would be done in accordance with law.

The 19th Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was passed following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. This put the right to citizenship by birth in the Constitution.

The 27th Amendment of the Irish Constitution was passed by referendum in 2004. This removed the automatic right to citizenship by birth for anyone born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 and gave authority back to the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) to decide on laws about citizenship by birth.

The Constitution of Ireland allows the Oireachtas to make laws to decide who can become an Irish citizen after the enactment of the Constitution (in 1937). The most important citizenship law that was passed after 1937 was the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1956.

This Act had a number of important provisions:

If you or your parents were born in Ireland, or if you were adopted in Ireland, you may be an Irish citizen by birth. If you are not entitled to Irish citizenship by birth, you may be able to become an Irish citizen by registering your birth on the Foreign Births Register, or by applying for naturalisation.

This is the fastest and cheapest way to get your first Irish passport or renew your passport. Once you have your photo, it only takes about ten minutes!

Apply online

The Passport Express Service operated by the post offices in Glasgow and Liverpool is open.

There are two post offices currently offering a Passport Express service in Great Britain. Payment of passport fees can be made at the post office by credit, debit cards or cash.

Passport Express is the only postal application method in Great Britain for paper applications. The turnaround time for this service is estimated at 8 weeks.   Passport Express applications cannot be expedited and you are advised to not book flights until you have your passport.

We will not process passport applications submitted by ordinary or registered post. These applications will be returned to you unprocessed.

The Passport Express Service is available at Glasgow and Liverpool Post Offices:

Glasgow Post Office

140 West Nile Street

Glasgow

G1 2R

Liverpool Post Office

1-3 South John Street

Liverpool

L1 8BN

Once payment is made, you will be issued with a receipt. Keep this receipt in a safe place as it contains the tracking number for your passport application. Application forms are available at both Glasgow and Liverpool post offices.

If you are renewing your passport and wish to avail of our new urgent renewal service with a five day turnaround time, you can now make an appointment at our public office on Cromwell Road.

Appointments can be booked online up to 3 weeks in advance.   You cannot book an appointment if you have already submitted an online application.

If you book an appointment when you already have an application pending through the online system, your appointment will be cancelled and the appointment fee refunded. Your online application will continue to process in line with current turnaround times.

This urgent renewal service is not available to first time applicants.

Book an appointment now

You must have an appointment to submit an application in person to the Passport Office in London.

The Passport Office is located at:

114a Cromwell Road

London

SW7 4ES

The Passport Office is open to the public from 09.30 - 16.30 Monday to Friday.

You are entitled to be an Irish citizen by birth if you fall into one of the categories below.

If you were born in Ireland before 1 January 2005, you are an Irish citizen by birth.

If you were born in Northern Ireland before 1 January 2005, you are entitled to claim Irish citizenship. This means that you can choose to be an Irish citizen and apply for an Irish passport if you want to.

The people of Ireland voted to change the constitutional right to citizenship in the 27th Amendment to the Irish Constitution. This ended the automatic entitlement to citizenship by birth to everyone born in Ireland.

If you are born on or after 1 January 2005, your entitlement to Irish citizenship depends on the nationality or residence history of your parent or parents.

If either of your parents was an Irish or UK citizen at the time of your birth, you are automatically an Irish citizen if you were born in Ireland. If you were born in Northern Ireland to an Irish or British parent, you can choose to be an Irish citizen.

If your Irish or UK citizen parent died before you were born, you are an Irish citizen by birth.

If you were born in Ireland on or after 1 January 2005 and neither of your parents were Irish or UK citizens, your entitlement to Irish citizenship by birth depends on your parents’ residence status and history.

One of your parents must have:

Only reckonable residence is counted towards the 3 out of 4 years needed. This does not include periods spent in Ireland on a student visa or while waiting for a decision on an international protection application.

If you or your child were born in Ireland after 31 December 2004 and do not qualify as an Irish citizen by birth, you can apply for citizenship by naturalisation after you (and the child) have completed five years of residence in Ireland.