Foreign Birth Registration

[Jacqui309]

I called at the end of last week on Thursday and was told my application has been sent to a manager for approval...

Hi Court,

I was advised on November 29th 2018 that my application had been sent for approval by management. However, in my case, this was later shown to be wrong / meaningless because I was entered on to the FBR on November 28th - as per received certificate.

Another instance I know of, that involves this phase being mentioned, is that of Richard. I have posted his info below, which comes from his final timeline post in the early pages of this thread. His is probably more reliable than mine.

* Application submitted in person to Edinburgh Consulate: 31-Jul-18
* Additional documentation submitted via post to Edinburgh Consulate: 02-Aug-18
* Email confirming receipt in "Dublin" (/Balbriggan?) and "priority processing"; request for additional documentation: 27-Nov-18
* Email acknowledgement of documents received, "submitted to supervisor for approval": 04-Dec-18
* Entered onto FBR (unbeknownst to me): 12-Dec-18
* Email reply received to enquiry, confirming FBR entry / "you are an Irish citizen as of 12-Dec-18": 17-Jan-19
* Certificate printed - 10-Mar-19
* Certificate received in post - 29-Mar-19

From both of our cases, it seems that the time window between the application being sent for management / supervisor approval and actual entry is relatively brief. I think that Brawn may also have written about the sent to supervisor stage, but the gap for him may have been a bit longer. I can't recall exactly. Maybe he will clarify if he sees this.

Mine was sent to a manager in December and I am still waiting......

[Sulla]

Mine was sent to a manager in December and I am still waiting......

I'm sorry to hear that. It just goes to show everyone how random processing times can be for FBR. Richard was also a U.K. applicant. It's hard to comprehend what system they are using to deal with applications. The discrepancies are just too large.

[rdslight]

I called at the end of last week on Thursday and was told my application has been sent to a manager for approval...

Hi Court,

I was advised on November 29th 2018 that my application had been sent for approval by management. However, in my case, this was later shown to be wrong / meaningless because I was entered on to the FBR on November 28th - as per received certificate.

Another instance I know of, that involves this phase being mentioned, is that of Richard. I have posted his info below, which comes from his final timeline post in the early pages of this thread. His is probably more reliable than mine.

* Application submitted in person to Edinburgh Consulate: 31-Jul-18
* Additional documentation submitted via post to Edinburgh Consulate: 02-Aug-18
* Email confirming receipt in "Dublin" (/Balbriggan?) and "priority processing"; request for additional documentation: 27-Nov-18
* Email acknowledgement of documents received, "submitted to supervisor for approval": 04-Dec-18
* Entered onto FBR (unbeknownst to me): 12-Dec-18
* Email reply received to enquiry, confirming FBR entry / "you are an Irish citizen as of 12-Dec-18": 17-Jan-19
* Certificate printed - 10-Mar-19
* Certificate received in post - 29-Mar-19

From both of our cases, it seems that the time window between the application being sent for management / supervisor approval and actual entry is relatively brief. I think that Brawn may also have written about the sent to supervisor stage, but the gap for him may have been a bit longer. I can't recall exactly. Maybe he will clarify if he sees this.

Sent for final approval on 5th December, one day later.......still waiting

[nydccub]

Hey! You forgot me!

Nydccub - received August 31st / Pending

Sorry about that and thanks for correcting me. I hope that list of August applicants will see some further positive updates in the near future.

The chasm that exists between the FBR entry times of group 1 (Spav, Sean & Sulla) and group 2 (everyone else) is really quite concerning. It is hard to mount any defense of people who applied basically at the same time receiving such radically different treatment.

Oh you're fine, Sulla. That was merely faux rage. Thank YOU for keeping track of everyone's processing times.

[Court2]

I called at the end of last week on Thursday and was told my application has been sent to a manager for approval...

Hi Court,

I was advised on November 29th 2018 that my application had been sent for approval by management. However, in my case, this was later shown to be wrong / meaningless because I was entered on to the FBR on November 28th - as per received certificate.

Another instance I know of, that involves this phase being mentioned, is that of Richard. I have posted his info below, which comes from his final timeline post in the early pages of this thread. His is probably more reliable than mine.

* Application submitted in person to Edinburgh Consulate: 31-Jul-18
* Additional documentation submitted via post to Edinburgh Consulate: 02-Aug-18
* Email confirming receipt in "Dublin" (/Balbriggan?) and "priority processing"; request for additional documentation: 27-Nov-18
* Email acknowledgement of documents received, "submitted to supervisor for approval": 04-Dec-18
* Entered onto FBR (unbeknownst to me): 12-Dec-18
* Email reply received to enquiry, confirming FBR entry / "you are an Irish citizen as of 12-Dec-18": 17-Jan-19
* Certificate printed - 10-Mar-19
* Certificate received in post - 29-Mar-19

From both of our cases, it seems that the time window between the application being sent for management / supervisor approval and actual entry is relatively brief. I think that Brawn may also have written about the sent to supervisor stage, but the gap for him may have been a bit longer. I can't recall exactly. Maybe he will clarify if he sees this.

Hi Sulla,

Thanks for that, I was sure I'd heard something like 'manager approval' on here before. I'm glad to have reached one of the latter 'stages' at last! Onwards and upwards hopefully.

Has anyone here applied for their passport via the London embassy in person at the passport office? I have had a play around on the Irish Embassy website recently and it seems to remind you throughout the appointment making process that you should only be using the service if you have immediate travel plans. I don't fancy a trip to Liverpool or Glasgow just for the sake of applying for the passport if I can do this in London. Although it seems the passport express service has a more efficient edge currently.

[fvigaud]

Any thoughts anyone on whether I should just send it in as an addendum once I get it? Or should I wait until I get a request for more information months and months from now? I note they are restructuring and sent someone's FBR cert to the wrong person...I am concerned....

I would definitely wait. For sure, I would source the divorce certificate(s) concerned and have them ready to go. Then, I would wait for the DFA clarifications dept to contact me. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. There is a substantial amount of randomness in this process. Once you receive a request, there will be 28 days to submit the document. I would not just send it in unsolicited. The DFA have a mountain of mail and that could lead to confusion. Better that they will be expecting it. They may even give you other address information to use when sending in such additional documentation - such as a caseworkers name.

Sounds wise. Thank you, again!

[Sulla]

I made it to the land of smiles. Not completely without incident though. After an 8.5 hour flight, I had some hassles with Thai immigration that I have never had before - I have been here about 20 times previously without issue. These problems arose from the fact that I decided to use my shiny new Turkish passport to enter the country. This shouldn't have been a problem as Turkish citizens also get Thai visa exemption. However, when your passport is totally new, you were not born in Turkey, your name does not sound remotely Turkish and you look more Scandinavian than anything else, then there can be problems. Anyway, after spending 30 mins answering questions, producing my other passports and them doing some checks, immigration did stamp me in on the Turkish passport. Not the nicest way to end a long flight though.

In other news, the DFA passport tracker actually moved! Can you hear the hallelujah chorus? I am stunned. On the surface, it appears my process only had two stages 'processing' and 'dispatched'. On closer examination though, there was a 'printing' phase in there too, but I missed it as it lasted well under a day. Let's see how long it takes to wend its way back to the embassy in Beijing. I expect to hear from them on Thursday next week because that's when the internal mail comes from Ireland. Then I will attempt to arrange a courier from Beijing to Thailand - or if they will not permit that, to my Chinese address and then on to Thailand.

It seems my passport journey is coming to an end at last.

[brawn401]

I think that Brawn may also have written about the sent to supervisor stage, but the gap for him may have been a bit longer. I can't recall exactly. Maybe he will clarify if he sees this.

That’s right I had confirmation provided to me that mine had been sent for final approval at the beginning of November 2018. I received my FBR in the post at the beginning of April 2019, so about 5 months after. This doesn’t seem to be a part of the process that they proactively tell you about, rather you need to call or email and ask for an update and they should tell you if it has reached that stage. Who knows whether that is a common timeline or not. Good luck!

[fvigaud]

In other news, the DFA passport tracker actually moved! ... It seems my passport journey is coming to an end at last.

Congrats Sulla!

[Momochelmsford]

please any one has experience sending first time passport application straight to CORK from uk. how and do i have to send retun postage fees.thanks

[LesMalouinettes]

It seems my passport journey is coming to an end at last.

Good to hear Sulla! I for one will miss your expertise and insights on this message board.

[Sulla]

Good to hear Sulla! I for one will miss your expertise and insights on this message board.

Oh, I won't be calling it a day just yet. I still have to wait to actually get the passport. Besides, it will be nice to be around when everyone else's journey finally comes to an end and they get their good news. When I say this I especially mean Michael. I have been reading his posts since last September and I know it really means a lot to him. It would also be nice to see Jaxx get confirmation that the embassy have actually received his document set. He was been waiting for eons on that.

[Michael123]

Good to hear Sulla! I for one will miss your expertise and insights on this message board.

Oh, I won't be calling it a day just yet. I still have to wait to actually get the passport. Besides, it will be nice to be around when everyone else's journey finally comes to an end and they get their good news. When I say this I especially mean Michael. I have been reading his posts since last September and I know it really means a lot to him. It would also be nice to see Jaxx get confirmation that the embassy have actually received his document set. He was been waiting for eons on that.

Thanks! Just over 9 months now

[Jaxx22]

Don't think I have seen this thread so far down the list

Congratulations Sulla.

I sent a general email to the embassy asking the question about change of address for FBR and that has not had a reply either so I think that is is now that you cannot use email/web contact form for anything FBR related anymore.

So for me just a waiting game at the moment, I should have a better idea of moving date soon so then I can try to contact the DFA directly.

[Sulla]

I had dinner with one of my tenants in Bangkok last night. He and his girlfriend are from the U.K. and live together in Thailand. They have been here for over 2 years. His girlfriend has an Irish grandfather and applied for FBR through the Irish embassy in Bangkok on July 22nd 2018. She had a request for further documents (extra proof of address and translation) in August. Since then she has heard nothing. She has not done any follow up as she belongs to the 'don't make waves' school of thinking. According to her, her application was pretty straightforward. There were no discrepancies in her document set and she got hold of all the BDM certificates that were needed. I will add her timeline below. I am happy not to have applied from Thailand. I had a feeling at the time that it would have been a bad idea. This just confirms it for me.

Samantha
Applied in person in Bangkok: July 22nd 2018.
Request for further documentation: early August 2018 - not specified precisely
Added to the FBR: pending

[mozzer75]

Hello Everyone,

I've been reading on here, but not registered, so thought it time to register.
I have an Irish passport due to my mother being Irish and born on the Island of Ireland. I sent off FBR applications for my kids in September 2018 to the Embassy in London. Foolishly I didn't realise that I could have sent them together, with the same paperwork to back them up, so had two sets of paperwork, one for each. Even more foolishly I had all the paperwork I needed for a good while in advance of applying, but due to work being busy didn't get around to sending them off when I should, so it appears my applications have joined the rush hour of FBRs.

I applied for both online on 6th September, then posted them off shortly afterwards. I received an email back for one of them on 25/09 to say that it had been received, (the email with this message "Your application and supporting documentation for your application for Foreign Birth Registration has now been received. Applications can take up to 6 months to process and we will be in touch with you should we require any additional documentation or clarifications.") but nothing for the other, even though I could track that they both had got to the Irish Embassy on the same date.

I emailed them to check and received a reply to say that both had been received on 25.09.2018 in an email from the Embassy dated the 5th October.

I then received the standard email for the other application (Your application and supporting documentation for your application for Foreign Birth Registration has now been received. Applications can take up to 6 months to process and we will be in touch with you should we require any additional documentation or clarifications) on 17th January 2019.

Since then I've heard nothing. This puts us at just over 8 months. If you look at it from the dates of the email to say that they were received then one application is at 8 months and the other is at 4 months, despite both going off at the same time. Just thought I'd add my experience to it for others to see as I've found it good to read the experiences of others to know that there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why some are processed before others. I'm not complaining btw, I just hope that at some point in the next few months the FBRs will happen.

Cheers

Moz

[Lee2521]

I had dinner with one of my tenants in Bangkok last night. He and his girlfriend are from the U.K. and live together in Thailand. They have been here for over 2 years. His girlfriend has an Irish grandfather and applied for FBR through the Irish embassy in Bangkok on July 22nd 2018. She had a request for further documents (extra proof of address and translation) in August. Since then she has heard nothing. She has not done any follow up as she belongs to the 'don't make waves' school of thinking. According to her, her application was pretty straightforward. There were no discrepancies in her document set and she got hold of all the BDM certificates that were needed. I will add her timeline below. I am happy not to have applied from Thailand. I had a feeling at the time that it would have been a bad idea. This just confirms it for me.

Samantha
Applied in person in Bangkok: July 22nd 2018.
Request for further documentation: early August 2018 - not specified precisely
Added to the FBR: pending

Sulla
The Irish embassy in Bangkok is not that big from what I can see and it's based on a floor of an office
building in the Silom area ,I belive or close by it . So I don't know if this is the reason for the slow processng but Thailand is home to a few Irish citizens in Bangkok , Phuket and else where so you would think that the consular service would be decent .

My status so far
Online application : 28/12/18
Application received (IRE) :01/02/19

[Sulla]

The Irish embassy in Bangkok is not that big from what I can see and it's based on a floor of an office
building in the Silom area ,I believe or close by it . So I don't know if this is the reason for the slow processing but Thailand is home to a few Irish citizens in Bangkok , Phuket and else where so you would think that the consular service would be decent .

Hi Lee

My thoughts on this at the time I applied were that Thailand would be a worse choice than China for processing times. This was due to the fact that the expat population in the country is quite high. Therefore, not only are there a lot of Irish expats demanding consular resources, but there are masses of expat Brits there too - who are most likely to apply for FBR. In particular, the high percentage of digital nomads gave me pause. That group (more than the retiree population here) are far more likely to value freedom of movement and apply for FBR if eligible. When I added all that up, I figured that processing times in Thailand would be on the long side. I never thought they could be as bad as those in the U.K. but it seems they are approximately the same.

Having said that, I know of only one case from Thailand (Samantha) and this may or may not be reflective of the general situation. We all know that there is no shortage of variation when it comes to FBR processing times. She could be an outlier.

[Pumps100]

Hi I'm posting to record my current timeline to help others gauge where they are in the FBR process.

25/8/2018 - Applied online & sent documents to Embassy of Ireland in London.

29/8/2018 - Acknowledgement by email "up to six months to process".

Nothing further. No queries. Now 9 months. Have tried few times to expedite status by phone. Used the two available numbers. But always get the same recorded message (as if you are processing a passport application).

Will keep you posted.

Ian

[LesMalouinettes]

Hi I'm posting to record my current timeline to help others gauge where they are in the FBR process.

25/8/2018 - Applied online & sent documents to Embassy of Ireland in London.

29/8/2018 - Acknowledgement by email "up to six months to process".

Thanks Ian, Mine was received in Dublin 27/08/18. Will be interesting to see who is approved first and how big the gap between is...

[Melly_G]

I thought it might be helpful to let people know that I spoke to the office in Dublin this morning. My application was confirmed as received via email on 9 October 2018. This morning the chap told me that I should not expect to get anything back for at least a year from that date and I may well have to wait until next year! He told me to check back at the end of the summer again but that they were completely overwhelmed with applications and that anyone who had applied in 2018 had chosen a really bad time and that I should have applied a year earlier! Useful to know but rather frustrating. He also told me that they no longer send out emails saying that the application has been approved and documents will be returned in a couple of weeks as they couldn't keep up with sending the documents so there is no confirmation until paperwork arrives in the post.

[fvigaud]

I suspect that people simply didn't believe (myself included) that Brexit could/would really happen. So anyone that didn't rush to apply after the referendum only recently got into the panic and applied in 2018/now...

[littlerr]

I suspect that people simply didn't believe (myself included) that Brexit could/would really happen. So anyone that didn't rush to apply after the referendum only recently got into the panic and applied in 2018/now...

The next prime minister Boris Johnson is sure about Brexit

[Obie]

I suspect that people simply didn't believe (myself included) that Brexit could/would really happen. So anyone that didn't rush to apply after the referendum only recently got into the panic and applied in 2018/nowi...

The next prime minister Boris Johnson is sure about Brexit

Then again he is sure about many things like the 350millon for the NHS every week and all the other nonsense that comes of his mouth.

[spiderplants]

There does seem to have been a spike in applications over last summer. I wonder if going/coming back from holiday focussed the mind on what may be lost? I know it renewed my anger. Of course, some people may have had difficulty getting their paperwork together as well. Frustratingly, I did have my docs ready about a year earlier but must have still been thinking 'No country could be this stupid'.

Anyway, let's hope that really long forecasts are now expectation management so if you get them sooner you'll feel happier.