Post
by Kminkoff » Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:20 pm
Hi All,
I have a rare case and am polling for opinions.
-Great Grandfather: Born in Ireland
-Grandfather: Born in U.S.
-Father: Born in U.S. Entered into FBR in October of 1986.
-Me: Born in 1981. Applied for FBR in August 2020. Application pending.
Based on the current version of the law, I’m ineligible because my father was entered into FBR 5 years after my birth. However, he was entered into the FBR during a six month transition period when the rules from the 1956 immigration act still applied and before the 1986 act went into effect. Under the 1956 version of the law, his citizenship, though granted in October 1986, was backdated to the day that the 1956 law was passed. Therefore, when I was born in 1981 he was technically a citizen of Ireland (therefore making me eligible for citizenship). The law gets a little complicated during the 1986 transition period, but a close reading of the consolidated version of the law seems to state that anyone who registered between during the transition period (July 1-December 31, 1986), had there date of entry registered as July 1 1986, and furthermore, anyone who was granted citizenship up until the July 1 date, gets their citizenship backdated to either their day of birth or the date that the 1956 law went into effect.
A very close reading of the law indicates that I am eligible, however there is contradictory info on government websites related to eligibility. The DFA website does not mention this “loophole” (if you’d call it that), but the department of justice and equality page does mention it (if you go to the little eligibility pull-down menu and put in the criteria it indicates eligibility).
I prepared my application with a cover letter from an Irish law firm to draw attention to the somewhat rare nature of my application / pointing out the aspects of the law that allows me to be eligible.
So: you think the application will be successful or get rejected? You think it will at least make it to a person that’s qualified to compare it to the very specific letter of the law?
Thanks!