Foreign Birth Registration

[JackESC]

Hiya everyone!

I have been following this forum for a while and have recently obtained all the necessary documents needed to be put onto the FBR.. wahoo!

I am a bit confused about the witness section though. I have two potential witnesses – a police officer and uni lecturer. The police officer is not allowed to copy her ID badge and has no headed paper or anything similar.. she is happy to put her police contact details on the form, but I understand she needs something to prove this? My uni lecturer is also happy to do it too, but she is searching for business cards as she has no stamp…. I thought the hardest part was over (obtaining the docs from Ireland) but this is really starting to worry me, especially if my uni lecturer does not have business cards

Any advice/tips much appreciated.. I don’t want to fall at the last hurdle. Thanks in advance and good day (btw I am British applying through my grandma who was born in Ireland and an Irish citizen).

could your university lecturer print a letter out on university letter headed paper (just like they would do for a reference or something)? I’m sure the admin office could help with that

Crisis averted my uni lecturer had business cards and stamps in the end! So used both. Am going to post it off today and then try to forget about it for god knows how long.... thanks for the advice anyway all !

[Offalyslowprocess]

First time post but long time lurker. Thanks to all those keeping this conversation going ! Here are my application details (to add to the March 20 population)

Online submission date : 19 Jan 20
Documents received date : 11 March 20

29 months and still counting

Just to provide an update:

Online Submission : 19 Jan 20
Docs received mail : 11 March 20
Request to confirm address : 15 Sept 22
Confirmation of entry to FBR : 15 Sept 22
Certificate received : .....

Now just hoping the docs all make it back ! Best wishes to all those still waiting

[ReturningIrish]

This is just a to heads-up for those applying for passports from the UK. Royal Mail took two weeks to deliver the documents from England to Dublin (they sent them via France!) and packages from Dublin take "a week too ten days to clear customs" in the UK according to Royal Mail.

[denzimart]

Just received confirmation of address email for my daughter.

Application Date: 27 Feb 2020
Documents Received: 13 Mar 2020
Confirmation of Address: 15 Sep 2022

It's getting closer!

[Dalton_Trumbo]

Just received confirmation of address email for my daughter.

Application Date: 27 Feb 2020
Documents Received: 13 Mar 2020
Confirmation of Address: 15 Sep 2022

It's getting closer!

Congrats! Seems the process is holding steady at just about 2 1/2 years to complete.

[Apple10]

The March applications seem to be happening quite quickly. Congratulations to everyone receiving their citizenship.

[naamia]

March people, it's our tiiiiiiime!

Application Submitted: 2 Mar 2020
Documents Received: 13 Mar 2020
Confirmation of Address: 16 Sep 2022

I've tried updating the spreadsheet but it's not allowing it at this time, but I'll try again later.

Hoping this is a great sign of things continuing to increase in speed.

[Damien1000]

Ooooh, they seem to be up to just about a week away from my Doc Received date email - hopefully I'll hear back in the next fortnight!! Exciting.

I have a question however and wanted to see if anyone else had been in a similar predicament. Since I applied, it's now been 30 months since I sent my documents, and my passport that I sent a certified copy of, has since expired (as it's taken for longer than expected due to covid). Does anyone know if that means I will have to provide another certified copy of my new in-date passport when they confirm my address, or will the certified copy I sent that *was* in date and valid at the date of my application still be valid? Obviously I'm not talking about my Irish passport application after the FBR approval (as I will of course have to send a certified copy of the new passport then), I'm just talking about this FBR application itself.

[ThirdAttempt]

First time poster, VERY long time reader.

I think I'm approaching the front of the queue but do have a question
Applied: 22 Feb 2020
Documents Received: 16 March 2020

Our family name has been Anglicized and there's no documentation I can find on how it was switched. Are they typically able to connect the dots in these situations? This is through my grandmother so her birth certificate isn't affected. Her married name is the old spelling on her marriage certificate and my mother's birth certificate also has the old spelling. Anything after that has the new spelling.

The spelling is something along the lines of: Simpovicz changing to Simpson

Are they able to allow some flexibility with common surname suffixes? -vitch, -vicz, -son all basically mean the same thing.

[Dalton_Trumbo]

Ooooh, they seem to be up to just about a week away from my Doc Received date email - hopefully I'll hear back in the next fortnight!! Exciting.

I have a question however and wanted to see if anyone else had been in a similar predicament. Since I applied, it's now been 30 months since I sent my documents, and my passport that I sent a certified copy of, has since expired (as it's taken for longer than expected due to covid). Does anyone know if that means I will have to provide another certified copy of my new in-date passport when they confirm my address, or will the certified copy I sent that *was* in date and valid at the date of my application still be valid? Obviously I'm not talking about my Irish passport application after the FBR approval (as I will of course have to send a certified copy of the new passport then), I'm just talking about this FBR application itself.

I would assume that as long as it was valid at the date of your application, it should be totally fine. Given that the process now takes 2 1/2 years seems normal that passports, driver licenses etc could potentially expire over the course of that process. I wouldn't worry about it.

[mwalsh5757]

Ooooh, they seem to be up to just about a week away from my Doc Received date email - hopefully I'll hear back in the next fortnight!! Exciting.

I have a question however and wanted to see if anyone else had been in a similar predicament. Since I applied, it's now been 30 months since I sent my documents, and my passport that I sent a certified copy of, has since expired (as it's taken for longer than expected due to covid). Does anyone know if that means I will have to provide another certified copy of my new in-date passport when they confirm my address, or will the certified copy I sent that *was* in date and valid at the date of my application still be valid? Obviously I'm not talking about my Irish passport application after the FBR approval (as I will of course have to send a certified copy of the new passport then), I'm just talking about this FBR application itself.

I would assume that as long as it was valid at the date of your application, it should be totally fine. Given that the process now takes 2 1/2 years seems normal that passports, driver licenses etc could potentially expire over the course of that process. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm in the same boat - my passport expired in July and I haven't bothered to renew yet (no plans to go anywhere). My assumption is that the same - so long as it was valid when you made your application, etc...

[ThirdAttempt]

First time poster, VERY long time reader.

I think I'm approaching the front of the queue but do have a question
Applied: 22 Feb 2020
Documents Received: 16 March 2020

Our family name has been Anglicized and there's no documentation I can find on how it was switched. Are they typically able to connect the dots in these situations? This is through my grandmother so her birth certificate isn't affected. Her married name is the old spelling on her marriage certificate and my mother's birth certificate also has the old spelling. Anything after that has the new spelling.

The spelling is something along the lines of: Simpovicz changing to Simpson

Are they able to allow some flexibility with common surname suffixes? -vitch, -vicz, -son all basically mean the same thing.

I’ll figure out the spreadsheet later today.
Applied: 22 Feb 2020
Documents Received: 16 March 2020
Address confirmation: 19 September 2022

So to answer my own question. My anglicized name did not require any additional information.

[mbkmbk]

Congrats!
Hope we're next! Or at least some soon, finally...

Applied: 23 feb 2020
Docs received: 18 march 2020

[ThirdAttempt]

Congrats!
Hope we're next! Or at least some soon, finally...

Applied: 23 feb 2020
Docs received: 18 march 2020

I’d been doing some metrics of my own since we entered March. They’re averaging about 1.4 business days to get through 1 day of “docs received”. I’m guessing those only occur on weekdays too. Ultimately they need that 1.4 value to be under 1 or the queue grows. It is shrinking though. It was at 1.8 a couple weeks ago and peaked about 3 back in June.

[GoingBackBackToEire]

I’d been doing some metrics of my own since we entered March. They’re averaging about 1.4 business days to get through 1 day of “docs received”. I’m guessing those only occur on weekdays too. Ultimately they need that 1.4 value to be under 1 or the queue grows. It is shrinking though. It was at 1.8 a couple weeks ago and peaked about 3 back in June.

I've been wondering about this too.

How did you calculate those 1.4 and 1.8 numbers?

BTW, I added you to the spreadsheet. mbkmbk too.

[naamia]

I still can't seem to edit the spreadsheet, though it looks like someone else added my address confirmation email to it -- thank you!

Only a small update to say I sent through a government letter (in Dutch, as I've since immigrated to the Netherlands) with my current address on it the same day I received the first email (16/09), and got a confirmation email back the next business day (19/09) saying I'd been added to the registry, and my cert and docs would be sent to the new address.

I was worried about confirming my address as I've only recently immigrated and had just this one letter with my address on it. Plus it was actually addressed to my partner, not me, but it was about my Visa application and so also listed my name, date of birth and nationality. I guess that was enough for FBR to approve it.

This was my biggest concern with my application, so wanted to share in case anyone else has concerns about confirming their address.

[ThirdAttempt]

I've been wondering about this too.

How did you calculate those 1.4 and 1.8 numbers?

BTW, I added you to the spreadsheet. mbkmbk too.

I tracked the “2-tuple” values of the doc received and the address confirmation.

Using excel’s network days, found the difference in days between the row above for each date pair ( -1 because it calculates business days or part thereof).

Then averaged both sides to get what queue theory mathematicians call the”servicing rate”.

[Bun_123]

I still can't seem to edit the spreadsheet, though it looks like someone else added my address confirmation email to it -- thank you!

Only a small update to say I sent through a government letter (in Dutch, as I've since immigrated to the Netherlands) with my current address on it the same day I received the first email (16/09), and got a confirmation email back the next business day (19/09) saying I'd been added to the registry, and my cert and docs would be sent to the new address.

I was worried about confirming my address as I've only recently immigrated and had just this one letter with my address on it. Plus it was actually addressed to my partner, not me, but it was about my Visa application and so also listed my name, date of birth and nationality. I guess that was enough for FBR to approve it.

This was my biggest concern with my application, so wanted to share in case anyone else has concerns about confirming their address.

Many thanks naamia - I have also recently moved and have been worried about this. Could you let us know the date you end up receiving your FBR certificate if not too much trouble? Thanks!

[Revin Kevin]

My docs were 7 March 2000 and I still have heard zilch. Does anyone have any contact details for someone at FBR who can actually look up applications? The helpline call handlers just say they have no access to the actual applications. I just want someone to confirm they have my docs and I haven't waited the last 2.5 years to find out they were lost or destroyed.

[mwalsh5757]

My docs were 7 March 2000 and I still have heard zilch. Does anyone have any contact details for someone at FBR who can actually look up applications? The helpline call handlers just say they have no access to the actual applications. I just want someone to confirm they have my docs and I haven't waited the last 2.5 years to find out they were lost or destroyed.

Urgent inquiries email address:

fbr.urgentqueries@dfa.ie

They were able to tell me that my docs were safely received and when.

[Daveb77]

Hi all,
Another long term viewer just thought Id put my details on here
Documents received 16 March 2020
Confirmation/address check and email 20th Sept 2022

[TInFE]

Good news! Waiting on the congrats email...

Application submitted online: 03/03 2020
Email acknowledging receipt of documentation Balbriggan: 18/03/2020
Confirmation of address email: 20/09/2020
Congrats email:
FBR certificate received:

[GoingBackBackToEire]

Good news! Waiting on the congrats email...

Application submitted online: 03/03 2020
Email acknowledging receipt of documentation Balbriggan: 18/03/2020
Confirmation of address email: 20/09/2020
Congrats email:
FBR certificate received:

I added this to the tracking sheet with a address check date of 20/9/2022

[TInFE]

Good news! Waiting on the congrats email...

Application submitted online: 03/03 2020
Email acknowledging receipt of documentation Balbriggan: 18/03/2020
Confirmation of address email: 20/09/2020
Congrats email:
FBR certificate received:

I added this to the tracking sheet with a address check date of 20/9/2022

Oops - Thanks! For the record…

Application submitted online: 03/03 2020
Email acknowledging receipt of documentation Balbriggan: 18/03/2020
Confirmation of address email: 20/09/2022
Congrats email:
FBR certificate received:

[JackESC]

Hi all! I sent my application last Thursday and have had a notification from Royal Mail this morning that my parcel has been delivered. Wahoo! Nothing to confirm yet from the FBR office yet but at least it is there.. I hope the wait times decreases once they get through the Covid/Brex*t backlog but who knows. Thanks all for the advice anyway I am sure I will keep my eye on the forum.