Foreign Birth Registration

[TichB]

It is very confusing, I even contacted the Irish passport office and they did not know what was required, they told me to contact the Royal Mail. What's odd is that the return documents and certificate from FBR had no declaration on it. I think its whatever mood the person that's dealing with handling the mail is in. I am in the same situation waiting to see if my letter makes it through the system.

[ilikefrogs]

Apparently, Royal Mail can still send large letters/parcels internationally if you book it online.

That's what I've done anyway, with the Dublin passport office as the recipient. Royal Mail has taken payment and is collecting my letter tomorrow morning.

There is also a tick box to declare if the letter contains documents or something of value; if it's just documents, then no custom label is required (contrary to what the staff in the post office told me).

Anyway, I will let you know if it mysteriously goes missing over the next few days!

[corky100]

AnPost and RM are having a bit of a spat at the mo. I *think* RM is annoyed because AnPost are being fussy over customs declarations, so RM are sticking them to everything. AnPost are annoyed about RM not using updated HS codes, so rejecting stuff using old codes.

[ilikefrogs]

Well Royal Mail collected my letter this morning. The guy didn’t know anything about issues sending international parcels, but his computer let him print the label and he said it’s gone through…so fingers crossed.

Hopefully I haven’t just posted my FBR certificate into the abyss.

[Valo]

1 month now since my address confirmation email.

[Mr_Knight]

1 month now since my address confirmation email.

Have you received the "congratulations your certificate has been printed & posted" email yet? It looks like they have been steaming through the applications but have bottle necked at the final stage after approval.

[Valo]

1 month now since my address confirmation email.

Have you received the "congratulations your certificate has been printed & posted" email yet? It looks like they have been steaming through the applications but have bottle necked at the final stage after approval.

Nope. I’m still waiting on my congrats email. I was told when emailed that it was approved and awaiting printing and dispatch. Been a month since the confirmation of address email

[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.

Thanks so much for fixing that, sloanb!
Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent it from happening again? Are there permissions changes I could make that would prevent it?

No worries, I love a good spreadsheet. The only way I can see of stopping this is to protect the data worksheet except the cells where you enter the data. I haven't done it as there are a couple of people listed as editors, so perhaps one of them could consider it? Dan or Robert - don't know their forum user names.

[kfdonovan]

New poster here.

Mailed application November 2020
‘Application received’ email: 21 Dec 2020
‘Return address for documents’ email: 15 Nov 2022
‘Final stage processing’ email: 29 Dec 2022
‘Certificate in printing queue, Congrats email to be issued “in near future,” mail tracking number for certificate provided. Statement that the printing queue takes “4-6 weeks.”’ : 18 Jan 2023
Still waiting, but soon it looks like!
I agree with previous poster that the Congrats email looks like it’s now sent when the certificate has been printed.

At the risk of inundating the system, I got a good status update by sending a request to urgentqueries@dfa.ie.

[JT97]

Final update

Online application - 2 September 2020
Doc received confirmation email - 16 September 2020
Address confirmation - 4 November 2022
Congratulations email - 15 December 2022
Documents received - 31 January 2023

Interestingly my date of registry is 19th November 2022. The person dealing with my application said that there was a delay with my application due to the dfa not receiving my brother’s address confirmation thanks to a fault in their system.

[FrozenTundra]

Just got my first communication from the FBR staff for my infant son's FBR application!

Application submitted online: February 14th, 2021
Documents mailed: April 13th, 2021
Documents received in Ireland: April 26th, 2021 (according to the United States Postal Service tracking system; I never received any confirmation from the Irish authorities)
Request for updated photos of infant child: November 29th, 2022 (today!)

All the email asked for was updated photos of my son, so I assume there is nothing else to do and nothing wrong with the application. I'll send updated photos to the FBR staff later this week. Hopefully my son's FBR is approved by the end of the year.

But wow, can't believe they are already blowing through April 2021 applications. Very speedy.

So as an update for the above: I mailed the updated photos of my son to the FBR from the United States on November 30th, 2022. And since then... crickets. I emailed the FBR person (the one who sent me the original email requesting updated photos) on December 19th and December 30th asking for any updates, but no reply.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation of having to send updated child photos and then not hearing anything afterwards?

As another update to the above: I received email confirmation from the FBR staff on January 24th, 2023 that my son's updated photos were received and added to his FBR file. So now just waiting I suppose.

[craicmagnet]

Dia duit! I haven't submitted my application yet but will be next week. I'm curious, what's the most complicated case when it comes to documents that was approved? I'm applying via my grandparents who were born in Ireland and moved to the US. My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born - but he passed while I was young and I've been told without the FBR number, the records can't be found. When my father passed, my brothers took all of his documents and personal possessions and I have no access to them.

My concern is that my grandparents were never officially married. My grandmother came to the US as a nun. Obviously, that didn't work out! It was a great scandal that she left the convent already pregnant with my father. I know they did apply for a marriage license but it was never officiated. I have every other document for my parents and grandparents except for a marriage cert. Also, my grandmother went by a different first name in the US that wasn't on her birth cert. I do have a certified naturalisation record that shows she claimed my grandfather as her husband and she signed with her given name, chosen and married names. I'm applying through her as my grandfather's documents are a bit dodgy (involvement with the IRA, hiding in Scotland and the US). I also have certified affidavits from government agencies stating that they have exhausted all searches and there is no official marriage of record. The convent has refused to release their records, even with donations to sweeten the mood.

Anyone else had luck with missing documents and advice for moving forward?

[FrozenTundra]

Dia duit! I haven't submitted my application yet but will be next week. I'm curious, what's the most complicated case when it comes to documents that was approved? I'm applying via my grandparents who were born in Ireland and moved to the US. My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born - but he passed while I was young and I've been told without the FBR number, the records can't be found. When my father passed, my brothers took all of his documents and personal possessions and I have no access to them.

My concern is that my grandparents were never officially married. My grandmother came to the US as a nun. Obviously, that didn't work out! It was a great scandal that she left the convent already pregnant with my father. I know they did apply for a marriage license but it was never officiated. I have every other document for my parents and grandparents except for a marriage cert. Also, my grandmother went by a different first name in the US that wasn't on her birth cert. I do have a certified naturalisation record that shows she claimed my grandfather as her husband and she signed with her given name, chosen and married names. I'm applying through her as my grandfather's documents are a bit dodgy (involvement with the IRA, hiding in Scotland and the US). I also have certified affidavits from government agencies stating that they have exhausted all searches and there is no official marriage of record. The convent has refused to release their records, even with donations to sweeten the mood.

Anyone else had luck with missing documents and advice for moving forward?

Just to clarify: your grandparents were born on the island of Ireland, your father (their child) was born outside the island of Ireland, and yet your father was somehow registered on the the Foreign Birth Registrar? Are you sure about that? Children born outside the island of Ireland to parents who were born on the island of Ireland are not eligible for Foreign Birth Registration so unless you have some peculiarity to your case that is incorrect. He should NOT have a Foreign Birth Registration number since he should be ineligible for registration (he is automatically a citizen, no registration required nor allowed).

I'm confused by your post beyond the issue with your father though. Are you already registered on the Foreign Birth Registrar as the grandchild of someone born on the island of Ireland? You write "My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born". If you are already on the Foreign Birth Registrar, what are you applying for exactly? Are you asking how to obtain a replacement certificate? If so, your grandparents are now irrelevant since you already have Irish citizenship; you would just be applying for a replacement certificate, not the citizenship.

[GoingBackBackToEire]

I'm applying via my grandparents who were born in Ireland and moved to the US. My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born
[...] I've been told without the FBR number, the records can't be found.

That doesn't add up. If your grandparents (his parents) were born in Ireland, your father was an Irish citizen. The FBR doesn't apply.

There is a way to request a new copy of a lost FBR cert.
https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abr ... rtificate/
Doesn't look like you need to know the number.

I kinda get the feeling someone is feeding you bad information. Who told you this?

My concern is that my grandparents were never officially married. [...] I have every other document for my parents and grandparents except for a marriage cert.

If they weren't married there won't be any marriage cert. If it exists, you have to send it. If it doesn't exist, it won't prevent you getting your FBR.
IMO, the more documents you can provide that show your relation to your grandparent, the easier it is for the DFA to approve your FBR.

Also, my grandmother went by a different first name in the US that wasn't on her birth cert. I do have a certified naturalisation record that shows she claimed my grandfather as her husband and she signed with her given name, chosen and married names.

That's a bit dodgy. You'll need something to show proof of name change, and that's usually the marriage certificate. Maybe apply using your grandfather instead?

I'm applying through her as my grandfather's documents are a bit dodgy (involvement with the IRA, hiding in Scotland and the US). I also have certified affidavits from government agencies stating that they have exhausted all searches and there is no official marriage of record.

I don't think any of that disqualifies you.

Anyone else had luck with missing documents and advice for moving forward?

If I were in your shoes, I'd apply based on your grandfather and include a cover letter explaining that there's no marriage certificate.

great username BTW

[GoingBackBackToEire]

No worries, I love a good spreadsheet. The only way I can see of stopping this is to protect the data worksheet except the cells where you enter the data. I haven't done it as there are a couple of people listed as editors, so perhaps one of them could consider it? Dan or Robert - don't know their forum user names.

Ok, I'll try protecting columns H through K.

Let me know if that's better or worse.

[craicmagnet]

Just to clarify: your grandparents were born on the island of Ireland, your father (their child) was born outside the island of Ireland, and yet your father was somehow registered on the the Foreign Birth Registrar? Are you sure about that? Children born outside the island of Ireland to parents who were born on the island of Ireland are not eligible for Foreign Birth Registration so unless you have some peculiarity to your case that is incorrect. He should NOT have a Foreign Birth Registration number since he should be ineligible for registration (he is automatically a citizen, no registration required nor allowed).

I'm confused by your post beyond the issue with your father though. Are you already registered on the Foreign Birth Registrar as the grandchild of someone born on the island of Ireland? You write "My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born". If you are already on the Foreign Birth Registrar, what are you applying for exactly? Are you asking how to obtain a replacement certificate? If so, your grandparents are now irrelevant since you already have Irish citizenship; you would just be applying for a replacement certificate, not the citizenship.

My apologies, there are details left out! My biggest hurdle is that my father's family is not very forthcoming with me. I was shut out of everything when my father died. We are in touch and my aunts will tell me things here and there but if I ask questions they don't answer. My father was born in the US in 1937. I was told that my grandmother registered all of her children as citizens and that my father added me to the FBR. My aunt told me about his registration and mine but when I asked for the documents she went silent. She handles all of the estate matters for the family and is the keeper of all documents. I contacted the consulate to ask if they can find either mine or my father's but was told I needed the record numbers or to apply new. I also was sent to live with family in Ireland for several years as a child so I think I must have had citizenship but I never saw any of my documents and I don't know if I ever had an Irish passport. My parents were never married and only together long enough to make me so my childhood was one long, bitter, international child custody dispute. The consulate was very friendly but told me I'd have to apply as a new citizen because any passport I may have had would be long expired.

[craicmagnet]

There is a way to request a new copy of a lost FBR cert.
https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abr ... rtificate/
Doesn't look like you need to know the number.

I kinda get the feeling someone is feeding you bad information. Who told you this?

You know, I just went through my emails with the consulate and I recalled that information wrong. There is a difficulty in requesting a copy for a deceased person but I'm going to give it another try now.

If I were in your shoes, I'd apply based on your grandfather and include a cover letter explaining that there's no marriage certificate.

great username BTW

I'm going to submit all documents for my father and both grandparents (If the FBR search doesn't work out). I put all of this on pause during the pandemic. It's been collecting dust on my desk and brain. I just looked at the link you posted and it's similar to the one the Consulate sent me but it looks like the search fields have changed in a way that will be easier for me to provide the information I have. Before the field for the entry number and date recorded were mandatory and I don't have that information. Thank you!

[FrozenTundra]

Just to clarify: your grandparents were born on the island of Ireland, your father (their child) was born outside the island of Ireland, and yet your father was somehow registered on the the Foreign Birth Registrar? Are you sure about that? Children born outside the island of Ireland to parents who were born on the island of Ireland are not eligible for Foreign Birth Registration so unless you have some peculiarity to your case that is incorrect. He should NOT have a Foreign Birth Registration number since he should be ineligible for registration (he is automatically a citizen, no registration required nor allowed).

I'm confused by your post beyond the issue with your father though. Are you already registered on the Foreign Birth Registrar as the grandchild of someone born on the island of Ireland? You write "My father was in the FBR and I was registered as well when I was born". If you are already on the Foreign Birth Registrar, what are you applying for exactly? Are you asking how to obtain a replacement certificate? If so, your grandparents are now irrelevant since you already have Irish citizenship; you would just be applying for a replacement certificate, not the citizenship.

My apologies, there are details left out! My biggest hurdle is that my father's family is not very forthcoming with me. I was shut out of everything when my father died. We are in touch and my aunts will tell me things here and there but if I ask questions they don't answer. My father was born in the US in 1937. I was told that my grandmother registered all of her children as citizens and that my father added me to the FBR. My aunt told me about his registration and mine but when I asked for the documents she went silent. She handles all of the estate matters for the family and is the keeper of all documents. I contacted the consulate to ask if they can find either mine or my father's but was told I needed the record numbers or to apply new. I also was sent to live with family in Ireland for several years as a child so I think I must have had citizenship but I never saw any of my documents and I don't know if I ever had an Irish passport. My parents were never married and only together long enough to make me so my childhood was one long, bitter, international child custody dispute. The consulate was very friendly but told me I'd have to apply as a new citizen because any passport I may have had would be long expired.

(emphasis mine)

I think you have either misunderstood the consulate, or the consular official you spoke to was simply incompetent. You do not ever have to re-apply for citizenship simply because a passport is too old. I could let my US passport expire for 30 years and I would still be a US citizen. Similarly, the fact that an Irish passport you may have had could be long expired would NOT mean you then apply for citizenship again. That's not how things work and it is strange that the consulate would tell you such things.

I concur with the other poster: let's step back a bit and re-examine all the assumptions here and start back and square one. We need to establish if you are an Irish citizen or not, period. Not "are you eligible for citizenship", but if you in fact are a full fledged Irish citizen already.

The first thing you need to do is verify if you are already on the Foreign Birth Registrar through the link given above by that other poster. Do NOT submit an application for Foreign Birth Registration until you've done that and truly confirmed that you are not on the Foreign Birth Registrar since you in fact are not allowed to apply for Foreign Birth Registration if you are already on the Registrar (and thus would simply be compounding the confusion of your citizenship).

If after applying for a replacement certificate you find that you are indeed already on the Registrar, then this is simple: you just use that replacement certificate for a new Irish passport and anything relating to your grandparents no longer matters. In fact, in that case your children would only need to reference your Foreign Birth Registration certificate for their own Foreign Birth Registration and do not need to reference your grandparents at all: they become irrelevant for the purposes of establishing citizenship moving forward.

if after applying for a replacement certificate you find that you are NOT already on the Registrar, then I think you should come back to this thread and re-post your information. We on this forum can give suggestions on the best way to proceed. But I would hate to give you those suggestions now only to find out you're already on the Registrar and complicating your citizenship situation further.

Good luck to you my friend and all the best!

[craicmagnet]

(emphasis mine)

I think you have either misunderstood the consulate, or the consular official you spoke to was simply incompetent. You do not ever have to re-apply for citizenship simply because a passport is too old. I could let my US passport expire for 30 years and I would still be a US citizen. Similarly, the fact that an Irish passport you may have had could be long expired would NOT mean you then apply for citizenship again. That's not how things work and it is strange that the consulate would tell you such things.

I concur with the other poster: let's step back a bit and re-examine all the assumptions here and start back and square one. We need to establish if you are an Irish citizen or not, period. Not "are you eligible for citizenship", but if you in fact are a full fledged Irish citizen already.

The first thing you need to do is verify if you are already on the Foreign Birth Registrar through the link given above by that other poster. Do NOT submit an application for Foreign Birth Registration until you've done that and truly confirmed that you are not on the Foreign Birth Registrar since you in fact are not allowed to apply for Foreign Birth Registration if you are already on the Registrar (and thus would simply be compounding the confusion of your citizenship).

If after applying for a replacement certificate you find that you are indeed already on the Registrar, then this is simple: you just use that replacement certificate for a new Irish passport and anything relating to your grandparents no longer matters. In fact, in that case your children would only need to reference your Foreign Birth Registration certificate for their own Foreign Birth Registration and do not need to reference your grandparents at all: they become irrelevant for the purposes of establishing citizenship moving forward.

if after applying for a replacement certificate you find that you are NOT already on the Registrar, then I think you should come back to this thread and re-post your information. We on this forum can give suggestions on the best way to proceed. But I would hate to give you those suggestions now only to find out you're already on the Registrar and complicating your citizenship situation further.

Good luck to you my friend and all the best!

Thank you! I just applied via the link posted earlier for a replacement and emailed scanned documents. That would be wonderful if they could find my FBR!

This has been a very long journey that has been shelved for the past 3 years so it's not as fresh on my brain. I did in fact recalled the conversation with the consulate incorrectly and mis-worded the part about having to apply new. I meant to say I would have to apply for a new passport (not citizenship) rather than a renewal as the old one would have been expired for more than 15 years.

Thank you again - here's hoping this is going to be easier than I thought!

[alex012]

I've just received my confirmation of being accepted onto the FBR and have now applied for my passport. On the required documents list, for those applying through basis of FBR citizenship it states "Original passport from country of birth (if you have one)". Does anyone know certain if a certified copy is fine or if you need to post off your actual physical passport?

[Valo]

I've just received my confirmation of being accepted onto the FBR and have now applied for my passport. On the required documents list, for those applying through basis of FBR citizenship it states "Original passport from country of birth (if you have one)". Does anyone know certain if a certified copy is fine or if you need to post off your actual physical passport?

I'd just send the passport itself in. That's what you need to do anyway when renewing passports for example.

Also, you received your confirmation on a Sunday?

[LongWayDown]

I've just received my confirmation of being accepted onto the FBR and have now applied for my passport. On the required documents list, for those applying through basis of FBR citizenship it states "Original passport from country of birth (if you have one)". Does anyone know certain if a certified copy is fine or if you need to post off your actual physical passport?

I sent a certified copy and in any case, with the crazy postal situation there is absolutely no way I'd send my only other passport in the post anywhere.

I posted on the last page whereby I applied for my passport from the UK and Parcel Force online updates stated that my application had been "returned to sender" so, I was waiting for my documents to be returned. I then later used my same tracking number on the AnPost website which stated that it had been delivered to "PPO" which I'm guessing is the Passport Processing Office. I was able to download a pdf from AnPost which showed that somebody at the passport office had signed for it (along with a long list of other people's applications). My application is now showing documents received . Moral of the story, tracking can clearly be messed up.

[Paddy399]

I’m tired of being a long time lurker and am starting to worry. I’m seeing more and more people get approved while I sit here in radio silence. My dates are as follows.

Online application sent 13/10/20
Confirmation of documents 18/12/20 (coincidentally my birthday)
Address confirmation email 16/11/22

And silence ever since…

My hope is that it will be soon and my delay was caused by me submitting my application with three of my siblings and all of us used the same paperwork. We all have the same dates as above and no one has heard anything since.

[EmilyEU]

I've just received my confirmation of being accepted onto the FBR and have now applied for my passport. On the required documents list, for those applying through basis of FBR citizenship it states "Original passport from country of birth (if you have one)". Does anyone know certain if a certified copy is fine or if you need to post off your actual physical passport?

I have always had to send my physical passport to the state services offices here in Ireland, I did when I applied for my first drivers permit, it came back without any issues, however if submitting from abroad I would submit copy and get the mail tracked and signed. I can tell if you do submit your physical passport the process will be a lot faster and will have no issues getting your passport book returned. However, its everyone's personal decision.

[JT97]

I’m tired of being a long time lurker and am starting to worry. I’m seeing more and more people get approved while I sit here in radio silence. My dates are as follows.

Online application sent 13/10/20
Confirmation of documents 18/12/20 (coincidentally my birthday)
Address confirmation email 16/11/22

And silence ever since…

My hope is that it will be soon and my delay was caused by me submitting my application with three of my siblings and all of us used the same paperwork. We all have the same dates as above and no one has heard anything since.

My application was held up due to there being a fault in the dfa system which prevented agents from receiving some address confirmations. In my case they received mine but not my brother’s and because they were linked applications neither could progress without the other. Perhaps you might need to check with your siblings whether they have dealt with things on their end properly. Alternatively there is a massive backlog for printing apparently and you don’t get a congrats email until your certificate is printed.