No birth certificate for Irish Naturalisation

[aliwynn]

I was a little bit confused with identity point part of the application, it says that a certified colour copy or your biometric passport page is 150 points but then original birth certificate is a requirement in a file you get for documentation check list.

I don’t actually have an original birth certificate, never even seen it in my life and obviously I was born outside of Ireland. I can’t even imagine how to go about finding one. I do however have a certified dublicate

Does anyone had same experience?

[Vadrar]

The instructions aren’t consistent but you do need
To submit a certified copy of an original birth cert.

If you can’t supply one you need to submit an affidavit explaining why and what methods you’ve tried to get one.

When you say you have a certified duplicate how did you get that but can’t get an original? By original they mean long form document issued by state, not the actual register the state keeps. If you were born in a state that no longer exists, or are a refugee, they will likely accept what you have with an affidavit. If you were born in a state that does exist they’ll expect you to apply to them for a document and then get that certified locally.

And if your state still exists and you aren't a refugee are applying via naturalisation and not FBR they are likely to insist on certification by someone registered in Ireland.

[aliwynn]

Mine was lost when I was about 19 and moved from my granny’s house here to Ireland. She passed so I don’t have access to that house. Whenever you reorder one you will always get a “duplicate” which is supposed to have just as much official standing as the original one. The one I have is certified by notary public (where I am from). Surely I am not the only one who doesn’t have original?

[newmember2023]

You could try to reach out to your embassy (if they are here in Ireland). I know a friend of mine got an affidavit of some sort from the embassy for this missing birth cert.

[Vadrar]

Mine was lost when I was about 19 and moved from my granny’s house here to Ireland. She passed so I don’t have access to that house. Whenever you reorder one you will always get a “duplicate” which is supposed to have just as much official standing as the original one. The one I have is certified by notary public (where I am from). Surely I am not the only one who doesn’t have original?

You've answered your own question - all birth certs issued by your birth state are all official.

If you have a document issued by the state you are born in, that is an original as is meant in identification purposes. You could re-order a new copy every year and they would all be considered original for these purposes. That it says duplicate or is the 200th time you've re-requested it, is irrelevant, as long as it is a piece of paper issued officially by your birth country it is considered original in birth cert terms. Many countries only ever issue a birth cert with 'duplicate' on it, even on first request. French birth certs are typically valid for 3 months and so are re-requested with enormous regularity. They are all 'original'.

Regarding who certified it - you can always try with foreign certification. Sometimes it causes delays and requests for a re-submission that was certified locally, sometimes it doesn't. If they can't verify your notary public (because they no longer work or their registration isn't current or the national database they are on isn't publicly accessible) a request for re-submission is foreseeable. So it will depend on your appetite to lengthen your application processing time.

FBR submissions are almost always certified internationally - the FBR process is used to it. The naturalisation process sees local certification much more frequently and therefore is more comfortable with that and far less familiar with verifying international notary publics. Requests for additional documentation usually comes with a 28 day deadline, and some people find it difficult or stressful to get birth certs re-issued, sent to them, re-certified and re-submitted within that time. And requests for additional documents always seems to blow out the decision timeline well beyond average processing time. For those reasons removing foreseeable hiccups in documents before submission is typically advised - but it is your application, how you run it is up to you.

[aliwynn]

Ah you’re a star, that puts my mind at ease for sure. Thanks for your reply