How to deal with Irish Passport Office

[Bebika]

Hi all,

This is part of my case with the Irish Passport Office for the last few weeks as they refuse to return my original Passport. I started a legal investigation over that Office with independent public service complaints in Ireland. I'm in contact with my lawyer who is preparing my court case. So do not make my mistake, do not send your original Passport even if they ask you. You can ask your government who issued your Passport a letter that says that the Irish Passport Office doesn't have justified reasons to ask for your passport. You are Irish citizens and have the right to your Irish Passport based on your Naturalization Certificate.

"Any institution has the right to retain the Original Passport, from citizen/residents/anyone, is ONLY in case:

Legal investigation in country of residence,
Legal investigation in citizen original country,
International investigation,
Permission from the Passport owner.

Any other reason is considered illegal/criminal. According to the law, the Irish Passport Office does NOT have legal rights for alienation of my original Passport on either mentioned conditions, they are in a breach of the law.
It is also illegal to require anyone's Original Passport if they do NOT have the justified reasons mentioned above.

Further, they indeed required my Original Passport, retain the same and refused to return WITHOUT justified reasons which are at this point at Garda office jurisdiction and investigation for alienation of only my Original Passport.

As my Original Passport is not the only one that is currently in possession of the Irish Passport Office they become part of organised crime which is in the jurisdiction of Interpol.

If they do NOT return every one of the Original Passports they hold without justified reasons, mentioned above, they can become part of the investigation for organised crime as well as they continue to require anyone's Original Passport if they do NOT have justified reasons mentioned above.

Further, each Irish citizen has legal rights to Irish Passport without breach of their legal rights mentioned above therefore Irish Passport Office does NOT have justified reasons to refuse ANY Irish Passport applications for not submitting Original Passport, together with the application, from their country."

If you need have any queries be free to ask, I submitted my application online in December 2021.

[mentalmind]

Just to add, not objecting your case or anything. You are not considered Irish Citizen just with Naturalization Certificate. To be considered Irish Citizen, you need ID card/passport, and passport office is the one issuing this document to you.

[mayflower805]

Just to add, not objecting your case or anything. You are not considered Irish Citizen just with Naturalization Certificate. To be considered Irish Citizen, you need ID card/passport, and passport office is the one issuing this document to you.

That's not the right information. If someone obtained the naturalisation certificate that means the person is Irish Citizen. A passport is just a travel document , if someone choose not to apply for a passport until they need it for travel , the person will be still an Irish citizen. I received a letter or declaration from the minister of justice with my naturalisation cert that clearly says from
Today you are a part of worldwide Irish community, not only that you have the right to vote .

Don't make such comment if you are not definitely know that you are giving the right information. Thank you

[Bebika]

You are considered Irish Citizen just with Naturalization Certificate. Please read your Naturalization Certificate.

[Wow90]

Just to add, not objecting your case or anything. You are not considered Irish Citizen just with Naturalization Certificate. To be considered Irish Citizen, you need ID card/passport, and passport office is the one issuing this document to you.

That's not true.

The period between receiving your naturalization certificate and your Irish passport is the same as if you were a new born in Ireland with an Irish parent.

You are still Irish, just don't have your first travel document that's all.

Even first time passport applications go through the same hassle because Irish parents have to send their original birth certificates and they also take 40 days to arrive

[littlerr]

Just to add, not objecting your case or anything. You are not considered Irish Citizen just with Naturalization Certificate. To be considered Irish Citizen, you need ID card/passport, and passport office is the one issuing this document to you.

That's wrong. You are an Irish citizen from the moment you own that certificate. Irish (and British btw) legislations specifically allow their citizens to travel and live freely between the two countries without a passport or national ID card.

[littlerr]

Just curious for the OP, why do they want to hold your passport? Have they given you a reason?

There have been tons of people here who got naturalised and applied for an Irish passport. As part of that process, you would always have to submit the other foreign passport - that is a requirement and it is supported by legislations, so you can't just recommend to other people that they shouldn't submit their original passport. That is a requirement and refusal to submit that will result in the application being rejected. However, the foreign passport was always returned at the end of the application process regardless of the outcome.

[Bebika]

Just curious for the OP, why do they want to hold your passport? Have they given you a reason?

There have been tons of people here who got naturalised and applied for an Irish passport. As part of that process, you would always have to submit the other foreign passport - that is a requirement and it is supported by legislations, so you can't just recommend to other people that they shouldn't submit their original passport. That is a requirement and refusal to submit that will result in the application being rejected. However, the foreign passport was always returned at the end of the application process regardless of the outcome.

They don't have the justified reasons mentioned in my first post. My local T.D. for Spokesperson on European Affairs tried to solve my case and they said they sent it back together with the rest of my documents. But in the envelope was not my original Passport and Naturalisation certificate as I sent them separately and were delivered by An Post tracking/documents. As they are a highly incompetent organisation = backlog they probably misplaced it. As I couldn't get in touch with them and had an emergency (over the phone, chat, email or book appointment in their office) I contact my local T.D. and started the investigation mentioned above. Now they just refuse to communicate and ignore everyone = court case.

Passport Office asks for supporting documents (my case Original Passport and Naturalisation certificate), in mail stays that if I deliver documents in the next 7 days (which I sent the same day and it was delivered the next day) my timeline will maintain the same. When it didn't stay the same, I contacted them and got the answer that they don't care when the documents are delivered, they are starting to measure from the day they register them. They didn't register mine for two weeks. The last time I managed to contact them was last week when they told me that they will return my original Passport whenever they see fit, probably a few weeks after I receive my Irish one. In that phone call, they first time confirmed that they received my passport = they just didn't want to return it. Until then, they were claiming that they don't have it, and then that they return it.

That last time they told me that if I want my original Passport back faster I can cancel the application and they will return it in the next 4 weeks, they think. I didn't confirm cancellation over the received email, instead, I wrote the request for returning my original Passport (until then I didn't have their official email).

Basically, if I cancel my application I will need to start all over again. They are just asking for unnecessary documents so they can justify their incompetence. They did the same with my husband's case by asking him to translate them International birth certificate (written in 8 official languages of the EU which includes English) and now he is waiting from December 2021 until 22 of April 2022.

I don't know about the legal rules in your country but I have official confirmation from the Ministry of my country (EU citizen) who issued my original passport, that the Irish Passport Office doesn't have justified or legal reasons to retain my passport. Reasons are mentioned in my first post. I also wrote that you can ask the institution who issued your original passport if the Irish Passport Office does have justified or legal reasons to retain your passport and see what they are going to say. We all have a choice, to listen to them blindly or to educate and inform ourselves.

Application can't be rejected if you submitted Certified copies of your original Passport by the solicitor. In case they reject it = court case. Several cases are already passed and won on the court, but I suggest you ask your lawyer as each case is specific. My case is clear as I hold legal documents from my country that they don't have the legal right on my Original Passport (copy of the original document certified by a solicitor is considered a legal document in Ireland) its mentioned in my original post.

Problem is that people are not aware of their legal rights and believe in everything that the Passport Office says because of it they are treating people like garbage.