# Registering a Foreign Irish Birth in Ireland



## sine-shine (16 May 2011)

My daughter has recently been born abroad (within the EU). 

My wife and I are both Irish and resident in Ireland. What do we need to do to get the birth formally recognized? We will need to get the baby a PPS number and Children's Benefit.

Is it possible to register a birth of an Irish citizen in Ireland on the birth register even though the birth wasn't in Ireland?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.


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## jellyjelly (16 May 2011)

Hey Sine Shine

  Congratulations on the new addition to the family. If you contact the department of foreign affairs they hold a Register that foreign life events can be registered. They also issue certificates. In relation to the PPS number if you contact Client Identity services they should be able to assist you in relation to children’s allowance.

  All the Best
  Jellyjelly


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## mammyof2 (16 May 2011)

jellyjelly said:


> Hey Sine Shine
> 
> Congratulations on the new addition to the family. If you contact the department of foreign affairs they hold a Register that foreign life events can be registered. They also issue certificates. In relation to the PPS number if you contact Client Identity services they should be able to assist you in relation to children’s allowance.
> 
> ...


 
That is incorrect. DFA do not hold a register of 'foreign life events' nor do they issue birth nor citizenship certificates.

There is no such thing as an Irish register of citizens born abroad. If your child was born outside Irelanf, her/his entitlement to Irish citizenship will depend on the place of birth of you or your wife. If either of you was born in Ireland, your child is automatically an Irish citizen. You can apply for an Irish passport for him/her using the birth certificate from the country she/he was born in. Check with the passport office whether you need a certified translation or not (and, depending on where he/she was born, what they accept as a birth cert - my son was born in Spain and DFA accept only the 'partido literal' as a birth cert, as it shows the name of the father and mother of the child - there are other versions of a Spanish birth cert that they do not accept)

If neither of you were born in Ireland but are citizens by virtue of having a parent born in Ireland, your child is not automatically a citizen but can apply to become a citizen by virtue of having an Irish born grandparent. They do this via a process called Foreign Birth Registration through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Once registered, they are formally an Irish citizen and you then apply for a passport for them in the normal way. 

Re PPS number and child benefit, look up the website of the Dept of Social Welfare. I did this for my Spanish-born son when we returned to ireland - can't remember the exact details but you have to apply first for the PPS number (which involved queueing in person at the King Street social welfare office if I remember rightly) and then for child benefit (which involved filling in an incredibly long and complicated form and waiting for months and months). This was a few years ago so system may have changed but the info on the social welfare site should be up to date.


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## Jim2007 (16 May 2011)

mammyof2 said:


> Check with the passport office whether you need a certified translation or not (and, depending on where he/she was born, what they accept as a birth cert - my son was born in Spain and DFA accept only the 'partido literal' as a birth cert, as it shows the name of the father and mother of the child - there are other versions of a Spanish birth cert that they do not accept)



Same here, both my kids were born here in Switzerland and it was no problem to get them Irish passports.  I just sent a copy of their Swiss birth certs, showing me as that father and that was fine - no questions asked.  I did not even have to get the birth cert translated.

Jim


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## ACA (17 May 2011)

Friends of mine are both English and when their child was born in Ireland, they wrote to the British Embassy in Dublin to advise of the birth, (and stating details of parents & grandparents of the child all being English), this negated any major issues in getting the child a British passport later on.... could you not do similar? Write to the Irish Embassy to advise that she was born abroad of Irish parents??


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## billb (17 May 2011)

mammyof2 said:


> If neither of you were born in Ireland but are citizens by virtue of having a parent born in Ireland, your child is not automatically a citizen but can apply to become a citizen by virtue of having an Irish born grandparent. They do this via a process called Foreign Birth Registration through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Once registered, they are formally an Irish citizen and you then apply for a passport for them in the normal way.



I believe Mammyof2 is correct.  My wife is Irish but born in uk so we had to go through the Foreign Birth Registration procedure in order to allow our UK born kids to have their Irish nationality recorded.

The process is simple and the benefit is that an Irish child's 5-year passport is much cheaper than a British one

If you were born in Ireland yourself then I don't believe foreign birth registration is necessary as the children can get a passport based on your nationality.

One piece of advice I would have for people reading this post is that *if you have dual nationality* and are applying for child benefit then only quote your nationality as Irish otherwise you get labelled as an EU citizen and have to keep re-certifying every 3 months.  We made that mistake and it took years for the authorities to be convinced that my wife was an Irish national


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## sine-shine (17 May 2011)

Thank you all very much for the advice. 

I am Irish born and my wife was born in another EU state however is an Irish National. This means our new arrival is an Irish citizen / other (dual) by default. The important thing for now is getting the PPS number and the CB sorted, nationally is not really a concern.

On welfare.ie I can't find the relevant information on the how to get a PPS number or claim CB as a non Irish birth, can any body help?


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## Ildánach (17 May 2011)

You will need to apply for a PPSN for the child, and then apply for Child Benefit.

Here is a list of PPSN registration centres by county  http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Topics/PPSN/Pages/ppsncontact.aspx

Here is the link to the child benefit page of the Department's website, which includes a link to the application form  http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/BirthChildrenAndFamilies/ChildRelatedPayments/Pages/cb.aspx


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## sine-shine (17 May 2011)

Thanks a million Ildánach


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## ValyBlg (23 Aug 2015)

Hi to everyone. 
I have a child that is born outside of Ireland within EU. We (the parents) are Irish Citizens through naturalisation. What steps should we follow to get Irish passport + PPS (maybe Birth Certificate translated in english?) for the baby, and to include him to child benefit? 
Thanks in advance to everyone.


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## gipimann (23 Aug 2015)

Each county has a designated office for PPS Number applications. Contact your nearest Social Welfare office who will tell you where your office is.


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## Slim (23 Aug 2015)

ValyBlg said:


> Hi to everyone.
> I have a child that is born outside of Ireland within EU. We (the parents) are Irish Citizens through naturalisation. What steps should we follow to get Irish passport + PPS (maybe Birth Certificate translated in english?) for the baby, and to include him to child benefit?
> Thanks in advance to everyone.


It is complex. Read here and follow the advice.http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html


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