# Citizenship Question :Irish citizen, EU wife, non EU child.



## AndyDub (6 Oct 2008)

I'm looking for some information on what to do in my case. I'm married to an EU national, who had a child in a non eu country previously. We thought it would be an easy process for the child to take my wifes nationality but we're still waiting for them to process the papers one year down the line. What are my options at this point... can I get Irish citizenship, I suppose after 5 years?, what about the intervening period as the non eu passport for the child will expire shortly.


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## Towger (6 Oct 2008)

I am not too sure what you are asking?
It would take over two years http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Contact Details for Citizenship Section to get Irish Citizenship, if ?*you?* qualified and applied for it today. 

On the childs passport, there should be no problem renewing it with their embassy.


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## AndyDub (6 Oct 2008)

Sorry if my request was not to the point. Essentially I want to get him an Irish passport as there are visa restrictions on the childs native passport for travel to a lot of countries.


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## Towger (6 Oct 2008)

The INIS in the above link are the people to talk to. I would not bother emailing them, if you want a reply!


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## niceoneted (7 Oct 2008)

Are you Irish born yourself or have you just gotten citizenship here in Ireland. If you are Irish born a child of an Irish born person is entitled to an Irish passport. You just have to apply as normal - it explains it all on the application form. You will have to provide a copy of your birth certificate as part of the application to prove that you were born in Ireland.


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## AndyDub (7 Oct 2008)

I am Irish born, my wifes first child from a previous relationship was born in a non EEA country. My wife has since qualifed for an EU passport.


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## Towger (7 Oct 2008)

I don't think he is the father of the child. So I would imagine that the easiest route would be for the child to become a citizen of their mothers EU country. My children have duel nationality, we registered them when they were only a couple of months old. Had to have the Irish birth certs first. It only took a month or so to register them in by wife’s country and get their passports. But I have heard cases for other countries (the states for one) where it gets harder to register the children as they get older. They take the view of 'who the hell are you', you should have been registed’s at our embassy years ago. They then start to look for DNA tests to prove parentage etc.
You also have to be careful that both countries allow duel nationality, a lot don’t.


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## AndyDub (7 Oct 2008)

Towger said:


> ...So I would imagine that the easiest route would be for the child to become a citizen of their mothers EU country.....


We've been trying to do that for the past year, its an extremely slow process and the child will indeed have to resign their previous nationality. I was just wondering if there's a faster track to an Irish passport, alas I still think it will be a 5 year wait for that even if I adopt the child as my own.


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## Kate10 (7 Oct 2008)

I was going to suggest Adoption Andy, if that was a viable option for you.  Have you looked into this?


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## Towger (7 Oct 2008)

I think you are right and at a min you will have to adopt the child. There must then be a mechanism to give (fast track) the child's Irish Citizenship.  Lots of people have adopted from abroad and I never heard of them having to fulfill the 5 residency /1 year continuous rules etc. Ireland allows duel nationality, so this should allow the child keep their original nationality.


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