Living abroad, baby waiting for Irish passport, can't leave country

- I live abroad (Switzerland)
- Am Irish, but born outside country (to Irish parents)
- Have 5 month old daughter, born in Switzerland
- have applied for Irish citizenship for her through Irish embassy, told that process takes months to complete

We have also been delayed by having to wait for Swiss birth registration, birth certificate, permit etc. before being able to start the Irish process.

If you live outside of Ireland and wish to apply to be included on the Foreign Births Register, you must contact the Irish embassy or consulate for the country in which you live (see "Where to apply"). Between 10,000 and 15,000 applications for Irish citizenship through the Foreign Births Register are processed by Irish embassies/consulates throughout the world each year. Waiting times to process applications for inclusion on the Register vary and can be as long as 12-15 months, depending on the number of applications at your embassy.

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http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...tizenship_through_birth_or_descent#howtoapply

The embassy here have advised that my daughter cannot leave Switzerland without a passport or "travel document" (is there another type of travel document apart from a passport? - their answer "No")

I was planning to go to Ireland (& the other countries that border Switzerland) soon with my daughter, but I don't see how I can. It's a very frustrating situation. My wife is not Irish nor Swiss, and it would probably take just as long to get a passport from her country, although we will be investigating.

Is anyone aware of another option in our situation, that would enable us to travel?

tiroileain said:

Is anyone aware of another option in our situation, that would enable us to travel?

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Have you tried your wife’s embassy? My wife’s embassy, which for Ireland is in London was faster than An Post's "Passport Express" 10 day service for a babies passport.

Towger.

Can the child not have a Swiss passport as well as the Irish one?

Depending on the rules in Switzerland. Maybe it's a case of babies being born to non-nationals not being allowed automatic citizenship. Didn't the OP say that neither his wife nor himself are Swiss citizens?

Unfortunately being born in Switzerland does not entitle you to a Swiss passport if parents are not Swiss. I believe you need to be resident here for at least 10 years, before they will consider an application.

My kids were born in Belgium to Irish parents, we never applied for inclusion on the foreign births registar. I've never heard of it. They got Belgian birth certs and we then (immediately) applied for an Irish passport through the Irish embassy here. Took I think two weeks as nowadays the passports have to be electonically printed in Ireland rather than hand written in the past. They are not allowed become Belgium citizens immediately and we've never applied for a Belgian passport or ID card for them.

Aileen2 said:

we never applied for inclusion on the foreign births registar. I've never heard of it.

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My situation is complicated by the fact that I was born outside of Ireland. In this case my daughter is entitled to:

Citizenship through descent from Irish grandparents

If one of your grandparents is an Irish citizen but none of your parents was born in Ireland, you may become an Irish citizen. You will need to have your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register.

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http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...sh_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent#rules