Northern Irish citizenship

What are the conditions regarding citizenship/passport entitlements for people born in Northern Ireland? Are you entitled to both English and Irish?

Until 1 January 2005 if you were born on the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland), you were automatically entitled to Irish citizenship. The new Citizenship Act 2005 has changed that somewhat for children born in Ireland to parents who are not Irish citizens.

In answer to your question however - if you were born in the North of Ireland you are entitled to both Irish and UK citizenship. You don't have to 'apply for Irish citizenship' you are automatically an Irish citizen on the basis of your birth on this island. You apply for an Irish passport in the normal way (using an application form called APS 1 if your are currently resident in the Republic of IReland, or APS 2 if you are living outside of the Republic). Either/both forms are available from the Passport Office in Dublin or Cork and I believe from a range of post offices in Northern IReland who offer the Passport Express Service. View the list of post offices in Northern IReland offering these services here: [broken link removed]

Once again, in order to apply for an Irish passport - you will not be required to renounce your UK citizenship and you may happily hold and use both passports.

Information on how to apply for a UK passort, for someone born in Northern Ireland but resident in the Republic is available from the UK passport Office website here:
[broken link removed]

Application forms for Irish passports are not availble online for security reasons. Processing time is 10 working days if you use the Passport Express Service. Hope this is of assistance.

post offices ( an post ) along the border also have the aps2 forms as do norn iron travel agents.

Thanks for the replies. Would the spouse of a NI citizen be entitled to both citizenships also?

In response to your question regarding whether or not the spouse of a NI citizen would be entitled to apply for Irish citizenship - you might answer the following. Before I go on however, whether or not this spouse will be entitled to apply for UK citizenship on the basis of you being born in Northern Ireland is a matter for the UK authorities only. Citizenship matters are always a matter for each national government.

To find out whether or not or not your spouse may be entitled to apply for Irish citizenship on the basis of their marriage to you - you might answer these questions:

1. Where is this spouse from and what is their nationality?

2. When were you married? (Remember, it is not possible to claim Irish citizenship through marriage if you were married after 30 November, 2002). Instead, your spouse may apply for Irish citizenship through naturalisation but with more favourable terms than the normal naturalisation requirements).

3. Where are you both currently living (i.e., in the Republic of Ireland or abroad)?

If you can answer the above 3 questions, I'll be happy to provide more information.

Alternatively, there is a wealth of information pertaining to Irish citizenship through birth, descent, marriage and naturalisation on the Oasis website.

Hi CMCR
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm not 100% sure of the exact circumstances, it was more of an academic question than anything else.

1. The person in question was born and lived for many years in Northern Ireland. Both of his parents are from Northern Ireland and hold UK and Irish passports. He has an Irish passport.
2. They couple were married in the Republic (prior to 2002) where both currently reside.
3. For various reasons (presumably tax related) he wishes to register himself as a UK citizen, with a view to setting up business in NI.

Any further clarification would be appreciated. Thanks again,

HP

Henny Penny said:

3. For various reasons (presumably tax related) he wishes to register himself as a UK citizen, with a view to setting up business in NI.

Any further clarification would be appreciated. Thanks again,

HP

Click to expand...

Registering himself as a UK citizen may not make much difference to his tax status except in so far as his domicile may be at issue. Residence and ordinary residence which are normally more important to his tax status will be determined by other factors.

Hi again Henny Penny,

I think we've established that this individual born in Northern Ireland is entitled to hold both a UK and Irish passport as under Irish citizenship legislation, he is entitled to Irish citizenship on the basis of being born on the island of Ireland. He is also entitled to UK citizenship on the basis of being born in Northern Ireland.

Given the Northern Irish person was married to a non-Irish citizen before 30 November 2002, it's possible for the non-Irish citizen (to become an Irish citizen) by simply making a post-nuptial declaration of Irish citizenship. That is, applying for Irish citizenship on the basis of being married to an Irish citizen. However - time is running out for them......the latest date for making a post-nuptial declaration of citizenship is 29 November 2005. Further detailed information on how to make a declaration (the fees involved) are available in the Oasis document here:

For arguments sake, if this non-Irish citizen fails to make a post-nuptial declaration of Irish citizenship by that date (29 November 2005) they may still claim Irish citizenship through naturalisation. They don't have to fulfil the full naturalisation requirements - they are slightly more favourable given they are married to an Irish citizen. Again - all the information is on Oasis.

Hope this has been of assistance.