Foreign Birth Registration?

[PasadenaTom]

...t it can take up to 6 months. Standard from what I can gather...

Standard, though Sotyrockz04 recently posted that s/he was told that "Applications are currently taking 4-5 months at present"

Does the receipt email mean that it has been transferred to Dublin or simply that it is with the London embassy?

I initiated my application and paid online, and sent my documents directly to Dublin. So it may be different. I received two emails from a no reply address at DFAT; the first acknowledging the electronic submission and payment. The second acknowledged document receipt (and included the "up to six months" language).

People have mentioned on here notification that their application is in an advance stage, or similar. Is this something that the DFA do automatically or do you get such communication from enquiring with them?

I think I've read most of the 34 pages. I don't recall anyone having gotten a status update without inquiring. Several have commented that their FBR certificate and original documents just appear in the post one day.

I had avoided requesting an update, as I figured the time they spent responding was time they were not able to spend on applications. But it has been 11 weeks since my material was received. And last week Sotyrockz04 reported receiving a a response to a status enquiry in about 20 minutes. Since our application dates were about a week apart, I thought I would be OK to ask about mine. I submitted my question Thursday evening, but after two business days, I have not received a response. I don't know if that means something positive, something negative, or nothing at all.

Now the wait begins! Hopefully all will be well.

For me, after the initial excitement and flurry of activity, the wait time is a bit of a let-down. It's like watching the grass grow. So I check this board frequently, looking for other people's updates, and hoping to see evidence that the wait times are declining.

I hope yours is a smooth and fast process.

[imperium]

Thanks Winterflaw,

So to clarify, did you manage to overcome the problem of the lack of your mother's passport? What was the solution? I do not have an issue with multiple potential grandparents and I have all those certificates.

Many thanks.

I am in somewhat similar situation. My Irish grandfather abused his daughters, one of whom was my mother, and I am estranged from my family anyway. I was able to collect every document except my mother's passport.

However, to complicate matters, I never knew or met my Irish grandfather.

From the marriage certificate of that unknown grandfather and my mother, I knew his age on the date of the wedding, his name and his fathers name.

Searching the various on-line family databases this gave four people who could be the man in question - one English, two Irish.

The English possibility died however aged a few days.

That left two Irish, one of whom for which I found a death certificate, the other not (he could even still be alive).

Like a complete idiot, I explained all this in a letter with my application and sent all of the various certificates I found.

As far as I can tell right now (getting information from DFA is proving difficult) from an informal chat with the Embassy where I applied, the application was rejected in Dublin because they did not like that there were two possible grandfathers.

I should have sent *only* the certificates for the grandfather for whom I had the death certificate (as he was the likely man, given his professions and his fathers profession).

The Embassy itself has accepted the application.

So I'm looking now at the appeals process.

[Sotyrockz04]

I had avoided requesting an update, as I figured the time they spent responding was time they were not able to spend on applications. But it has been 11 weeks since my material was received. And last week Sotyrockz04 reported receiving a a response to a status enquiry in about 20 minutes. Since our application dates were about a week apart, I thought I would be OK to ask about mine. I submitted my question Thursday evening, but after two business days, I have not received a response. I don't know if that means something positive, something negative, or nothing at all.

What email address are you emailing? Did you include your application number?

[PasadenaTom]

I submitted my question Thursday evening, but after two business days, I have not received a response. I don't know if that means something positive, something negative, or nothing at all.

What email address are you emailing? Did you include your application number?

I am pretty sure I submitted my question from this "Email Queries" web page https://www.dfa.ie/about-us/contact-us/ ... tizenship/

I say "pretty sure", because I see that they also have an email query page for passport questions. But I checked my browser history, and I don't see evidence that I did that.

I did include my application number.

The emails I previously received confirming receipt of my payment and documents came from noreply@dfat.ie - which I assumed would not be monitored.

Is there a specific email address that can be used, rather than the web form?

[PasadenaTom]

I think the consulate sent me the application within 2 weeks of requesting it

The good news: I received a passport application from the San Francisco consulate. They mailed it right away.

The bad news: The information I received with the application indicates it will take 12-16 weeks to process a first-time passport application . And that's after I receive my FBR certificate - whenever that may be.

I hope the delay is because summer is peak passport application season and that volume will subside in a few weeks when, if all goes well, I am able to apply.

Patience, patience...

[brawn400]

Thanks PasadenaTom,

Looks like we might have different lead times based on our respective locations, and the fact that you sent yours directly to Dublin, and mine has gone through the London Embassy. Good luck with yours - seems like you are fairly far down the process so hopefully it comes through soon!

I guess the best case in this scenario is to just wait 3-4 months and inquire to see if anything has progressed with the application.

You're right though, it is quite exciting gathering all of the information needed - I have particularly enjoyed getting all of the birth, marriage, death certificates etc as I find them fascinating.

All the best. Hopefully in ~6 months time I'll have a good update!

[canada1005]

13th February 2018 = Confirmation that documents have been received (London embassy)

4th July 2018 = Email confirmation that Inhave been entered into the FBR and i’m an Irish citizen (cool).

Good luck!



Bye......

[Shalize]

In brief, we have applied for citizenship through descent for my 9 years old son however we are unable to get copies of his father (due to a life-changing car accident) or grandfathers passports. I asked before starting the application process if there were alternatives as we had no way of getting the grandfathers passport as we did not have contact due to domestic violence. We were advised to get an affidavit describing the issue.We sent an affidavit as advised several months later. ( It took time to order the relevant paperwork )but have been told this is not suitable as the rules have changed since we made our initial query. My application has now been denied. We can get great grandparents passports with ease, grandmothers (not born in ireland) grandfathers brother, just not his grandfather. They dont seem bothered about his father as we have a copy of the court order. HELP!

[imperium]

That's quite odd because I was advised by a consulate that:

"In the absence of a current photo ID of your father you can make a statutory declaration and explain why you are unable to provide the ID.
The original statutory declaration must be submitted with your application.

That was sent by E-mail on July 1st.

My situation is similar to yours but I am only short my father's passport. My Irish grandparent has passed away. Also my situation is that my father is contactable but just can't be bothered. I had to go to court to get my Lithuanian citizenship and though that involved my mother's side of the family, as I am in Asia he had to do a lot of legwork in terms of communication and gathering documents. After that, he doesn't want to be involved in another one.

If the DFA reject my application, I will definitely contest it in court. Demanding the private (non public record) document of a 3rd party for a citizenship application puts you at the mercy of their consent. Nowhere in the legislation is consent stated as a perquisite of citizenship by descent. I have a feeling that the DFA will fail on the balance of probabilities to establish that A) I am not descended from an Irish grandparent born in Ireland prior to 2005 or B) that the demand for a parental passport / photo ID is a reasonable stipulation given that death certificates can be used in the case of people that have passed away and C) that they have applied their policy in a consistent and evenhanded way whereby all applicants received the same treatment and were offered the same information.

In my experience of dealing with the Lithuanian migration office, they did not even really try to win the case and I was missing several documents. Bureaucracies often deal badly with the public based on the assumption that they can get away with it. However, litigation usually changes their perspective somewhat.

[timbo29]

I'm a similar situation regarding documents. I have not yet applied, still gathering docs.

My Dad's mother was Irish born. I'm estranged from all of my Dad's side of the family, he left my mother when I was very young, never heard or seen him since, so I cannot get a copy of his passport. Was planning to produce an affidavit explaining this...

My Grandmother married 4 times from what I have discovered. She appears to be alive from my research, no death certificate identified. As I'm estranged from her also, I cannot get a passport copy from her.

Producing an affidavit to explain both my Father and my Grandmother's absence of passport documents may be a bit too far for the DFA? I am not shy to challenge it in Court/Appeal as like you say, it is clear from the documents trail that I am entitled to Irish citizenship and the requirement of passport or death certificate seems almost unnecessary quite frankly.

[plastic]

Another timeline from a new Irish citizen:

January 23: Submitted application online
January 30: Documents received (London)
June 7: Additional details requested regarding witness
June 13: Acknowledgement of witness details
June 26: Added to FBR
July 12: Documents and certificate received through post

164 days from receipt of documents to certificate

[Fanikhan15]

Did they tell you what’s the reason for the delay?
Are u and ur wife irish thru naturalisation??

I am Irish through naturalization and living in Ireland and my wife is non eu citizen living in our home country with baby.

Ohh we are the same, I am an non eu, and got my citizenship via marriage. The only difference is my husband is irish by blood and he is in Ireland too like me. So let’s see their basis. I’m just trying to figure out and I’m thinking what could be the reason why some is getting a delay even if we pass all the requirements.
Uggh! I just want to get over this! I’ll let u know as soon as i hear anything. As of now, still nothing aside from what they told my husband on our last email.

Wish you best of luck , if they say you will hear before end of May then its not too long left , wish you all the best with it . do let us know if you hear anything. cheers

Hey Mark did you get any update ?

[BrexitEscapee]

I found this thread very useful for giving me an estimate of how long I was going to have to wait, so I've registered to give my timeline (I'm from the UK so was dealing with the Irish Embassy in London):

I sent my application off and made payment on 20th January 2018.

I got an emailed confirmation of receipt of my documents on 29th January.

Yesterday (14th July) I phoned the foreign birth register number (which someone quoted on the preceding page of this thread) to check progress. They transferred my call to a different office which dealt with applications which had been submitted via the London embassy. I was informed that my application had been processed, i.e. I was now an Irish citizen, but that due to a high volume of applications, it might still take a few weeks for them to return my papers and whatever certificate I'm going to receive. I checked, and was told that I couldn't start my passport application until I'd physically received that certificate.

So in my case, it took 5 month and 3 weeks, but I still have to wait for the certificate to arrive in the post.

The only other thing of interest about my application is that my Grandfather's birth either wasn't officially registered, or that registration has been lost in the system. I therefore had to register his birth myself which meant I had to:

1. Get the General Records Office to carry out a search and provide an official 'no record found' certificate. (There's a fee for this - something like 20 Euros.)
2. Identify where/when my Grandad was baptised (using online church records which I found via familysearch.org This involved a lot of research and searching through online scans of old church baptism registers from the 1880s!
3. Write to the Parish priest and request a baptism certificate, providing the historical church baptism record I'd found online.
4. Send this baptism certificate off to the Civil Registration Service (in Roscommon) to request a Late Registration of his birth. This also required a notarised declaration form, marriage details of his parents and his death certificate.
5. Once his birth had been registered, I then had to apply to the General Records Office and purchase a long form copy of his birth certificate.
6. Job done - that was the key document I needed and I didn't have any problems or queries with my FBR application.

[littlespud99]

I have been watching other people's time lines on here so felt I should register and put my own FBR time line:
22/3/18: Online line application complete (based on deceased paternal grandfather born in Ireland)
5/4/18: Confirmation email that info received in Dublin
21/6/18: Entered on FBR
2/7/18: Date of cover letter
17/7/18: Letter with cert and original docs received in Australia (Post code miss typed so not sure if this slowed things at all).

My time time seems very fast, I had all the normal issues of misspelt names and non matching dates but was not asked for any further info.

Little Spud

[PasadenaTom]

My time time seems very fast, I had all the normal issues of misspelt names and non matching dates but was not asked for any further info.

Little Spud

Congratulations! And thank you for your timeline.

A few weeks ago, someone reported that they emailed DFA, and they were told it was now taking 4-5 months. I hope that your experience is a sign that their application logjam is even further dissipated. It also helps dispel one of my concerns. I wondered if they might be giving priority to applicants living in Ireland, or those submitting applications via the London Embassy. But the fact that you had a fairly quick turnaround to Australia is a good sign. I'm in the U.S. And my application was received in Dublin on 16/4/18. That's only 12 days after yours was received. Keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe it's time to get my passport photos taken, so I can get that application in the post right away.

Congratulations again!

[Mak2386]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

[Fanikhan15]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

Yes same here
Applied on 6th of June 2017
Additional docs 26th feb submitted on 4th of march
Still in a process....

[Mak2386]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

Yes same here
Applied on 6th of June 2017
Additional docs 26th feb submitted on 4th of march
Still in a process....

They had asked me additional docs at 8th Sept 2017 and i have provided at 22nd sept. since then it is under management review and no response.
your one is also so called management review?

[Koolboy]

Hello to everyone in this group. I am following this discussion for last few months and I must say that this group is the best, positive and most useful in the world of internet for this topic. I got lots of information from this discussion. My grandmother was born in Dublin in 1911 so I collected all required documents from different places. It took me 3 months to arrange all these. And on 14th July 2018,I applied for FBR online and submitted my fees 278 euros and on 16thJuly I posted my application to Ireland Embassy London as I live in England and they received my documents on the next day. I want to share one thing with you that I enquired from the Embassy that I have 3 different bank accounts in 3 different banks so can I use them as my 3 proves of address they replied that "as long as they are 3 different banks, you can use as 3 proves of address." I hope this information maybe helpful for anyone. It's only start for me and I know I have to wait abou 6 to 9 months as I learnt from this group experience so Keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck for everyone who is waiting for their Post. I will keep updating if I hear anything from them. Bye

[Fanikhan15]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

Yes same here
Applied on 6th of June 2017
Additional docs 26th feb submitted on 4th of march
Still in a process....

They had asked me additional docs at 8th Sept 2017 and i have provided at 22nd sept. since then it is under management review and no response.
your one is also so called management review?

Same reply since May...

[bluemoon2]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

19 months ago application submitted , still in process , bastards are even not rejecting application to finish the play .

[platplaas]

Timeline for a London-based application via London Embassy:

We received no unsolicited updates / emails other than the first email receipt from the online application submission process.

29th January, 2018: Online application form submitted

7th February, 2018: Posted and received at London Embassy

3rd July, 2018: Entered into the FB register (unbeknownst to us)

8th July, 2018: Emailed London DFA to ask about status.

10th July, 2018: Received emailed response: "Your application has been sent to Dublin and is at an advanced stage of processing on the system. The FBR process takes approximately six months to complete from date of receipt here in the Embassy."

19th July, 2018: Received signed-for mail including FBR certificate and all original documents. They included a passport application form.

So, all-in, 163 days, or about 5 1/2 months.

[Mak2386]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

19 months ago application submitted , still in process , bastards are even not rejecting application to finish the play .

Yes... same here... they are not accepting and rejecting... just holding in air... there is no process of escalation unfortunately....

[bluemoon2]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

19 months ago application submitted , still in process , bastards are even not rejecting application to finish the play .

Yes... same here... they are not accepting and rejecting... just holding in air... there is no process of escalation unfortunately....

Did you give you any particular reason for delaying ?

[Mak2386]

Hello Guys,

My application is under process for more then a year.
I have submitted June02-2017 and as of yet, no result ( London Embassy)

Anybody has counter similar problem?
Thanks

19 months ago application submitted , still in process , bastards are even not rejecting application to finish the play .

Yes... same here... they are not accepting and rejecting... just holding in air... there is no process of escalation unfortunately....

Did you give you any particular reason for delaying ?

Nope. they are saying since 9 months that it is under management review and we are checking the documents. did they provide you any particular reason?