Foreign Birth Registration

[Fogg]

My timeline so far:

Documents received email: November 7th 2019
Confirmation of address email: July 6th 2021
Congrats email: August 5th 2021

Apparently my certificate is on its way by signed-for delivery . I will attempt not to charge at the doorbell like an excited labrador whenever it rings...

[dolewhip]

I 100% agree, Whip. What do we know about their activity at the moment? Are the DFA increasing the number of FBR applications they are getting through? Wish we knew more about what's going on!

Unfortunately, most of what I know is coming from here, and even the last day or two have changed that story as well.

Before recently, it seemed most successful "address confirmation" -> "congratulations" conversions took between 2-11 days, with a clear exception for those whose services dropped off in December.

Now, we have a case of someone waiting for their congratulations message since 31/05 (2+ months), as well as two instances of November '19 files receiving their congrats message, about 4 weeks after address confirmation.

At this stage, if I'm lucky (US-based applicant, technically a British citizen first, docs received in October '19), I'll receive my congrats message within 7 days. Otherwise, it could be 2 months, 3 months, anything. I could be moving to a different city by the time it ships.

[Fogg]

Yes, I was getting a bit worried about the delay between 'address confirmation' and 'congratulations' emails since I replied to the former pretty promptly, and wondered if some last minute problems had been discovered with my documents that would see the whole lot rejected, or if the certificate was just going to appear on my doormat with no warning. However, while most applications seem to get a congratulations email pretty quickly, it does look like there's now a pattern of some longer wait times of a month or more between these steps. I don't know if that fact that I had actually changed my address since applying had anything to do with it?

[dolewhip]

Yes, I was getting a bit worried about the delay between 'address confirmation' and 'congratulations' emails since I replied to the former pretty promptly, and wondered if some last minute problems had been discovered with my documents that would see the whole lot rejected, or if the certificate was just going to appear on my doormat with no warning. However, while most applications seem to get a congratulations email pretty quickly, it does look like there's now a pattern of some longer wait times of a month or more between these steps. I don't know if that fact that I had actually changed my address since applying had anything to do with it?

Your data point makes it 2/2, looking at the most recent cases we have. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a pattern!

And now it’s one I’m hoping I can match; would mean I get congratulated in 5-7 days.

[msry5cw2]

Well just like that after me post 2 days ago.. congrats email came through this afternoon !!!!

msry5cw2 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:43 am
Feeling frustrated now - coming up for 2 years as well here...

Applied 09/07/2019
Confirmation of receipt 12/08/2019
.. Nothing...

Asked for new photographs of my son 16/12/2020
Confirmation of address 31/05/2021

..... Nothing...

EXCEPT Congrats Email for entry onto the FBR 05/08/2021!

My application is with Team 2

Felt i was close, now i can see people who applied after me receiving their certs

[dolewhip]

Well just like that after me post 2 days ago.. congrats email came through this afternoon !!!!

msry5cw2 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:43 am
Feeling frustrated now - coming up for 2 years as well here...

Applied 09/07/2019
Confirmation of receipt 12/08/2019
.. Nothing...

Asked for new photographs of my son 16/12/2020
Confirmation of address 31/05/2021

..... Nothing...

EXCEPT Congrats Email for entry onto the FBR 05/08/2021!

My application is with Team 2

Felt i was close, now i can see people who applied after me receiving their certs

Congratulations!

You definitely drew the short end of the stick (of applications processed since reopening; the December debacle will always take the cake), but the bottom line is it's happening!

[Mandino55]

Are the FBR offices open?? How are people getting certificates? I'm so confused about the Ireland lockdown and I cant tell if government officers are working again or not.

[Fogg]

The DFA page still says that processing is paused to not send in any documents for new applications (https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abr ... ign-birth/), but yes, clearly some of the backlog of existing applications from 2019 are quietly being processed.

Pure speculation, but I assume it's because they have a skeleton crew in to process priority cases such as pregnant applicants, and those staff work ad hoc on standard applications when the are no priority cases to be done. However, the office is not open for business as usual and they don't have the staff to deal with the usual volume of post, filing, etc.

[northernmma]

Hi all! I am an american that filed for FBR today online and paid the fee, but when researching how to send supporting documents I saw that the website says "Please do not send supporting documentation as these cannot be processed at this time."

However, I have seen others in this thread that have sent documents anyway. Should I still send mine to get in the queue, or will I incur problems by sending these documents right now?

Thanks for any help!

[V3rvangen]

Whilst we can't be certain, honestly it seems to me as though the 'please do not send supporting documentation' message is still there to simply deter applications whilst there's still such a massive backlog.
Applications HAVE been progressing the last few months. Clearly the office isn't open fully and many staff are redeployed in other roles, but the idea that processing has been completely paused, as the website claims, is totally wrong.

[Flatcap_Julius]

Whilst we can't be certain, honestly it seems to me as though the 'please do not send supporting documentation' message is still there to simply deter applications whilst there's still such a massive backlog.
Applications HAVE been progressing the last few months. Clearly the office isn't open fully and many staff are redeployed in other roles, but the idea that processing has been completely paused, as the website claims, is totally wrong.

You are correct. Mind you it would be pretty scandalous if they were just discarding people's very personal documents. Although on some level I can understand their wanting to minimise the influx of documents it bugs me that the information on their site is technically false. It seems that they are dealing with the expedited claims for reasons such as pregnancy at the moment, although they are claiming that they will consider expediting in cases where people's rights are affected, it seems that someone's right to live in their own house for more than 90 days at a time is not one of them. I cannot see the DFA staff returning to the office any time soon, given how the pandemic is going. My prediction is that they will allocate more resources to FBA processing early next year and this will see the FBR timescale drop to about 14 month.

[Rocky101]

With all due respect, what the British government has negotiated (and agreed!) is not a concern of the Irish Government - Their concern is the safety of their employees, and, speaking with a family member who works at DFA, they only ever expedite claims in pregnancy, so the child will still have the legal right to Irish citizenship. If your issue is what the British Government agreed to - you need to bring it up with them, and if staying in your home for more than 90 days at a time was a real concern, you would have applied for the FBR years ago when it was in the media that they were going to agree 90/180 days. The fact that you said you needed the Irish citizenship for a job you accepted in the EU without having the right to work in the EU, if you do have these houses then they are indeed an after thought!

Whilst we can't be certain, honestly it seems to me as though the 'please do not send supporting documentation' message is still there to simply deter applications whilst there's still such a massive backlog.
Applications HAVE been progressing the last few months. Clearly the office isn't open fully and many staff are redeployed in other roles, but the idea that processing has been completely paused, as the website claims, is totally wrong.

You are correct. Mind you it would be pretty scandalous if they were just discarding people's very personal documents. Although on some level I can understand their wanting to minimise the influx of documents it bugs me that the information on their site is technically false. It seems that they are dealing with the expedited claims for reasons such as pregnancy at the moment, although they are claiming that they will consider expediting in cases where people's rights are affected, it seems that someone's right to live in their own house for more than 90 days at a time is not one of them. I cannot see the DFA staff returning to the office any time soon, given how the pandemic is going. My prediction is that they will allocate more resources to FBA processing early next year and this will see the FBR timescale drop to about 14 month.

[Flatcap_Julius]

With all due respect, what the British government has negotiated (and agreed!) is not a concern of the Irish Government - Their concern is the safety of their employees, and, speaking with a family member who works at DFA, they only ever expedite claims in pregnancy, so the child will still have the legal right to Irish citizenship. If your issue is what the British Government agreed to - you need to bring it up with them, and if staying in your home for more than 90 days at a time was a real concern, you would have applied for the FBR years ago when it was in the media that they were going to agree 90/180 days. The fact that you said you needed the Irish citizenship for a job you accepted in the EU without having the right to work in the EU, if you do have these houses then they are indeed an after thought!

Whilst we can't be certain, honestly it seems to me as though the 'please do not send supporting documentation' message is still there to simply deter applications whilst there's still such a massive backlog.
Applications HAVE been progressing the last few months. Clearly the office isn't open fully and many staff are redeployed in other roles, but the idea that processing has been completely paused, as the website claims, is totally wrong.

You are correct. Mind you it would be pretty scandalous if they were just discarding people's very personal documents. Although on some level I can understand their wanting to minimise the influx of documents it bugs me that the information on their site is technically false. It seems that they are dealing with the expedited claims for reasons such as pregnancy at the moment, although they are claiming that they will consider expediting in cases where people's rights are affected, it seems that someone's right to live in their own house for more than 90 days at a time is not one of them. I cannot see the DFA staff returning to the office any time soon, given how the pandemic is going. My prediction is that they will allocate more resources to FBA processing early next year and this will see the FBR timescale drop to about 14 month.

With all due respect, or perhaps more truthfully, with virtually no respect whatsoever - because that is what you actually mean - isn't it? I bought my house in 2002 - so I would hardly say it's an afterthought - and yes afterthought is one word and not two. Simon Coveney is on record as saying that expedition is considered if it affects people's rights - he does not define any specific rights. It appears to be the case that in practice they are only expediting pregnancy claims. You have no right to tell me when I should or should not have applied for FBR. I have stated here many times why I did not apply earlier. Not that you would care - as you clearly haven't bothered to read before making your comments - my family died within 6 months of each other and I was made homeless. Yes I had my house in France, however I needed to have an income to support myself and and at the time is was more practical to be in London, living for some time in hostels and temping and doing what I could to get by. I had to go through a dark time and I did so without taking a penny from anyone. If I don't have EU status for 2 years it is not going to ruin my life. Goodness knows I've dealt with enough things already - as indeed have many people, however I don't appreciate the lack of updates. Also, with respect, I work for a large multinational company and have had to go into the office every day right throughout the pandemic. I and my 400 colleagues are all perfectly well alive, so if we can do it, WHY THE HELL CAN'T THE DFA? Sorry but they are treating applicants with contempt, providing no updates whatsoever and it is far from ideal. I will no longer engage with you respond to any of your posts. Thank you for your understanding.

[MrBotch]

Is there any way of blocking users on this messageboard? I don't want to read about some clown that can only spend three months of the year at her holiday cottage.

[chelsearob77]

With all due respect, what the British government has negotiated (and agreed!) is not a concern of the Irish Government - Their concern is the safety of their employees, and, speaking with a family member who works at DFA, they only ever expedite claims in pregnancy, so the child will still have the legal right to Irish citizenship. If your issue is what the British Government agreed to - you need to bring it up with them, and if staying in your home for more than 90 days at a time was a real concern, you would have applied for the FBR years ago when it was in the media that they were going to agree 90/180 days. The fact that you said you needed the Irish citizenship for a job you accepted in the EU without having the right to work in the EU, if you do have these houses then they are indeed an after thought!

Whilst we can't be certain, honestly it seems to me as though the 'please do not send supporting documentation' message is still there to simply deter applications whilst there's still such a massive backlog.
Applications HAVE been progressing the last few months. Clearly the office isn't open fully and many staff are redeployed in other roles, but the idea that processing has been completely paused, as the website claims, is totally wrong.

You are correct. Mind you it would be pretty scandalous if they were just discarding people's very personal documents. Although on some level I can understand their wanting to minimise the influx of documents it bugs me that the information on their site is technically false. It seems that they are dealing with the expedited claims for reasons such as pregnancy at the moment, although they are claiming that they will consider expediting in cases where people's rights are affected, it seems that someone's right to live in their own house for more than 90 days at a time is not one of them. I cannot see the DFA staff returning to the office any time soon, given how the pandemic is going. My prediction is that they will allocate more resources to FBA processing early next year and this will see the FBR timescale drop to about 14 month.

With all due respect, or perhaps more truthfully, with virtually no respect whatsoever - because that is what you actually mean - isn't it? I bought my house in 2002 - so I would hardly say it's an afterthought - and yes afterthought is one word and not two. Simon Coveney is on record as saying that expedition is considered if it affects people's rights - he does not define any specific rights. It appears to be the case that in practice they are only expediting pregnancy claims. You have no right to tell me when I should or should not have applied for FBR. I have stated here many times why I did not apply earlier. Not that you would care - as you clearly haven't bothered to read before making your comments - my family died within 6 months of each other and I was made homeless. Yes I had my house in France, however I needed to have an income to support myself and and at the time is was more practical to be in London, living for some time in hostels and temping and doing what I could to get by. I had to go through a dark time and I did so without taking a penny from anyone. If I don't have EU status for 2 years it is not going to ruin my life. Goodness knows I've dealt with enough things already - as indeed have many people, however I don't appreciate the lack of updates. Also, with respect, I work for a large multinational company and have had to go into the office every day right throughout the pandemic. I and my 400 colleagues are all perfectly well alive, so if we can do it, WHY THE HELL CAN'T THE DFA? Sorry but they are treating applicants with contempt, providing no updates whatsoever and it is far from ideal. I will no longer engage with you respond to any of your posts. Thank you for your understanding.

I do agree with you that the DFA’s handling of FBR applications beyond a joke! But at the same time your constant posts about your personal situations really don’t need to be posted on here!

You only applied for your FBR in June of this year so won’t be getting anything back regarding You being granted Irish citizenship for at least another year! So all you can do is sit back and wait, the DFA website states it takes between 12 to 18 months to process applications if your application happens to pass the 18 month point then I would enquire and complain about it!

Sorry but this thread is for Irish Foreign Birth Registrations, not for you to tell us your are just off to the post office to renew your British passport or to share a dream you happened to have when you came home from work and there was a velvet folder with a Irish passport inside it waiting for you on the table! (Yes the one with the golden harp on it)

Enough is enough with the
long-winded as they bears no relevance on here fella.

[JuniorBatman]

I do agree with you that the DFA’s handling of FBR applications beyond a joke! But at the same time your constant posts about your personal situations really don’t need to be posted on here!

You only applied for your FBR in June of this year so won’t be getting anything back regarding You being granted Irish citizenship for at least another year! So all you can do is sit back and wait, the DFA website states it takes between 12 to 18 months to process applications if your application happens to pass the 18 month point then I would enquire and complain about it!

Sorry but this thread is for Irish Foreign Birth Registrations, not for you to tell us your are just off to the post office to renew your British passport or to share a dream you happened to have when you came home from work and there was a velvet folder with a Irish passport inside it waiting for you on the table! (Yes the one with the golden harp on it)

Enough is enough with the long-winded as they bears no relevance on here fella.

Fully agree. I stopped with this thread because, frankly, some of the sense of entitlement on it was getting tedious.

FBR staff have been redeployed elsewhere within the Irish civil service; whether we like it or not, that's for the Irish Government to decide and they are not going to prioritise overseas non-citizens (however much they have paid or inconvenient they find it) over their own residents. Moaning on here won't make the slightest difference.

This thread was good when people were sharing dates and bits of advice and encouragement. Can we return to that?

[Mr_Knight]

This thread was good when people were sharing dates and bits of advice and encouragement. Can we return to that?

Amen. No more dreams or letters to the Queen

[Legskinner]

And no more vacation houses in France please.

[chelsearob77]

I do agree with you that the DFA’s handling of FBR applications beyond a joke! But at the same time your constant posts about your personal situations really don’t need to be posted on here!

You only applied for your FBR in June of this year so won’t be getting anything back regarding You being granted Irish citizenship for at least another year! So all you can do is sit back and wait, the DFA website states it takes between 12 to 18 months to process applications if your application happens to pass the 18 month point then I would enquire and complain about it!

Sorry but this thread is for Irish Foreign Birth Registrations, not for you to tell us your are just off to the post office to renew your British passport or to share a dream you happened to have when you came home from work and there was a velvet folder with a Irish passport inside it waiting for you on the table! (Yes the one with the golden harp on it)

Enough is enough with the long-winded as they bears no relevance on here fella.

Fully agree. I stopped with this thread because, frankly, some of the sense of entitlement on it was getting tedious.

FBR staff have been redeployed elsewhere within the Irish civil service; whether we like it or not, that's for the Irish Government to decide and they are not going to prioritise overseas non-citizens (however much they have paid or inconvenient they find it) over their own residents. Moaning on here won't make the slightest difference.

This thread was good when people were sharing dates and bits of advice and encouragement. Can we return to that?

Yep like I said before I do actually agree with him that the DFA having the FBR offices closed since December last year without any updates since then is absolutely ridiculous! But Flatcap only applied for his FBR in June so has no cause to be on here complaining about the length of time it’s taking! When he passes the 18 month mark then he can have cause for concern and complain! We don’t need to hear anything about him finding it unfair that expected parents have their FBR fast tracked ahead of him, crying because he needs to be European again because he had a job offer in Luxembourg which required he was European, can’t spend more then 90 days in his holiday home in France, dreams about getting a Irish passport (the one with the golden harp on it) inside a velvet folder! Or to inform us he is just going down to the post office to renew his British passport! Oh and writing to the Queen of England (like the Irish government will listen to her!)

All very long-winded posts we don’t need to be reading on here! this is stuff which is more suited to his Facebook status updates not here on a thread regarding Irish Foreign Birth Registration.

[BrexitEscapee]

The reason I've got my unique and treasured 'thin ice' status on this forum is for getting into political arguments. One of them was with someone who was strongly in favour of Brexit whilst seeking Irish citizenship, but the other was a chap who was personally criticising FBR staff for being lazy public servants etc. whilst at the same time bragging about having a property portfolio around the world and avoiding paying any tax by regularly moving between the various countries he held citizenship in. He didn't recognise the irony of him avoiding paying for the public services for which he was so critical.

Anyway, I raise this now because me and this chap came to a bit of a truce, whereby he laid off the right wing political campaigning and I left him alone. As is the case with all the frustrated forum members on here, as soon as he got his FBR certificate he calmed right down, and In place of the political stuff, he started collating a list of how people's applications were progressing. This list was actually a very useful service to members of this forum as it showed the steady progress in FBR processing, and gave people a reasonably accurate estimate of when they could expect their FBR certificate. You could see that people who'd applied in a particular month would all start receiving their address-confirmation emails at roughly the same time.

This chap suddenly disappeared from the forum at the beginning of last year, so here's a suggestion for Flatcap Julius: it looks like you're going to be waiting for at least 18 months, and you intend to participate in forum discussion over that time. How about taking on the role of compiling this progress list to help everyone out? This would be a useful service to anyone who's waiting, but it could also be a legitimate opportunity for you to make your point about the quality of service being offered - i.e. if there genuinely is widespread unfairness in the way people's applications are being expedited, you'll be able to provide hard evidence of this. Here's one of this chap's earlier versions of the progress list so you can see what he was doing:
ireland/foreign-birth-registration-t277 ... l#p1799106

[JuniorBatman]

… as soon as he got his FBR certificate he calmed right down, and In place of the political stuff, he started collating a list of how people's applications were progressing. This list was actually a very useful service to members of this forum as it showed the steady progress in FBR processing, and gave people a reasonably accurate estimate of when they could expect their FBR certificate. You could see that people who'd applied in a particular month would all start receiving their address-confirmation emails at roughly the same time.

This chap suddenly disappeared from the forum at the beginning of last year, so here's a suggestion for Flatcap Julius: it looks like you're going to be waiting for at least 18 months, and you intend to participate in forum discussion over that time. How about taking on the role of compiling this progress list to help everyone out? …

Funnily enough I had started doing that, but stopped because I was getting fed up of the forum and the lockdown. (I have my passport, I’m waiting for my kids’, which are now well over the 18 month stage, but am very much in the relaxed camp.)

Prior to lockdown things were fairly consistent, it was the December rush that things changed. My theory is that it was a practical issue, an extra team working slightly ahead of others for example. Even then it still seemed like there was a progression with the two sets. May restart, but happy to let someone else take over!

[maishun]

Friends, I have encountered a difficulty. The pregnancy team sent me an email saying that my father's birth certificate did not have the original, but when I applied for FBR, I provided the original of the birth certificate. Now tell me that there is no original of the birth certificate. Does anyone encounter such a problem? Did the FBR staff lose my father's original birth certificate？？

[swede_mum]

Hi all! I am an american that filed for FBR today online and paid the fee, but when researching how to send supporting documents I saw that the website says "Please do not send supporting documentation as these cannot be processed at this time."

However, I have seen others in this thread that have sent documents anyway. Should I still send mine to get in the queue, or will I incur problems by sending these documents right now?

Thanks for any help!

Did you send it anyway?

I am in the same boat. Applied, paid fees, documents collected- but didn’t send them off yet. We are planning to move houses and not sure how to deal with this now

[Flatcap_Julius]

What is the best indicator that the application is on the way? Is it the congratulations email or is it the address confirmation one? Does the congratulations one tell you how to apply for a passport? Do first passport applications have to be done via a paper form or can it be submitted online?

[seands1990]

My timeline so far:

Documents received email: November 7th 2019
Confirmation of address email: July 6th 2021
Congrats email: August 5th 2021

Apparently my certificate is on its way by signed-for delivery . I will attempt not to charge at the doorbell like an excited labrador whenever it rings...

That's great news mate! I applied a month after your - Dec 2019 so hopefully not too long for myself either !