Author Topic: Irish citizenship  (Read 1323 times)

Offline Search4ireland

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Irish citizenship
« on: Friday 07 April 23 17:54 BST (UK) »
Hi,
Just hoping someone might be able to help with a question on this.
My grandmother was born in England in 1895 when her parents (both from Ireland) moved here to work.
According to everything I have read, parents can have a child added to the Foreign Births Register if the child is born outside of Ireland.
But I have just read that the Foreign Births Register wasn't established until 1956.
So I am at a loss to see how they could they have registered her in 1895 - many years before the register was created?
I can't seem to find any information on what rules were there before 1956 for children born outside Ireland?
Thanks for any info!

Offline aghadowey

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #1 on: Friday 07 April 23 18:06 BST (UK) »
This query goes along with part of your previous post so it seems you didn't understand what was posted there. Hopefully after reading this it will make more sense.

When the grandmother was born in 1895 in England to parents born in Ireland they would all have been British citizens not Irish citizens. Her birth registration would have been the same for any child born in England at the time in that the birth was registered with the local Registrar and she should be indexed under English births. That's it.

Here's your previous topic-
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=871768.msg7430223

To clarify your response there-
Quote
Thank you so much!  The grandmother was born in England (her parents and older siblings were born in Ireland).  Does that mean it works the opposite way too - that as a child born in England to Irish parents, my partner's grandmother was "Irish" by birth ? If so, maybe there's a chance he can get Irish citizenship
The grandmother was not 'Irish by birth.' In order to currently obtain Irish citizenship the applicant needs to have been born on the island of Ireland (North or South) or have a parents born on the island of Ireland or have a grandparents born on the island of Ireland. Since the grandmother was born in England then Irish citizenship does not apply to your partner.
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Offline Girl Guide

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #2 on: Friday 07 April 23 18:15 BST (UK) »
Welcome to Rootschat  :D

Have you checked to see if your grandmother's birth was registered in England?  As the Irish Foreign Register was not established until 1956, there would not have been any need or ability to register any kind of citizenship for your grandmother in Ireland.

The Foreign Births Register allows Irish Citizenship to be granted to those whose grandparents were born in Ireland.

I don't know for sure, but I doubt there were any rules regarding this before 1956.  It may well have been possible to apply for Irish Citizenship before 1956 but what the criteria would have been for that is not something I know about.
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Offline aghadowey

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #3 on: Friday 07 April 23 18:22 BST (UK) »
From the previous thread it seems the grandmother's parents were born in County Tyrone which is, since 1921, in Northern Ireland. Not sure if that would matter at all before 1956.
In the 1990s I had to register the births of my primary school aged children at the American Consulate so that they could then get American passports which they needed to travel to the United States. They are all born on the island of Ireland and can also apply for Irish passports. Since Brexit many people in Northern Ireland that were eligible did apply for Irish passports since Ireland is still part of the European Union.
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Offline Search4ireland

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #4 on: Friday 07 April 23 18:55 BST (UK) »
Thanks for the info! Much appreciated :)

Offline heywood

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #5 on: Friday 07 April 23 19:03 BST (UK) »
I hope you don’t mind but I think you mentioned Ellen Devlin, b Hebburn.
If she is the person concerned, her siblings were also born in England -the older ones Hebburn.
1911 indexes show her father was born County Tyrone and her mother in Monaghan.

It may be, of course, that you are searching two grandmothers, in which case ignore the above.  :)
If you need further information, please post as people are very happy to help.
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Offline Ruskie

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #6 on: Friday 07 April 23 23:35 BST (UK) »
Why don’t you apply for Irish citizenship using the appropriate application forms and go through the process and see where it takes you?

Rootschatters usually know everything  ;) but when it comes to something like this surely it would be preferable to seek help from the appropriate agencies who can advise and decide suitability.


Offline aghadowey

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 08 April 23 10:31 BST (UK) »
It's very easy to get information from the Irish government about the eligibility and procedure for applying for Irish citizenship but since the OP, or rather their partner, is not eligible there wasn't much point in giving those details. Such information is very, very easily found using search engines like Google.
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html
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Offline Kiltaglassan

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Re: Irish citizenship
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 08 April 23 14:57 BST (UK) »

Irish Government - Department of Foreign Affairs website
Citizenship
https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/


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