This is the second part in a series of articles by Grace Dowling on acquiring Irish citizenship. This article discusses the application process.

The first step in gaining Irish citizenship through the naturalisation process is beginning to collect the proper documents to prove your eligibility. The State requires that you submit various documents from each year of required residence in Ireland alongside your properly filled out naturalisation application.

Once submitted, the Department will review your application and documents, and the Minister will ultimately determine whether you will be granted a certificate of naturalisation, which is evidence of your Irish citizenship. The purpose of this article is to detail the specific documents you will be required to submit as well as explain the way that you will be expected to fill out the naturalisation application.

Before getting into the documents and application details, it’s important to note that if you are applying for naturalisation on the basis of residence, it is necessary that you keep your immigration registration up-to-date during your residence in Ireland. If there are gaps in your immigration registration, then your naturalisation application could be deemed ineligible.

The specific documents that you will be required to submit alongside your application may vary based on whether you are a minor, a spouse of an Irish national, a refugee, a standard applicant, or applying for naturalisation on the basis of your Irish associations. For instance, a dependent young adult aged 18-23 applying for naturalisation might be required to show a letter from their school or college showing their date of registration and proof of attendance in addition to other documents. Additionally, each document you’re allowed to submit to prove your residence in Ireland is assigned a point value, and according to the current naturalisation rules, you must provide enough documents to reach 150 points per year of required residence. In order to check which documents you can submit in support of your application and see the assigned point value of documents, be sure to check the scorecard provided by the Irish Department of Justice.

Regardless of the basis on which you’re applying for naturalisation, there are some general rules regarding the documents you must submit to the State. For instance, you must provide one of the following documents, at minimum, for each year of required residence: 

  • P60 / Revenue Employment detail summary
  • Department of Social Welfare Annual Statement
  • Current account bank statements for six consecutive months of each of the required years.

In addition to one or more of those documents above, you can provide any of the following documents, so long as you meet 150 points for each year of required residence:

  • Mortgage statement
  • Rent agreement / registered with the local authority / AHB / RTB
  • Credit card statements for six consecutive months of each of the required number of years
  • Attendance record for primary / secondary school in Ireland
  • Attendance record for third level college in Ireland
  • GP or hospital attendance record
  • Medical practitioner employment history summary (for doctors employed in the HSE or voluntary hospitals)
  • Property tax – proof of payment
  • Car tax – proof of payment
  • TV license – proof of payment
  • Dog or fishing license – proof of payment 
  • Electric supplier – service bill – proof of payment
  • Gas supplier – service bill – proof of payment
  • Medical insurance – proof of payment
  • Home or car insurance – proof of payment

While you’re obtaining and organizing all of those required documents, you can then start to fill out your application for naturalisation. The particular application form you will fill out will depend on your situation. For example, if you are a standard applicant, you should fill out Form 8; if you are a minor with a parent who has already been naturalised, you should fill out Form 9; if you’re a minor of Irish descent or Irish associations, you should fill out Form 10; lastly, if you are a minor born in the State after 1 January 2005 and were not entitled to Irish citizenship at the time of birth but have since accumulated 5 years of residence, you should fill out Form 11. All of the forms are available in Irish as well as English, and can be found on the Department of Justice website.

If you are uncertain as to which form to complete, or as to the required documentation, you can schedule an appointment with one of the solicitors at Fitzsimons Redmond LLP. We will be happy to advise you, and to guide you through the process of completing the form and gathering the evidences.

This article is a part of a series of articles published on the Fitzsimons Redmond website about Irish naturalisation. The goal of these articles is to walk you through the naturalisation process. To learn about who is eligible for citizenship by naturalisation you can read part one of our series of articles.

The above is provided for information purposes and is not intended as legal advice. We, at Fitzsimons Redmond LLP, would be happy to talk to you about your application for Irish citizenship. Please contact us on 01-676 3257.

By Grace Dowling

Legal Assistant at Fitzsimons Redmond LLP