February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
And following the cutoff date of Nov. 29, non-Irish citizens will have to consider living in Ireland for a time if they want to obtain Irish citizenship and pass it on to a spouse.
Changes contained in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act will not, however, drastically affect the application process for existing Irish citizens and their non-citizen spouses for several years.
The changes will most immediately affect non-Irish citizens planning to obtain Irish papers through a grandparent, and who are then hoping to eventually pass Irish citizenship on to a non-citizen spouse.
“All the paperwork would really have to be in order and on its way to us at this stage,” said Cait Moran, a spokeswoman at the Irish Consulate in New York.
Moran said that the cut-off date of Nov. 29 was not just for the receiving of applications, but for the approval of them.
Any application received at this late stage would have to be absolutely complete and correct, she said.
Moran said that there had been a lot of interest in securing so-called post-nuptial Irish citizenship since the eligibility changes were announced earlier this year.
“The application rate has about doubled,” Moran said.
Under Irish law, U.S. citizens who meet the rules for Irish citizenship can apply as a result of having at least one Irish-born grandparent.
The other main route to obtaining an Irish passport is by means of a postnuptial declaration after three years of marriage to a person who has been an Irish citizen for at least three years.
Under current Irish law, such applications can be processed in the U.S. by the Irish embassy or various Irish consular offices without the applicant having to move to Ireland.
That practice, however, is what is about to change for current non-Irish citizens. Irish law is being brought into line with the European Union norm. The result will eventually be a residency requirement.
The formal change to current practice will come into effect after the Nov. 29 deadline. There will be a grace period after that date during which the old rule will continue to apply for individuals who are already Irish citizens and who are married to a non-citizen spouse.
This grace, or transitional period, is set to last for three years, from Nov. 30 of this year until Nov. 30, 2005.
But from Nov. 30, 2005, it will no longer be possible to become an Irish citizen by simply lodging a postnuptial declaration at the Irish embassy or a consulate.
“After 2005 there will be no post-nuptial citizenship. There will instead be a residency requirement,” Moran explained.
During the 2002-05 grace/transitional period, a non-Irish national will be still be able to claim Irish citizenship through marriage if: he/she is married to an Irish citizen, or by Nov. 30, 2002 is married to a person who will be an Irish citizen by that date, or makes a post-nuptial declaration at least three years after the date of the marriage, does so before Nov. 30 2005, and lodges it at the Irish embassy or a consular office.