Irish citizenship through the Foreign Births Register

If either of your parents was an Irish citizen when you were born and was born on the island of Ireland, DFA says you are an Irish citizen automatically and do not need to register.

A person born outside Ireland may apply to the Foreign Births Register if one grandparent was born on the island of Ireland, or if one parent was an Irish citizen at the time of the person's birth though not born in Ireland. DFA's FAQ says anyone with an Irish-born grandparent can apply, even if neither parent holds an Irish passport. Once entered on the register, the person is an Irish citizen and may apply for a passport.

The great-grandchild rule. A great-grandchild of an Irish-born person, born outside Ireland, may register only if their parent had already registered by the time of the great-grandchild's birth. Citizenship obtained through the register runs from the date of registration, not from birth. DFA states the same rule for the next generation: children born after their parent's entry may apply; children born before it are not eligible, because the parent was not yet a citizen.

Further back. Ancestry beyond that gives no automatic right. The only route is a discretionary application based on Irish associations, assessed against ministerial guidelines under section 16(1)(a) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956. ISD says these cases take more than 30 months.

For most Irish-Argentine families the deciding question is the generation count, not the surname. Most Irish emigration to Argentina happened in the nineteenth century, so many living Argentines are great-great-grandchildren or further, for whom the register is closed unless each generation registered in time.

Because citizenship through the register starts on the date of registration, a grandchild who plans to have children should register before those children are born. Otherwise the next generation loses the route. DFA says an expectant parent whose child may be born before a decision can contact the FBR Customer Service Hub.

Originals unless stated, as DFA lists them:

• the completed, signed and witnessed application form;
• your civil birth certificate showing your parents;
• your marriage certificate or change-of-name document, if relevant;
• a witness-certified photocopy of your current state photo ID;
• two original proofs of address;
• four colour photographs, two of them witnessed;
• for the parent through whom the claim runs: civil birth certificate showing parents, marriage or change-of-name document if relevant, and certified photo ID or the civil death certificate;
• for the Irish-born grandparent: civil birth certificate showing parents, marriage or change-of-name document if relevant, and certified photo ID or the civil death certificate.

If the grandparent was born before 1864, before Irish civil registration began, DFA accepts a baptismal certificate. Adoption in the line needs the central authority's adoption certificate and the original long-form Irish birth certificate.

The witness must know you personally, not be a relative, and be currently practising in a listed profession: among them a police officer, teacher or lecturer, member of the clergy, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, dentist, lawyer, notary, bank or credit union manager, accountant, elected representative, vet or chartered engineer. The same witness signs the form and two photographs, applies an official stamp or supplies a business card, and certifies the ID copy.

Argentine birth, marriage and death certificates (partidas) come from provincial civil registers. In the City of Buenos Aires they can be requested online through TAD with a miBA account; a regular partida is free, and the city service does not include legalisation or an apostille.

An apostille is a separate process through the national foreign ministry: online through TAD at ARS 4,500 (about USD 3 at ARS 1,540 on 6 October 2026) per document, taking about 30 working days on average, or in person at the provincial notaries' college, or at an Argentine consulate when abroad.

The Irish-born grandparent's civil birth certificate comes from the General Register Office at EUR 20. Irish public documents for use abroad are apostilled only by DFA's Authentication and Apostilles Section at EUR 40; Irish embassies cannot issue apostilles.

What DFA does not say. No DFA page states whether a Spanish-language civil certificate must be translated for the register, or whether Argentine certificates must carry an apostille. DFA defines what a certified copy or translation looks like but not when one is required. The cautious course is to obtain recent partidas, apostille them and have a certified English translation made. That is our practice suggestion, not a published rule, and we are asking the FBR Customer Service Hub for a direct answer before this page is published.

The form is online only. You complete it, pay online and post it with the documents, photographs and checklist to the address printed on the form, which is a named embassy or consulate or a PO Box in Ireland. DFA has no public office and does not accept hand delivery; it does not acknowledge receipt, so recorded post is advised, and all original certificates are returned by recorded mail. Incomplete applications are returned unprocessed.

Fees at the central office: EUR 278 for an applicant aged 18 or over, and EUR 153 under 18, paid online when the application is entered.

Applications are handled in strict date order and take about 12 months. A passport cannot be applied for at the same time, and passport papers must not go in the FBR envelope. The certificate shows the name exactly as on the birth certificate. Siblings living in the same country may share one set of supporting documents with separate forms.

With about a year for the register and about 20 working days for a first passport, a realistic horizon from posting to passport is well over a year, before counting the time to gather three generations of certificates.

From Argentina, Passport Online is the only way to apply. A first-time applicant registered through the FBR applies online and posts: the identity verification form; the original FBR certificate or a colour copy certified by a solicitor or notary; the full civil birth certificate showing parents; a marriage certificate if applying in a married name; one proof of address and one separate proof of name, each dated within twelve months and accompanied by a translation into English or Irish; and photographic ID such as a foreign passport or national ID card.

Fees: EUR 75 for an adult ten-year passport, plus EUR 15 postage for applicants outside Ireland. The Passport Service quotes about 20 working days for first-time online applications, counted from when the documents arrive in Dublin and excluding international post. If correct documents are not received within twenty weeks of the online application, the Passport Service may decide on what it has.

Proof of address and name from Argentina will usually be Spanish-language bills or letters, so the translation requirement applies to almost every Argentine applicant.

We never post an application for you, hold a login to Passport Online or any government service, or take a DFA fee. You apply yourself; we show you the rule, the documents and the order. Questions the site cannot answer go to DFA's FBR Customer Service Hub, not to a lawyer.