Citizenship process to speed up for children born in Ireland to non-Irish citizens

Children who were born in Ireland but whose parents are not Irish citizens will be able to apply for citizenship within three years of residency under plans to be considered by Cabinet.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee will bring a memo to Cabinet to amend the citizenship rules for children.

Under current legislation, children whose parents are not Irish citizens have to wait at least five years to apply for citizenship.

However, this will be cut back to three years under Ms McEntee’s plan.

The proposal first emerged in a Private Members’ Bill proposed by Labour Senator Ivana Bacik in the Seanad.

At present, a child born here to non-Irish citizens needs to be resident in Ireland for four of the previous eight years before they can become an Irish citizen.

Additionally, there is a requirement to have a full year’s residency in Ireland prior to date of an application for citizenship.

This means the total residency requirement for minors is currently five years.

Under the new legislation, the number of years a minor must be resident in Ireland will be reduced to two years out of the previous eight.

The one-year residency prior to applying for citizenship will remain in place. The rules will not apply to the children of parents who are illegally resident in the country.

A referendum in 2004 saw the country vote in favour of not giving automatic citizenship rights to children born in Ireland if neither of their parents are, or are not entitled to be, Irish citizens.

Almost 80pc of voters supported the amendment but the referendum result has proved controversial in recent years and led to rising debate about Irish citizenship rights.

   

Irish Independent