How to get an Irish passport

My great-grand parents were Irish, but during the famine they moved to Scotland where my grandfather of Irish was born. Then they all packed up and came to the US. Could I get and Irish passport? Scottish (UK) passport. Since they were from Ulster could I get and Irish passport because of Northern Ireland (UK)? This boy needs help... hello out there?

Getting an Irish passport is relatively simple, but does require collecting some documents. Since rules may have changed since I got mine, my advice is to call the nearest consulate. I've had dealings with the consular office at the Irish Embassy in Washington and with the Boston consulate. In both cases, I receive excellent service. Now, I just have to renew, next time is in about three years. The last time I renewed, I asked Boston to send my application to the Dublin passport office so it could have the magnetic strip put on it. That may not be necessary now.

GeorgeDillon presumably has dual-citizenship - Irish and troll

I wish that the Irish government would enact a law making any speaker of the Irish language eligible for a passport. They could make an exam to qualify for this. It would incentivize the world-wide diaspora to learn the language. This helps tourism and everything else Irish.

With the state of the economy the title should read how to get an australian passport.

Want an American Pasport AND an Irish Passport ....... just marry an American Tourist. They are happy to help and the process is very simple. If you pick the right one it may even stick!!!

@georgedillon, George, stop acting the eegit There is no Nigerian Passport office in Dublin Don't know who or what you represent buy the Irish authorities are not as dumb or unsophisticated as you would like to think.

Firstgenamerican -- You should submit the birth certificate and marriage certificate of one of your parents. Also include your own birth certificate and marriage certificate, if applicable. You need to have four passport photos taken and have two of them signed on the reverse side by an approved witness. (e.g., police officer, attorney, etc). You must have your drivers license and U.S. passport photocopied and notarized (work I.D. is also acceptable). Depending on the consulate you might also be required to bring documents showing your place of residence. The fee is $120, which can be paid in cash or by bank-certified check. If you pay with a credit card you will be charged in Euro, so you might end up paying more than $120 depending on the current exchange rate.

Kelly, Please outline how to get a passport if your PARENT is Irish born. Both of mine are. Thanks, FGA

It cost $213 to apply for inclusion in the Foreign Births Register and the wait was 10 months to be added. There were other costs incurred as I had to order birth, death, and marriage certificates before applying at the consulate. Once I received the FBR certificate I had passport photos taken ($10) and took them, a witnessed passport application, and notarized copies of my drivers license to the consulate. It is $105 fo apply for an Irish passport plus a $15 courier fee. I was told the processing time is 12 to 16 weeks for first time passport applicants. So it's going to set you back at least a few hundred bucks and you'll spend well over a year going through the process. But, as others have said, you can't put a price on possessing an Irish passport (by legal means). I mean, as a point of cost comparison, the new Certificate of Irish Heritage is going to cost around $162 if you want it framed and shipped to States from Dublin. And it doesn't even give you any legal entitlements or tourist discounts.

All of this advice is baloney. The quickest and easiest way to get an Irish passport is to go to Ireland on your US passport, but once in Dublin ask a few Nigerians you see in the street (no problem to find them, there'll be thousands of them) to be directed to the Nigerian Passport Office. That's NOT the Nigerian Embassy, the Nigerian Passport Office is a private business which will issue you a passport for any country you like upon payment of a fee.

Cost: about e127 for application, but also all the documents that have to be collected involve fees from different government agencies, often $10-$50 each. There can also be a cost in tracking down the documents: where specifically were your grandparents born, married;where did they die? Where were your parents born, married; where did they die?

what is the cost?

Irish citizens unite! Don't you want more of our native sons and daughters boosting the economy over there, rather than overcharging you to live or visit there? We direct desendants of the Irish Holocaust of the 1840s are due reparations!!! Give us our citizenship to the Irish Free State, instead of perpetuating what the English did to us!

Let's face it. If we have predominantly Irish ancestors, grandparents or earlier, my old Irish home is financialy strapped! It doesn't take much intellectual wattage to realize that Ireland's financial coffers would be greatly increased by extending ancestral lines to obtain my Irish passport. Besides that, you'd insure that lovers of Ireland would visit more frequently, or live there, thus escaping the overage of Muslims in Ireland. Wake up Irish Consulate!