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GAZETTE
JULY/AUGUST 1988
Immigration to
Ireland
Emigration, rather than immi gra t i on, has been a feature of
Irish history since the middle of the last century and, w i t h
the exception of a brief period in the 1970s, net yearly
emigration of varying extent has occurred. However in recent
years there has been interest in immigration to Ireland among
persons w i th Irish roots living in potentially unstable
jurisdictions, such as South Af r i ca, who have had cause to
consider whether their Irish connection entitles t hem to Irish
citizenship, and hence right of establishment and movement
in the EEC. Furthermore there has been a general increase
in interest in immi gra t i on to Ireland, mainly because of
Ireland's position as an English speaking member of the EEC
and the country's close proximity to the United Kingdom. This
article wi ll consider, in broad terms, entitlement to Irish
citizenship and, then, immigration possibilities that may exist
for non-EEC nationals.
Irish Citizenship
The principal legislation governing
Irish c i t i zensh ip is the Irish
Nationality and Citizenship Acts
1956 and 1986 (the Acts) which
provide that Irish citizenship may
be acquired in five ways as follows:
A. Birth
Every person born in Ireland is an
Irish citizen from birth. The only
exception to this is where the
parents had diplomatic immunity at
the time of birth.
B. Descent
Every person born outside Ireland
is an Irish citizen if his or her father
or mother is an Irish citizen by birth.
Furthermore, anyone born outside
Ireland who at the time of his or her
birth has a parent who is an Irish
citizen otherwise than by birth may
by
Roderick Bourke,
So l i c i tor*
and
Fiona Daly BCL*
.MM
Fiona Daly
Roderick Bourke
become an Irish citizen through
registration at the Department of
Foreign Affairs or at an Irish
Embassy or Consulate. A person
born outside Ireland having an Irish
born grandparent is therefore
entitled to Irish citizenship through
registration.
Citizenship acquired through
registration as an Irish citizen is
acquired as from the date of
registration. Therefore if a person
entitled to register as an Irish
citizen wishes to pass on citizen-
ship to his or her child then that
person's citizenship must be
registered before the child's birth in
order for the child to have an
entitlement to Irish citizenship. A
limited form of retrospection that
existed in the 1956 Act has been
eliminated by the 1986 Act.
C. Marriage to an Irish Citizen
An alien may become an Irish
citizen if he or she marries a person
who is, or who after the marriage
becomes,
an
Irish
c i t i zen
(otherwise than by naturalisation or
by virtue of this provision or by
virtue of a token of Honorary
c i t i zensh ip bes t owed by the
President). The applicant should
lodge with the Irish Department of
Justice a "Post-Nuptual Form",
which is a Declaration of Accept-
ance of Irish Citizenship, not earlier
than three years from the date of
the marriage or, after the Irish
partner became Irish, whichever is
the later. The marriage must
genuinely subsist at the date of
lodgment and the couple must be
living together as a married couple
at that date.
D. Naturalisation
An alien may become an Irish
citizen by naturalisation. Naturali-
sation is granted at the discretion
of the Minister for Justice and will
almost always be granted if the
applicant has:
(i)
been in continuous legal
residence in Ireland for a
period of one year prior to the
application
and
(ii) in legal residence in Ireland for
four out of the previous eight
years prior to that year. The
applicant must be of good
character, full age and intend
in good faith to continue to
reside in the State after
na t u r a l i sa t i on has been
granted. The Minister may, in
certain cases specified by the
Acts, grant naturalisation
even where certain of the
conditions for naturalisation
have not been complied with
as e.g. where the applicant is
of Irish descent or association
or where he or she is a
refugee or a stateless person.
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