Applying for British Passport

oxygen_old

Hi

I have an Irish passport. I was born in Liverpool in '79, so I know I am eligible for a British passport. I just dont know if getting a British passport means I would have to surrender my Irish passport. Does anyone know?

Thanks

BuffyBot

No, you can have both.

oxygen_old

sweet, thx for the reply buffy bot.

ironictoaster

I'm thinking applying for one as well.

I think it would be easier to get into commonwealth country's like Australia etc with a British passport

Zaph

I have a couple of friends who have both and that's what they do, switching passports depending on where they're travelling to. It's not just Commonwealth countries, one worked in Saudi for 3 years and it was easier for her to travel there with her British passport. The other friend actually has an American passport as well (American mother, Irish father, born in England), which is handy given the US government's paranoia about anyone entering their country.

littlejp

What exactly do you need to qualify for a British Passport?
Is an Irish person eligible for historical reasons, maybe?

jhegarty

littlejp wrote:

What exactly do you need to qualify for a British Passport?
Is an Irish person eligible for historical reasons, maybe?

You do if you were born before the foundation of the state....i'm guessing that doesn't apply....

littlejp

No, I've missed that deadline by a year or two.
Is there any other way? If I convinced my Granny to apply for one could I then apply for one after her? If I moved to the U.K. for a certain amount of time would I become eligible?

Our man in Havana

You have to live in the UK for 5 years (3 years if married to a UK citizen) before you can apply for naturalisation. After you are naturalised you can then apply for a UK passport.

Granny can't help you on that score. Granny might be able to get one but she can't pass that on to you.

djmarkus

if your mother is northern irish does that mean you can apply for a UK passport?

wheresthebeef

you can carry both passports, but the conditions of your irish passport state that you cannot avail of irish consular protection, if you hold a second passport, in that case you must avail of the consular support of the other nationality you hold. i think. it was something along those lines. correction?

Hagar

jhegarty wrote:

You do if you were born before the foundation of the state....i'm guessing that doesn't apply....

AFAIK If your parent(s) were entitled to a British Passport the you can claim a passport as the child of a British passport holder. I'm open to correction on that.

Our man in Havana

djmarkus wrote:

if your mother is northern irish does that mean you can apply for a UK passport?

No. It depends on when and where you were born. Mostly the nationality of the mother has nothing to do with it. It's the fathers that matters.

Our man in Havana

wheresthebeef wrote:

you can carry both passports, but the conditions of your irish passport state that you cannot avail of irish consular protection, if you hold a second passport, in that case you must avail of the consular support of the other nationality you hold. i think. it was something along those lines. correction?

You are 100% correct.

Our man in Havana

Hagar wrote:

AFAIK If your parent(s) were entitled to a British Passport the you can claim a passport as the child of a British passport holder. I'm open to correction on that.

Again it depends on when and where you were born, After 1983 it became very strict.

Hagar

Bond-007 wrote:

You are 100% correct.

Incorrect. If you hold two passports, say and Irish and a U,S you cannot avail of US consular protection when in Ireland. While in Ireland you are Irish first and any other nationality second.

ironictoaster

my mother was born in Manchester, I think I can qualify for it...

microgirl

Bond-007 wrote:

No. It depends on when and where you were born. Mostly the nationality of the mother has nothing to do with it. It's the fathers that matters.

Which is a bloody pain in the ass when you're a child of a single mother and it's completely bloody irrelevant because you were bloody born in England. Not that I'm annoyed or anything

I just gave up on the British passport thing for that reason - too many irrelevant hoops.

Our man in Havana

Hagar wrote:

Incorrect. If you hold two passports, say and Irish and a U,S you cannot avail of US consular protection when in Ireland. While in Ireland you are Irish first and any other nationality second.

That's right Hagar. I must have gotton confused.

Our man in Havana

creggy wrote:

my mother was born in Manchester, I think I can qualify for it...

Only if you were born before 1983. After that it's your dads nationality that matters.

ironictoaster

Nah, I'm well after 83'. My dad is Irish