Dual Nationality

di11on

Hi folks,

My OH is French and I'm Irish - we're married and living in France. We moved here with our children 2 years ago.

They currently have Irish passports and OH is talking about getting them French identity cards (at least) which would give them dual nationality. The motivation is that it will apparently be easier to send them to university in France if they have French nationality.

I'm reluctant as they are living in France, speaking French (speak perfect English also). The only Irish thing about them is their nationality, their passports and I'm reluctant to give that up if it's not for a good reason.

I have some specific questions:

1. Is it ok to hold a French Id card and an Irish passport? Will there be issues renewing their Irish passports if they have a French Id. What about a French passport - same questions.

2. I would have thought that because we are European, that there would be no difference between an Irish person and a French person when it comes to applying for uni - anyone know the implications here? For me, this is the only area where I would see there being any advantage to the kids having French nationality, so I'd like to understand the implications and if there would be any real benefit.

In addition to the above, any thoughts?

They were both born in Ireland by the way.

useless

My OH has both French & Irish passports and a French Carte Nationale. Our kids have both French and Irish passports and we had no problem applying for or renewing any of them.

I don't know whether French citizenship makes any difference when applying for French university places.

Ayla

Your children can have as many passports as they wish - I know people who have 4 -as long as the country doesn't have a requirement that they have exclusivity (i.e.: my sis couldn't get Norweigen citizenship when she married without losing her US citizenship).

It's no problem having French & Irish. My own kids have Irish & US, I know other kids who have UK, Irish & Kiwi, and others who have 4.

As France & Ireland are both in the EU I wouldn't think one over the other would have any benefit for university entry. I'm not 100% sure but I would think the actual residency (i.e.: which country they're actually living in for taxation purposes) would have more influence as they may have different entitlements.

IvyTheTerrible

Ayla wrote: »

Your children can have as many passports as they wish - I know people who have 4 -as long as the country doesn't have a requirement that they have exclusivity (i.e.: my sis couldn't get Norweigen citizenship when she married without losing her US citizenship).

It's no problem having French & Irish. My own kids have Irish & US, I know other kids who have UK, Irish & Kiwi, and others who have 4.

As France & Ireland are both in the EU I wouldn't think one over the other would have any benefit for university entry. I'm not 100% sure but I would think the actual residency (i.e.: which country they're actually living in for taxation purposes) would have more influence as they may have different entitlements.

I think the language thing might be an issue as well. I know if you want to go to college in Ireland or England from a non-English speaking country, you have to do standardised exams to prove your level of English.

pickarooney

My kids have both passports and a French ID card (French mother, Irish father). I'm not sure if any stage they'll be asked to pick (unless they get simultaneous call-ups from two international rugby managers).