Can Irish Nationals join the Royal Army Medical Corps?

McGrath97

Hello lads!

I've recently left secondary school and am near the end of a healthcare PLC course (which I'm not very fond of). I'm hoping to eventually become a combat medical technician in the British army. My question is, is it possible for an Irish National to do so?. I've already had my assessment and interviews for this role and initially I was told I would have to live in the UK for six months, than I was told by a different recruiter I would have to live there for 3 years, now I'm being told I can't join as a medic full stop.

If any Irishmen or women who has been in the Royal medical corps or has known someone in the medical corps any information would be greatly appreciated. Also considering the fact I applied for the RAF medic role and they had no problem with my nationality makes me suspicious about my recruiters in the army. I feel like they just want me to join infantry.

Again any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

Slydice

Looks like you need to be a British Citizen unless it's the Army Reserve that you want to join:

What are the nationality / residency rules for joining?
Soldiers from across the Commonwealth and other countries have a long and proud tradition of service in the British Army. The Army welcomes applicants from certain countries and overseas territories, but you may need to have lived in the UK for a set period of time to be eligible for certain roles.

Commonwealth countries

Regular Army:
British citizens, British subjects under the Nationality Act, 1981, British Protected Persons or Commonwealth Citizens.
If you are a citizen of a Commonwealth country, you'll need to have lived in the UK for at least 5 years before you start an application to join the Army. You must not have been out of the UK for a continuous period of more than 180 days (6 months) during this 5 year period. A passport is required with validity for 4 years from the date of entering Army service. Your UK Residency status and Passport will be checked at application.

To join the Army Reserve, you need to:

• Prove that you either have British citizenship, or if you are a Commonwealth Citizen, Indefinite Leave to Remain or Indefinite leave to Enter must be stamped on your passport (Settlement) in the UK.
• Citizens of the Irish Republic joining the Army Reserve must be living in the UK to be eligible to join
• Refugees and Asylum Seekers are not eligible to apply to join the British Army. All candidates who have a Visa must provide proof of this throughout the recruiting process.

To get British Citizenship, it looks like you gotta go through their naturalisation process:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nationality_law_and_the_Republic_of_Ireland

Irish citizens seeking to become British citizens are usually required to live in the UK and become naturalised after meeting the normal residence and other requirements, unless they can claim British citizenship by descent from a UK born or naturalised parent. An Irish citizen who naturalises as a British citizen does not automatically lose Irish citizenship.

Naturalisation as a British citizen is a discretionary power of the Secretary of State for the Home Department but will generally not be refused if the requirements are met.

I don't know much about it though so you might want to check more.

There's also a military forum on boards.ie here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=659

They might have a better idea if you ask them

Heart Break Kid

Still a fair few lads each year:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/70-irish-recruits-join-the-british-army-30874724.html

From the looks of this though might be only Reserves

Citizens of the Irish Republic joining the Army Reserve must be living in the UK to be eligible to join

http://www.army.mod.uk/join/How-to-join.aspx

McGrath97

Thanks for the reply and the link, I couldn't find the Military forum earlier.