The Irish Foreign Births Register, Explained

For many people with Irish roots, the Foreign Births Register, or FBR, is the pivot point of a citizenship-by-descent claim. It is the official list the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs keeps for people of Irish descent born abroad, and for a large share of applicants, getting onto it is exactly what makes them Irish citizens. The legal basis sits in the amended Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1956.

When you do not need the FBR

Some descendants are Irish automatically and skip the register entirely. That includes anyone born abroad to a parent who was born in Ireland and held Irish citizenship at the time, and anyone born abroad to a parent who had already registered in the FBR before the birth.

When the FBR is required

• Your Irish citizenship runs through a grandparent who was born in Ireland.
• One of your parents was an Irish citizen when you were born, but that parent was not born in Ireland.

In these cases you must have your name entered on the register. The moment that happens, you are an Irish citizen and can apply for an Irish passport and enjoy EU rights.

How to register

The application is completed online through the Department of Foreign Affairs. You will need your own long-form birth certificate, the birth and marriage certificates of the parent and grandparent in your line, your grandparent's Irish birth certificate, your passport, and proof of address. Foreign documents must be translated by a certified translator and legalized. After paying the fees, you submit everything to the DFA in Dublin. As of late 2025, registration including the certificate runs 270 euros for adults and 145 euros for children under 18, each with a small postage and handling fee, and processing often takes 18 to 24 months.

Useful details to know

There is a forward-planning angle: Irish citizens not born in Ireland sometimes register in the FBR before having children, so that a child born abroad later qualifies automatically. If an ancestor was born before Irish civil birth registration existed, the DFA may accept a baptismal certificate as a supporting record. For adopted children, eligibility depends on whether the parent was already an Irish citizen at the time of adoption. This is general information, not legal advice. Run the free eligibility check to see your path.