Ireland: naturalisation and the Irish passport

As an EU citizen you can live and work in Ireland anyway, so you do not need the Irish passport to stay. That is exactly why it is so valuable: it is not a residence permit but a second right, one that no authority can take away simply because it changes its mind. For the big picture of which countries make naturalisation through residence work well, see the overview Naturalisation abroad. Ireland deserves a close look, because the process is simpler than many people think and stricter than some hope.

Why the Irish passport is so valuable for Germans

A passport is a right, not a permission. A visa or a residence card can be refused or revoked; a citizenship stays. The Irish passport brings that right with it in several countries at once.

A second EU citizenship. As an Irish citizen you are an EU citizen twice over. The Irish Department of Justice lists the rights itself: to live and work freely in Ireland, to travel and work throughout the EU, to vote in Irish elections and referendums, to receive consular help from Irish and other EU missions, and to apply for an Irish passport.

The United Kingdom. This is what sets it apart from every other EU passport: Section 3ZA of the UK Immigration Act 1971 provides that an Irish citizen needs no permission to enter or remain in the United Kingdom. The only exceptions are deportation and exclusion orders. What the Common Travel Area also means for living, working and buying property on the British Isles is explained by Saol Nua Plan in the Common Travel Area with an Irish passport. If you would rather aim for British citizenship itself, the route is set out in United Kingdom: the road to British citizenship.

A second state that protects you. The Irish passport is issued by a different state from your German one. If your German passport is lost, stolen or sitting at an embassy, you travel on with the Irish one. The reasons for holding a second passport are covered in Why a second passport.

A right for your children. Children born in Ireland can, under certain conditions, be Irish from birth. And as a naturalised Irish citizen you can apply for naturalisation for your minor children.

How do you get Irish citizenship?

There are two main doors: descent and naturalisation. If one of your parents is Irish or a grandparent was born on the island of Ireland, you do not need to naturalise: you are already Irish, or you become Irish through the Foreign Births Register. That route is described in The Irish passport through your grandparents.

For everyone else, the way in is naturalisation. The authority in charge is Immigration Service Delivery, the immigration service within the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. It names five routes to naturalisation:

For most Germans moving to Ireland, the first row is the right one. It is open to anyone who spends the years in the country, regardless of origin, marriage or wealth. How the conditions, fees and process look in everyday Irish life is set out in detail by Saol Nua Plan in Irish naturalisation.

Requirements for naturalisation in Ireland

Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 lists the conditions. The Minister may grant naturalisation if you:

1. are of full age,
2. are of good character,
3. have lived in Ireland for one unbroken year immediately before the application and for a total of four years in the eight years before that,
4. intend in good faith to continue living in Ireland after naturalisation, and
5. make a declaration of fidelity and undertake to observe the laws of the State and respect its democratic values.

What stands out is what is missing. There is no language test, no citizenship test, no minimum income and no minimum investment. How language requirements and tests work in other countries is shown in Language, test, oath.

One phrase in the Act deserves attention: "absolute discretion". The Minister decides at his or her discretion. The department itself states that citizenship is not guaranteed even if you meet every condition. There is no appeal against a refusal, but you can submit a new application as soon as you meet the conditions.

What "good character" means

To assess character, the department obtains a report from the Garda Síochána, the Irish police. It looks at convictions, including those abroad, traffic offences, civil and criminal proceedings, cautions, ongoing investigations and breaches of immigration law. In the application you disclose everything yourself and explain it. Under Section 29A of the Act, false statements are an offence punishable by a fine of up to €50,000 or up to five years in prison, and citizenship already granted can be revoked because of them. With complete and honest answers, you are on the safe side.

Five years of residence: how Ireland counts the time

The residence rule sounds simple and has two parts. The department calls it the "5 in 9" rule.

The final year. Immediately before the application you need one full year of unbroken residence. In those twelve months you may spend no more than 70 days outside Ireland. The days you leave and return do not count as absence. For a rare, serious or unavoidable event, the Minister can allow 30 more days in an individual case. Anyone who was away for more than 100 days is, in the department's words, ineligible to apply without any discretion and loses the application fee.

The four years before. In the eight years before that final year you must have lived in Ireland for four years in total, which is 1,460 days, plus one day for each leap year. Here you have more flexibility: a project in Germany or a long winter somewhere else does no harm, as long as the total adds up in the end.

What applies to Germans as EU citizens

For citizens of non-EU countries, only residence under certain immigration stamps counts; time as a student, for example, generally does not. As a German, you have it easier. Citizens of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom do not have to submit a calculation of reckonable residence. They document their years in Ireland with paperwork: electricity and gas bills, bank statements, tenancy agreements or mortgage statements, payslip summaries from employers and tax returns.

One condition applies: you must have held your EU citizenship for more than five years before the application. For Germans by birth this is not an issue, but it is for people who only recently became German themselves. They apply under the rules for non-EU nationals.

Points for every year

Internally, the department scores your evidence with points. For every year you need to prove, you need 150 points, as a rule with at least two documents per year. The same threshold applies to your identity: 150 points, for instance through a certified colour copy of your valid passport. So start a folder of evidence from your very first year. How authorities around the world count days and how you document them properly is covered in Proving your years of residence.

Applying for Irish citizenship: application, costs and timing

You apply online through the department's Online Form Portal. There you fill in the form, upload all your documents and make the required declarations. The key steps:

1. Have your documents certified: copies of your passport and birth certificate are certified by a solicitor, notary, peace commissioner or commissioner for oaths. A member of the Garda may not do this.
2. Submit the application and pay: the application fee is €175. Without payment the application is not processed.
3. Garda e-vetting: once your application is received, you get a confirmation with a link to the police check, which you complete online.
4. Requests for more documents: if the department asks for further documents, you have 28 days. If you miss the deadline, the application is refused and the fee is lost.
5. Decision: the department decides most, but not all, applications within twelve months. You can follow the status in the Customer Service Portal.
6. Certificate fee: after approval you pay the fee for the certificate of naturalisation and receive the invitation to the next ceremony.

For most Germans, naturalisation therefore costs a little over €1,100 in government fees. One more thing you should know: everyone who is naturalised is listed with name, address, type of application and date of the certificate in Iris Oifigiúil, the official state gazette. The Act provides for no exceptions.

The ceremony, the declaration of fidelity and the Irish passport

Naturalisation does not end with a letter but with a celebration. Ireland holds citizenship ceremonies several times a year, most recently at the Convention Centre in Dublin and at the INEC in Killarney. A judge presides, usually a member of the government attends, and on every ceremony date several thousand people become Irish.

At the ceremony you make the declaration of fidelity: you declare your fidelity to the Irish nation and your loyalty to the State, and you undertake to obey the laws and respect democratic values. You receive the text on the day. The timing matters: you become Irish only with this declaration, not with the approval letter. Minors do not have to attend the ceremony; they receive their certificate by post.

The certificate of naturalisation arrives by registered post in the weeks after the ceremony. It cannot be replaced, so keep it safe and never laminate it. With it you apply for the Irish passport from the Department of Foreign Affairs. If you want to travel before you have the Irish passport, check with the immigration officer at your departure airport first.

Spouses, children and Irish ancestors

Spouses of Irish citizens

If you are married to an Irish citizen or in a civil partnership with one, the waiting time is shorter. You must have been married and living together for at least three years, you must have lived on the island of Ireland for a total of three years in the five years before the application, and you must keep to the 70-day rule in the final year. Your partner signs a sworn statement that your marriage is genuine, and together you show with joint documents that you lived at the same address in the three months before the application. Which countries naturalise spouses fastest is compared in Citizenship by marriage.

Your children

Once you are naturalised, you can apply for naturalisation for your minor children. Section 16 allows the Minister to set aside the usual conditions.

Children born in Ireland have a rule of their own. Since 1 January 2005, not every child born in Ireland is automatically Irish. A child born on the island of Ireland is, however, Irish from birth if, at that moment, one parent was an Irish or British citizen, was entitled to live in Ireland or Northern Ireland without restriction, or had lived legally in Ireland for three of the four years before the birth. For a German family that has already lived in Ireland for some years, this means your next child can be born Irish. Birth on foreign soil is the passport you give your child at birth. How that works around the world is shown in Birth tourism.

Irish ancestors

If you have Irish ancestors but cannot use the Foreign Births Register, for example because the Irish ancestor goes back further, you can rely on "Irish descent or Irish associations". The Minister may then waive some or all of the conditions under Section 16. There is no entitlement. The department examines your lived connection to Ireland, your family and your cultural ties, and expects strong evidence.

Dual citizenship: Ireland and Germany

Ireland does not require you to renounce. The department states explicitly that under Irish law you do not have to give up any other citizenship in order to be naturalised or to claim Irish citizenship by birth or descent.

Germany no longer stands in the way either. With the Act to Modernise Nationality Law, Section 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) was repealed. Since 27 June 2024 you no longer lose German citizenship when you voluntarily acquire a foreign one, and you do not need a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung). What this means for tax, travel and family is explained in the overview Dual citizenship for Germans; Saol Nua Plan looks at the Irish side in dual citizenship with Ireland.

What applies after naturalisation

There is one rule you should know if you move away again after naturalisation. The Minister can revoke naturalisation if, after naturalisation, you ordinarily live outside Ireland for seven years and have not registered each year a declaration that you intend to retain Irish citizenship. That declaration is Form 5, to be filed with an Irish embassy or consulate or with the department. If you live in Germany, Spain or Dubai again after naturalisation, you simply file Form 5 every year, and the matter is settled.

Eight years instead of five: the planned reform

Today's residence periods are not set in stone. On 9 September 2026 the Irish government decided to have the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026 drafted as a priority, and the General Scheme has been published since 21 September 2026. The main points:

For most applicants, the waiting time would therefore rise from five to eight years. The draft contains no separate, shorter track for EU citizens.

What matters is where things stand: none of it is in force. The General Scheme is the outline of a bill; the government is sending it to the parliament's justice committee for pre-legislative scrutiny. And even a bill that is passed only takes effect on the day the Minister sets by order. Until then the "5 in 9" rule applies unchanged.

For you this means: if you will reach the five years soon, do not put the application off, but prepare it completely and carefully. If you are only now moving to Ireland, plan with both figures. Saol Nua Plan follows the reform from the Irish side in Acht Jahre statt fünf (in German).

Irish passport or citizenship by investment: why you pursue both

The Irish passport is the best second passport a German can get without investing: the EU, the United Kingdom, a second state and a right for your children. Its price is time. Five years in the country are five years, possibly eight after a reform, and in the end the Minister decides at his or her discretion.

Naturalisation and citizenship by investment do not exclude each other; they complement each other. Naturalisation is the cheaper route and, in the end, the stronger one; the investment buys you the time until then. Why you should pursue both in parallel is explained in CBI and naturalisation.

The difference in pace is clear. For Grenada, the competent authority states approval within 60 working days of submission; in Ireland you need five years for the residence period alone and then usually up to a year for the decision. Which programmes are open today is set out under Programmes, and the Comparison shows the differences in cost, family and travel freedom. The order matters: under Section 19 of the Act, the Minister can revoke a naturalisation if a naturalised Irish citizen later voluntarily acquires another citizenship. So you get the investment passport before your Irish naturalisation. If you hold a second passport today and collect your years in Ireland, you end up holding three.

Frequently asked questions