Becoming an Irish citizen through naturalisation

A foreign national living in Ireland who meets certain standards may apply to become a "naturalised" Irish citizen. To apply, you must have been physically resident in Ireland for a certain length of time.

Qualifying

The conditions for Naturalisation were set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended. These are:

Age

You must be over 18.

You can apply on behalf of a child if

• the child was born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 and did not qualify for citizenship by birth – use Form 11 on the INIS website
• the child is of Irish descent – use Form 10 on the INIS website
• the parent is a naturalised citizen – use Form 9 on the INIS website

Character

You must be ‘of good character.’ To prove this, you must ask the Garda Síochána for a report about your background.

Residence in the State

You must have lived in the State for a certain length of time. You must:

• have a period of 365 days* (1 year) continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of your application for naturalisation
• have spent 1,460 day, or 4 years, in the State in the 8 years before that

You must have spent 5 of the past 9 years in residence in Ireland.

You can spend up to 6 weeks per year outside of Ireland and still be considered a resident. If you had to leave Ireland for longer than 6 weeks because of an emergency, you should explain this in your application.

If you spend more than 6 weeks outside of Ireland in the year immediately before your application, you may have to wait until the following year to make an application.

Apply

To apply, you must use the most up-to-date versions of the application forms on the Immigration Service Delivery website.

There is an application fee of €175. If you are successful, there may be an additional fee of up to €950.