Irish passports

CL

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

There is no problem about them having not held irish passports before as long as they're born in NI. Same for your OH. I'm afraid I don't know about your situation though.

But having recently got Irish passports it's a bit of a rigmarole. You need several different pieces of paper, including utility bills, bank statements, offical photo id etc - and just so you know, you need to make copies of these so you can send them off with the application. You also need to get photos signed and stamped by either a police officer, medical doctor or justice of the peace (I think this is the third profession anyway, but it's very limited). Obviously it's slightly different for children. And they're incredibly strict about photos as well so it's worth springing for Jessops who will take the photo again for free if it doesn't pass.

I did find the post office staff very helpful though. As a starting point, go into the main post office in town and they will give you the forms together with a list of documentation you'll need. They will also process the form for you.

Good luck!

I have an Irish passport as does OH and have never needed a utility bill and the process was very easy. Photos can be verified by

• Police officer
• Clergy member
• Lawyer
• Bank manager/Assistant Bank manager
• Elected public representative
• Medical Doctor
• School Principal/vice principal
• Accountant
• Notary Public

belfastgirl23

CL wrote: »

I have an Irish passport as does OH and have never needed a utility bill and the process was very easy. Photos can be verified by

• Police officer
• Clergy member
• Lawyer
• Bank manager/Assistant Bank manager
• Elected public representative
• Medical Doctor
• School Principal/vice principal
• Accountant
• Notary Public

There was a recent change in rules (17 Jan 2011) and we were issued with a second list of information required at the post office itself - these included long form birth cert and marriage cert if applicable, a form of photo id, documentary evidence to show use of name and (seperately listed) evidence of residency at the application address. This is all directly quoted from the list of changes to application procedures which I have in front of me as I type. You may also be required to provide more info or to attend an interview, which is apparently not uncommon. They do contact your signatory as well to make sure they really signed the passport application and they must also stamp the passport application as well as sign it. I don't have the info to hand re who can sign, must have been on the form itself, but I would have sworn only three were listed - luckily DH's brother's best friend is a doctor and could sign it fairly easily.

It is a rigmarole and there's no doubting it. The biggest hassle for me was realising that it wasn't the clerk at the post office who verified the documentary information, rather copies of it needed to be made to be sent off to dublin.

Still don't know if it's been successful or not

CL

The list I gave above is from the Irish passport application form I have in front of me. We got it from the Post Office last week to get our daughter a passport. We had a Vice Principal verify the photos and she says she does them all the time. If the school uses their official stamp on the form, they will not be contacted to verify knowing the person.

Sor

I'm actually surprised by people being abit 'suspicious' about holding both British and Irish passports. I've never had any problems. I wandered the world for a couple of years, travelling primarily on my Irish passport except for New Zealand as I could stay for longer there on my British than my Irish one, visa-free. *shrug* Though as they are both EU passports, it isn't as useful as if it was say an australian passport and British passport.... Reallly just personal preference.

Anyway, I too got my new Irish passport in the past 6 months and it was no hassle. Luckily I have a friend who is a doctor so didn't have to pay to get the photos verified. But as I was renewing it rather than starting from scratch, that is maybe a little easier. Got it sent of through the post office here - really smooth process and quick turnaround, also getting my old passport back (which I asked for, though they may return the old one anyway now?)

Remember to get photos for an Irish passport - slightly different size than the UK passport ones but if you get them done at a chemist they should be able to set their camera right for you.

Why don't you just ring the passport office. There should be a phone number from the UK listed on the website and they are pretty helpful and friendly, or at least in my experience.

liz-paul

Thanks again for all replies. Any idea what kind of a stamp your witness needs for the form? I was thinking of asking our school principal but not sure about the stamp.....

CL

liz-paul wrote: »

Thanks again for all replies. Any idea what kind of a stamp your witness needs for the form? I was thinking of asking our school principal but not sure about the stamp.....

A school will have an ink stamp with their name and address on it. There is a place on the form for the stamp.

liz-paul

Thanks thats what I thought but wasn't sure.

belfastgirl23

Just to update: DH and I sent off our Irish passport applications at the same time. DHs came through with no problems. Mine came back with a request for the originals of the documentation to prove address (2/3 different items) and my original UK passport, despite the clerk at the post office sending me off on a saturday morning to make photocopies of the originals that I had brought. DH and I both sent through exactly the same information at the same time. So go figure....