Citizenship, research and more

Certificates.

Our citizenship department can locate birth, marriage and death records. These records can be used for official purposes or for research purposes.

FAQs.

In order to be eligible for Irish Citizenship, either:
– One of your grandparents must have been born in Ireland OR
– Your great grandparent was born in Ireland and your parent must have registered themselves on the foreign births register before you were born.

There is another route towards Irish Citizenship via ancestors beyond grandparents, but this process is up to the discretion of the Minister and is not guaranteed to succeed.

To find out more you can contact the DFA for any specific queries.

Our role is in assisting you in obtaining the necessary certificates to apply for Irish citizenship. We cannot advise you on your application.

We can order certificates from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Of course! We can order civil and church records for a wide variety of reasons, varying from verification purposes to simple curiosity. When you’re filling in the below form, please let us know that you would like a non-certified copy.

A certified copy of a certificate is a state-issued, watermarked certificate that is needed for citizenship applications. A non-certified copy can be used for verification or research purposes.

Please fill in the below form and our citizenship department will reach out with a quote.

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Fill out the form below and one of our Expert Genealogists will be in touch with you soon.

Name(Required)

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Please choose from the following options(Required)

Note: Irish records for the period including and prior to the early 19th Century are sparse in many areas due to poor record keeping and/or destruction of records. Although this may be overcome in some instances by using other relevant record sets, there is the possibility that record losses/gaps may be too extensive in some areas during earlier time periods. Other resources such as the Ancestry.com Autosomal DNA test and the Family Tree Y-DNA test may be able to assist research in these instances

Note: Irish records for the period including and prior to the early 19th Century are sparce in many areas due to poor record keeping and/or destruction of records. Although this may be overcome in some instances by using other relevant record sets, there is the possibility that record losses/gaps may be too extensive in some areas during earlier time periods. Other resources such as the Ancestry.com Autosomal DNA test and the Family Tree YDNA test may be able to assist research in these instances, however in the case of the 18th Century and beyond this is not always the case due to the recombination of DNA over time.

Note: We must advise that we are unable to contact living biological relatives on your behalf. We recommend consultation with a professional mediation service in such circumstances.

Note: DNA testing websites present ethnicities in varying ways, meaning you may see "Irish" on some sites and not on others when you review your DNA results. Ancestry.com has the largest DNA database of international users, and we recommend that anyone wishing to explore their Irish genetic history should consider taking a test with this company in order to maximise the opportunity for matching with other users who have DNA in common.

Please note: Individuals born outside of Ireland may be able to obtain Irish Citizenship if they have an Irish grandparent who is/was an Irish citizen. If you are eligible, you may become an Irish citizen via foreign birth registration. Further guidance on this process is available from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Applications for Irish citizenship may also be made on the basis of descent from ancestors further back than grandparents or on the basis of other Irish associations. However, such applications are considered entirely at the discretion of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The ministerial discretion is exercised rarely, and only in highly exceptional circumstances. Further information on such applications is available from the Department of Justice

Have you taken a DNA test with the website Ancestry.com?(Required)

Has your intended recipient taken a DNA test with the website Ancestry.com?(Required)

Please share your DNA results (ancestral origins and matches) with us. Step-by-step guidance on how to share your DNA results with us is available from Ancestry.com/Support at this link. You will be asked to provide Ancestry.com with our email address for the purpose of sharing your results, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com. Please allow us to have access to your DNA results as a Viewer.

If possible, please share the DNA results of your intended giftee with us. Please note that the only people who may share the results with us are the owner of the results or anyone they have authorised to be a Manager of their DNA results. Step-by-step guidance on how to share the DNA results (ancestral origins and matches) with us is available from Ancestry.com/Support this link. . Ancestry.com will request our email address for the purpose of sharing the results, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com. Please allow us to have access to the DNA results as a Viewer.

Have you taken a DNA test with a website other than Ancestry.com?(Required)

If possible, please share your DNA results with us. Please refer to the support section of the website for the company you tested with to obtain details on how to share your DNA results with others. You may be asked to provide the company with our email address for the purpose of sharing your results, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com.

Have you created an online family tree with Ancestry.com?(Required)

Have you or they created an online family tree with Ancestry.com?(Required)

Please share your family tree with us. Step-by-step guidance on how to share your tree with us is available from Ancestry.com/Support at this link. You will be asked to provide Ancestry.com with our email address for the purpose of sharing your tree, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com. Please allow us to have access to your family tree as a Guest.

If possible, please share the family tree with us. Only tree owners may invite others to view their tree. Step-by-step guidance on how to share an Ancestry family tree with us is available from Ancestry.com/Support at this link. Ancestry.com will request our email address for the purpose of sharing the results, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com Please allow us to have access to the family tree as a Guest. Alternatively, if the family tree is public and can be viewed by anyone with an Ancestry.com account, you can send the tree’s URL to our email address.

What is your profile name / display name on the Ancestry account from which you have shared your family tree information?(Required)

Have you created an online family tree with another company?

If possible, please share your online tree with us. Please refer to the support section of the company website on which you have built your tree for details on how to share your tree with others. You may be asked to provide the company with our email address for the purpose of sharing your family tree, and that is dna@irishfamilyhistorycentre.com.

How many family lines are you looking to have researched?(Required)

Please note that a minimum of 6 hours research time is normally required for each family line.

Do you know the area(s) in Ireland where your ancestors are from?(Required)

Where approximately in Ireland?(Required)

Please provide a brief overview of your research goals, including the names, dates, locations and other pertinent information on the ancestors / family lines you are interested in.(Required)

Please provide a brief overview of your research goals for this project, including the names, dates, locations and any other pertinent information for the ancestors of your giftee whom you would like us to research.(Required)

Please provide the names of your grandparents on each of the lines you wish to have researched so we can orientate ourselves in your family tree(Required)

Do you have a grandparent who was born on the island of Ireland OR an Irish citizen parent (whether or not born in Ireland)?(Required)

Is your potential eligibility for Irish citizenship based on descent from an ancestor who is further back in your lineage than a grandparent?(Required)

If so, please note that such applications are not guaranteed to succeed, and are entirely at the discretion of the Minister.

If you require records for the Birth/Baptism, Marriage and/or Death of an Irish born parent and/or grandparent, please provide details, if known, for each individual of their name, date and place of birth, and parents names.(Required)

If you require records for the Birth/Baptism, Marriage and/or Death of your Irish born ancestor(s), please provide details, if known, for each individual of their name, date and place of birth, and parents names.(Required)

Note: Many records were lost in the Public Record Office [Dublin] fire which took place during the Civil War in 1922. Although some copies of records from this repository survive, this collection is very small and may not include specific records that you have seen referenced as being held by the original PRO. Records in respect of the counties of Ulster i.e. Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Derry/Londonderry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone, may be retained in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast.

Please provide a description of the record/collection/archive you would like us to access, and an overview of your goals for this research.(Required)

Please provide a brief overview of your research to date, including the names, dates, locations and other pertinent information on the ancestors / family lines you are interested in having us verify(Required)

Are you looking for help interpreting Y-DNA results from a test taken with Family Tree DNA?(Required)

Please provide a brief overview of your research and DNA results to date, including the names, dates, locations and any other pertinent information on the ancestors you believe may be the source of your Irish DNA.(Required)

[If adopted] Do you have a copy of your adoption papers or other documents in respect of your biological family?(Required)

Please provide a brief overview of the information you have gathered on your biological family to date, including any names, dates, locations and other pertinent details, and any other information which may assist this research.(Required)

Is your research project likely to include records in a language other than English? If yes, please provide details of which language(s) above with the details of your research goals and ancestors.(Required)

Do you normally reside within the EU?(Required)

Certificates.

FAQs.

Am I eligible for Irish citizenship?

How can you help?

I'm looking for a British certificate, can you help me?

I would like you to order a certificate for non-citizenship purposes, can you help?

What is the difference between a certified and non-certified copy of a certificate?

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