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Record number of Britons seeking Irish passports ahead of Brexit Record number of Britons seek Irish passports before Brexit
(about 9 hours later)
The number of British citizens applying for Irish passports rose by 22% in 2018, Ireland’s foreign office said on Monday, more than doubling the total of annual applications since Britain voted to leave the European Union. The number of British citizens applying for Irish passports has risen to record levels, with one in five applicants coming from the UK amid continuing uncertainty over Brexit.
Almost 100,000 eligible Britons sought to hang onto their EU citizenship via a passport from their nearest neighbour this year, up from 81,000 last year and 46,000 in 2015, the year before the Brexit vote led to a sharp rise in applications. Almost 200,000 Irish passport applications were received from the UK this year, the department of foreign affairs in Dublin said on Monday.
The number of British citizens applying for Irish passports rose by 22% in 2018, more than doubling the total number of annual applications since Britain voted to leave the European Union.
In a statement, the department said that out of the total number of applications received this year by the Passport Service, 84,855 were from Northern Ireland and 98,544 were from Britain.
These figures represent an increase of 2% and 22% respectively compared with 2017.
Food prices to finance: what a no-deal Brexit could mean for BritainFood prices to finance: what a no-deal Brexit could mean for Britain
Anybody born in the Irish Republic or Northern Ireland, or with an Irish parent or grandparent, is entitled to an Irish passport – a total of about 6 million British citizens. They are able to hold dual citizenship. Earlier this year, the Irish government increased the number of staff in its passport office to cope with the rise in the number of applications.
Registrations for Irish passports in Northern Ireland, whose citizens can hold both an Irish and British passport as the province is part of the United Kingdom, rose by 2% in the year to the end of December. The department said the total of 822,000 applications were made up of a combination of first-time applicants and renewals.
With three months left until the UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March, the draft divorce deal reached between both sides is floundering ahead of a planned vote in the British parliament next month, opening up a range of possibilities from a Brexit without a trade deal to calling it off entirely. Anybody in the world born to an Irish citizen is entitled to an Irish passport while those with grandparents born in Ireland also qualify. Britons living in Ireland can also qualify under residency rules.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that there had been 529 applications for Irish citizenship from British nationals living in Ireland who do not qualify for a passport through the parent or grandparent rule. This compared with 54 in 2015.
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