Happy St. Patrick's Day

On a day when everyone seems to claim that they're Irish...you might want to check to see if you actually are!

Ireland has some very liberal rules for citizenship through descent. The basic rules are:

• If one of your parents was born in Ireland, you are an Irish Citizen
• If one of your grandparents was born in Ireland, you are eligible to become an Irish citizen through the "Register of Foreign Births"
• If your great-grandparent was born in Ireland, and your parent registered as above before your birth, you are eligible via the same mechanism.

As you can see, you can go back a ways on this. Myself, my grandfather was born in County Donegal on the isle back in the early 20th century. By providing the Embassy with documentation, including my grandfather's birth certificate (like Canada it's bilingual, just the other language is Gaelic), his marriage certificate, my mother's birth and marriage certificates (showing my grandfather as a parent), and my birth certificate (again the one with descent info), I was able to receive a certificate of foreign birth. Finally, with that document, I was able to apply for an Irish passport...

Now I can go through that "EU Citizens Only" line at airports in Europe, and if I ever choose to, I can live and work in most of the EU without any significant immigration hassles! And because I took the time to fill out the paperwork before my daughter was born, I've passed these same rights on to her as well!

Reference: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/moving-country/irish-citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent