The Irish Foreign Births Register: Applying from Australia

If one of your grandparents was born in Ireland, you may be able to become an Irish citizen by registering on the Foreign Births Register. From Australia, the Irish government's current published requirements ask for no notary and no apostille. They ask for original certificates and a witness who knows you personally, the part that trips up Australian applicants.

Key takeaways

• You may be eligible through a grandparent born on the island of Ireland, or a parent who was an Irish citizen when you were born but was not born in Ireland.
• The application is online only. You then post the printed form, original certificates, photographs and proofs of address.
• Send originals unless told otherwise, for three generations. The Department says it returns them by recorded mail at the end.
• Your witness must know you personally, must not be related to you, and must be currently practising in a listed profession. An Australian JP is not on the list.
• The published requirements do not ask for anything to be notarised or apostilled. Do not pay for either unless the Department asks in writing.

What this page covers

This page was last checked on 24 September 2026 against the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs' Foreign Births Register pages on ireland.ie. It covers applying from Australia with Australian and Irish documents. Requirements change, so read the current page and the checklist that comes with your application, and follow any written request from the Department over anything written here. The Department, not an Australian notary, a migration agent or this site, decides what it accepts.

Who can register

The Department of Foreign Affairs says you may be entitled to register if:

• one of your grandparents was born on the island of Ireland, or
• one of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, even though they were not born in Ireland.

"The island of Ireland" includes Northern Ireland, so a grandparent born in Belfast or Derry counts in the same way as one born in Cork.

If a parent was born on the island of Ireland and was an Irish citizen when you were born, you are usually already Irish automatically and do not need the register; you can apply for a passport directly. And the register only works one generation at a time: if your parent registered after you were born, you are not eligible through them. That catches families where a parent registered late in life and assumed the children could follow.

Registration is not retrospective. You become an Irish citizen from the date of registration, not from birth. That matters for your own children: a child born before you registered does not inherit eligibility through you in the same way as one born after.

How the application works

The application is online only; there is no paper form. You complete it online, pay online, and then print the completed form. You post that form with your supporting documents, photographs and the checklist to the address printed at the top right of your form. Depending on where you live, that may be an Irish embassy or consulate, or a PO Box in Ireland. Use the address on your own form, not one from a friend's application or an old website.

The Department has no public office for these applications and does not acknowledge receipt, so send the bundle by a tracked or recorded service and keep the tracking details. Applications are not processed quickly, and you will be without the original certificates for the whole of that period.

Documents: originals, not copies

The Department's rule is that originals must be submitted unless stated otherwise. That means original civil certificates for three generations:

• You: your original civil birth certificate showing your parents' details.
• Your Irish-connected parent: their original civil birth certificate, and their civil marriage certificate or other change-of-name document if relevant.
• Your Irish-born grandparent: their original civil birth certificate, and marriage certificate where relevant. For a grandparent born before 1864, a baptismal certificate is accepted instead.
• Death certificates for a parent or grandparent who has died, where the checklist asks for them.
• Two separate original proofs of your address.
• Four colour passport-style photographs.

The Department says it returns all original certificates by recorded mail at the end of the process. Because that can be a long wait:

1. Order fresh certificates from the Australian state or territory registry rather than sending a certificate you may need in the meantime. Make sure you order a full version that shows parents' details; a short extract or commemorative certificate will not do.
2. Get the Irish grandparent's certificate from the civil registration service in Ireland, or in Northern Ireland if they were born there, not from a family copy of uncertain origin.
3. Check that names link up across the three generations. A grandmother who appears under her maiden name on one certificate and her married name on another needs the marriage certificate that connects them.
4. Keep photocopies of everything you send, and a note of the date and tracking number.

Person	Documents usually needed	Where to get them
You	Full civil birth certificate showing parents; proofs of address; photos	Your Australian state or territory registry; your own records
Your parent	Civil birth certificate; marriage or change-of-name document if relevant; death certificate if asked	The registry where each event was recorded
Your grandparent	Civil birth certificate, or baptismal certificate if born before 1864; marriage certificate where relevant	Civil registration in Ireland or Northern Ireland

The witness: the requirement that catches Australians

Your application must be witnessed by someone who:

• knows you personally,
• is not related to you, and
• is currently practising in one of the professions on the Department's list.

The witness signs the form, signs two of your photos, stamps the form with an official stamp (or you include their business card), and certifies a photocopy of your photo ID as a true copy of the original. Copies of your parent's and grandparent's ID must also be certified by someone from the same list.

The list is long and includes police officers, teachers and school principals, members of the clergy, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, vets and other health professionals, lawyers, notaries, bank and credit union managers, accountants, chartered engineers and elected representatives. Some titles on it, such as Peace Commissioner and Commissioner for Oaths, are Irish offices.

Three things follow for an Australian applicant.

You probably do not need to pay anyone. Your GP, your pharmacist, your child's school principal or your accountant may well be on the list and know you. Many will witness it as a courtesy.

A notary you have just met may not qualify. A notary is on the list, but the witness must know you personally. Booking a notary you have never met to witness the form may not satisfy that requirement, whatever their seniority. Use a notary only if one knows you.

A Justice of the Peace is not on the list. The Australian JP is not a named profession. Do not assume a JP's stamp will be accepted because it works for Australian documents. The JP is a free volunteer witness for Australian purposes, and its standing does not carry across to this Irish form.

The Department's pages do not say anything specific about witnesses outside Ireland. Choose one who clearly fits a listed profession, and make sure their stamp or business card shows it.

Does anything need an apostille or a notary?

The Foreign Births Register pages do not ask for apostilles on Australian certificates, and do not ask for anything to be notarised. Do not pay for either unless the Department asks you to in writing. Ireland is a member of the Apostille Convention, as the HCCH status table shows (check it on the day), but membership only matters if an Irish body actually asks for an apostille. If one ever does for an Australian registry certificate, DFAT can generally apostille the original directly, without a notary. See apostilles on birth certificates.

Where the Department accepts a certified copy instead of an original, its own guidance describes who may certify a copy, including the issuing authority, a solicitor or a notary, and the wording the certification should carry. Follow that wording exactly if it applies to you. See certified copies of birth certificates.

After registration

Once you are registered, you receive a Foreign Birth Registration certificate, and can then apply for an Irish passport. Registration does not affect your Australian citizenship; Australia permits dual citizenship. Keep the certificate safe: it is the document that proves your Irish citizenship, and it matters for any children born after your registration.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Townsville nurse's grandfather was born in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. She orders a fresh full Queensland birth certificate for herself, her mother's New South Wales birth and marriage certificates, and her grandfather's birth certificate from the Northern Ireland registry. Her first thought is to ask a JP to witness the form, as she did for a statutory declaration last year. Reading the list again, she asks her long-time GP instead, who knows her, is not related and is practising. The GP signs the form and two photos, stamps it, and certifies her passport copy. Nothing is notarised or apostilled, and she posts the bundle by tracked mail to the address on her form.

In short

The Irish Foreign Births Register, applied for from Australia, runs on original certificates for three generations and a witness from a listed profession who knows you personally. On the published requirements it needs no notary and no apostille, and an Australian JP is not on the witness list. Order fresh certificates, check that names link across generations, choose the witness carefully, and send everything by tracked post.

People also search for

• What documents do I need to register a birth overseas?
• How do I apostille an Australian birth certificate?
• Who can certify a copy of a birth certificate?
• Do foreign passport renewals need a notary?
• Should I use a notary or a JP?

Asked by the Department for a certified copy or anything else you are unsure of? Send us its request, and we will explain each step before you book.