Ireland
Citizenship guide · IE
Ireland offers one of Europe's most generous citizenship-by-descent pathways, full EU membership, and unrestricted dual citizenship.
✓ Good news
Eligibility is often wider than people expect a free check takes under a minute.
Who can visit Ireland?
78 of 199 passports can enter Ireland visa-free, visa on arrival, by ETA, or with an e-visa.
Visa-free 78
- Andorra
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belgium
- Belize
- Brazil
- Brunei
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- Canada
- Chile
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- Iceland
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- Maldives
- Malta
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- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Seychelles
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Vatican City
120 passports require a visa to visit Ireland.
Am I eligible for Ireland citizenship?
Tap the option closest to your situation for an instant steer.
Why Ireland?
Irish citizenship unlocks the right to live, work, and study anywhere in the European Union, plus the Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom. Ireland permits dual citizenship, so you generally do not need to give up your existing citizenship.
Citizenship by descent
Ireland is unusually generous with descent-based citizenship:
- You are automatically an Irish citizen if you were born on the island of Ireland before 1 January 2005.
- You are automatically an Irish citizen if you were born abroad to a parent who was an Irish citizen born in Ireland.
- If you have an Irish-born grandparent, you can claim citizenship by registering your birth on the Foreign Births Register.
- In more distant cases (e.g. a great-grandparent), you may qualify only if your parent was registered on the Foreign Births Register before your birth.
Naturalisation
Adults who do not qualify by descent can naturalise after 5 years of reckonable residence out of the last 9 years, including 1 year of continuous residence immediately before applying. The period is reduced to 3 years for spouses of Irish citizens. Applicants must also demonstrate good character and an intention to reside in Ireland.
Dual citizenship
Ireland has no restriction on holding dual or multiple citizenships.
Fees & timeline
The naturalisation application fee is €175, and a separate certificate fee applies if approved (currently €950 for adult naturalisation). Registration on the Foreign Births Register costs €278. Processing times vary, so check the Irish Immigration Service for the latest figures.
Documents checklist
The documents you'll typically need for each citizenship route in Ireland. Tick items off as you gather them your progress is saved on this device.
Citizenship by descent
Proving your lineage to a citizen parent or ancestor.
Naturalisation
The standard route via continuous lawful residence.
Naturalisation via marriage
A reduced residency route for spouses of citizens.
Country data
Overview, citizenship routes, economy, freedom, and tax at a glance.
Overview
- Capital
- Dublin
- Region
- Europe
- Area
- 70,273 km²
- Population
- 4,941,444
- Demonym
- Irish
- Languages
- English, Irish
- Currency
- Euro (€)
Citizenship routes
- Citizenship by descent
- Yes
- Descent depth
- Grandparents
- Naturalisation period
- 5 years
- Marriage route
- 3 years
- Language level
- None
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
- Official application fee
- €175
Economics & development
- GDP per capita
- $131,592 2025
- Total GDP
- $388.7B 2019
- Inflation
- 2.2% 2025
- Life expectancy
- 83.0 years 2024
- GDP growth
- 12.3% 2025
- Human Development Index
- 0.950 #7
- Income group
- High income: OECD
- Development status
- Developed region: nonG7
Freedom & quality of life
- Corruption Perceptions Index
- 77 / 100 2024 · #11
- Freedom in the World
- 97 / 100 Free · 2024
- Human Rights Index
- 0.96 / 1 2025 · #4
- Liberal Democracy Index
- 0.82 / 1 2025 · #6
- Life satisfaction
- 6.93 / 10 2025 · #13
Tax considerations
- Personal income tax
- 40% top rate
- Corporate tax
- 12.5%
- VAT / GST
- 23%
- Tax basis
- Worldwide
- Non-dom regime
- Available
Relocation & living
- Internet penetration
- 97.2% 2024
- Driving side
- Left-hand
- Healthcare system
- Universal public
- Climate
- Temperate oceanic
- Time zone
- Europe/Dublin
Where the Ireland passport can travel
Each dot is a destination colours show what you need to enter.
- Visa-free
- Visa on arrival
- ETA
- e-Visa
- Visa required
Europe
43 visa-free · 1 e-visaAmericas
30 visa-free · 4 ETA · 1 e-visaAsia
22 visa-free · 16 on arrival · 1 ETA · 8 e-visa · 4 requiredAfrica
17 visa-free · 12 on arrival · 2 ETA · 15 e-visa · 8 requiredOceania
6 visa-free · 4 on arrival · 3 ETA · 1 required- Visa-free
- Visa on arrival
- ETA
- e-Visa
- Visa required
- No admission
Alternative paths to Ireland citizenship
Beyond standard naturalisation, these routes may apply to you.
Residency → naturalisation
Most applicants naturalise through 5 years of lawful residence (reduced to 3 years by marriage). An advisor can confirm your fastest route.
More citizenship guides
Latvia
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 5 years; dual citizenship is permitted; a golden visa (residency by investment) is available.
- Capital
- Riga
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 5 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Denmark
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 9 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Copenhagen
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 9 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Estonia
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 8 years; dual citizenship is generally not permitted.
- Capital
- Tallinn
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 8 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Restricted
Finland
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 5 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Helsinki
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 5 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Latest Ireland immigration news
Recent headlines on Ireland immigration and citizenship, auto-fetched from Google News.
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Ireland immigration & citizenship sources
Official government portals and reference pages for Ireland citizenship and immigration rules.
Law
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Overview of citizenship-by-descent, naturalisation and dual-citizenship rules.
Government
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Official government source for immigration and citizenship.
Jobs
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International job board with local listings.
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International job board with local listings.
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Leading local job board.
Housing
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Property listings and rentals.
Healthcare
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Public health system portal.
Banking
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Central bank / banking information.
Education
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Study and education information.
General data sources & licenses
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Visa-requirement matrix and passport mobility scores.
Visa data derived from passportindex.org, via imorte/passport-index-data (MIT License).
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Country metadata: names, capitals, regions, flags, currencies, languages, calling codes, borders, tld, lat/lng, UN/independence status.
Country metadata from mledoze/countries (MIT License).
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Country polygon geometry plus population, GDP (total), income group, economy, and continent classifications.
Made with Natural Earth (public domain) naturalearthdata.com.
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Raster basemap tiles for the interactive visa-access maps.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0).
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GDP per capita (current US$) and inflation (CPI annual %).
GDP per capita and inflation from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0) data.worldbank.org.
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Human Development Index (HDI) values and ranks.
Human Development Index from the UNDP Human Development Report (CC BY 3.0 IGO).
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Intermediate distribution of the Corruption Perceptions Index, V-Dem Human Rights Index, and V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index.
Indices sourced via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0).
Our World in Data states that third-party datasets remain subject to the original publisher’s license see the individual sources below.
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Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2024, Transparency International (CC BY-ND 4.0).
Restrictions: No derivatives
CPI scores are reproduced as factual data points, unmodified.
-
Human Rights Index and Liberal Democracy Index.
Human Rights Index and Liberal Democracy Index from V-Dem (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Restrictions: Non-commercial · Share-alike
⚠ Non-commercial license: confirm commercial use is permitted before monetising the site.
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Freedom in the World scores and status.
Freedom in the World 2024, © Freedom House (used with attribution for informational purposes).
Review Freedom House republication terms before commercial use.
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Reference for personal income and corporate tax rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against the Tax Foundation.
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Reference for personal income tax, corporate tax, and VAT/GST rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against the OECD Tax Database.
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Reference for personal income tax, corporate tax, and indirect tax rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against KPMG Tax Rates Online.
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Reference for citizenship-law rules (descent, naturalisation, dual citizenship, fees).
Citizenship-law facts compiled from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Law facts are human-curated approximations; always verify with official government sources.
Citizenship Hub is an independent resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the organisations above. Informational only not legal, immigration, tax, investment, or travel advice. Requirements, scores, fees, and tax rates change frequently; always verify with the relevant official government source before acting.