Dual citizenship: can you keep your other nationality?

The short answer

• Ireland: you don’t have to give up another citizenship to become Irish, by naturalisation, birth or descent.
• Your other country: decides for itself. Some end your citizenship when you become Irish. Check with its embassy before your ceremony.
• After naturalising: taking another citizenship voluntarily can lead to your Irish naturalisation being revoked, unless it’s through marriage or civil partnership. Ask ISD first.
• Living abroad: after 7 years in a row, register each year that you intend to keep Irish citizenship.

Check your citizenship

What Irish law says

ISD’s dual citizenship page is short and clear: under Irish law you don’t have to give up another citizenship to apply for naturalisation or to claim Irish citizenship by birth or descent. Irish citizens don’t have to give up Irish citizenship to become citizens elsewhere either, though some countries require it.

Your other country decides the rest

Whether you keep your current nationality is for that country’s law. Some allow dual citizenship. Others may end your citizenship when you voluntarily take another, or ask you to renounce it. Ask its embassy or consulate how naturalising in Ireland would affect you, ideally before your ceremony: that’s the moment you become Irish.

After you naturalise: a rule worth knowing

This is about citizenships you acquire after naturalising. A nationality you already held when you became Irish isn’t affected by it, and neither is one gained through marriage or civil partnership. It’s a power the Minister may use, not an automatic loss, and there’s a process before any revocation:

1. A notice of the Minister’s intention to revoke, with the reasons.
2. 28 days to make written representations.
3. If the Minister decides to revoke, 14 days to request a Committee of Inquiry, chaired by a retired judge, which can affirm or set aside the decision.

The same section covers other grounds, like fraud or misrepresentation in the application, and 7 years living abroad without registering each year.

Irish by birth or descent

If you’re Irish by birth or descent, Irish law doesn’t ask you to give it up when you take another citizenship, and the revocation rules above are about naturalisation certificates. The other country may still require you to renounce Irish citizenship.

Giving up Irish citizenship

You can renounce Irish citizenship if you’re 18 or over and live outside Ireland, by making a declaration of alienage on Form 13. You can only reacquire it later, on Form 1, if you were born on the island of Ireland. If you became Irish by naturalisation or descent, you’d have to apply again.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources