Irish passports: how to apply and how long it takes

The short answer

• Apply online on Passport Online, from anywhere in the world. It’s the fastest and cheapest way.
• How long, on average: 10 working days for a simple adult renewal, 15 for a child renewal, a replacement or a new name, 20 for a first passport, and about 6 weeks on paper. Postage is extra.
• Cost online: €75 for an adult (10 years), €20 + €5 postage for a child (5 years). €15 more if you live abroad.
• First passports need a Garda (in Ireland) to verify your identity, and they can’t be sped up.
• Apply at least 12 weeks before you travel, and don’t book until you have the passport.

Plan your passport

How long it takes

These are averages, not a guarantee, and they don’t include postage. Where you have to send documents, the clock starts when they arrive. Once you’ve applied, the passport tracker gives the best estimate, using your 11-digit application number. You can’t pay extra to speed up an application.

What it costs

An unsuccessful or cancelled application is refunded.

Ways to apply

• Passport Online: for renewals and first passports, from anywhere. You need a digital photo that meets the rules (a photo shop can give you one, or a photo code), a card to pay, an email address and a printer.
• On paper: if you live in Ireland or Northern Ireland and don’t want to apply online, call the Passport Assist Service on 01 613 1795. They post you a pre-filled form, and you hand it in at a post office using Post Passport. It takes about 6 weeks. Ordinary or registered post isn’t accepted.
• Abroad: apply online from the country you live in. You can’t apply while on holiday in Ireland.

Your first Irish passport

Your identity must be verified. In Ireland, a Garda signs the identity verification form you print at the end of the online application. Abroad, a listed witness in your country signs it, such as a doctor, teacher, lawyer, bank manager or police officer.

What to send, as an adult born on the island of Ireland:

• the identity verification form;
• your full civil birth certificate, the version showing your parents’ names;
• one proof of name and one proof of address, dated in the last 12 months, such as letters from Revenue or Social Protection (utility bills or bank statements if you have none);
• photo ID: a copy of your Public Services Card is fastest, or another country’s passport, or a certified copy of your driving licence;
• your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if the passport will be in your married name.

Born abroad? Add the document that shows how you’re Irish:

You send originals, and they’re returned to you, separately from the passport. If your last passport was issued more than 15 years ago, even as a child, you apply as a first-timer.

A child’s passport

Every guardian must consent. Each one signs the Child Passport Identity and Consent Form in front of a listed witness who knows them, in the country where they live. A sole guardian completes an affidavit instead. For a first passport in Ireland, a Garda also verifies the child’s identity.

A child born in Ireland:

• Before 2005: they’re Irish. Send their full birth certificate.
• In 2005 or later: they’re Irish if a parent was Irish or British when they were born, or a parent had lived here legally for 3 of the 4 years before the birth. Send proof: the Irish parent’s passport (a photocopy) or birth certificate, the British parent’s passport, or the residence evidence for an EU or non-EU parent. Time as an asylum seeker, as a student or without permission may not count.

Online, you don’t need to send the birth certificate of a child born here in 2005 or later if the birth is registered, you give the child’s PPS number, and the parents have joint guardianship (or a court order gives one parent sole guardianship). The Passport Service fetches the record itself.

Lost, stolen or damaged

• Lost or stolen: apply for a new passport online and report it in the application. That’s the fastest way to cancel it. It’s reported to Interpol and is no longer valid for travel, so don’t use it even if you find it.
• Lose two or more passports in 10 years and the next one may be valid for 1 to 10 years, at the full fee. It may also take longer.
• Damaged: don’t travel on it. Send it back with your application.
• Lost abroad and need to get home? Contact the nearest Irish embassy or consulate.
• Not replacing it? Report it to the Gardaí, and send the Passport Service the Garda certificate of loss with a signed letter asking for the passport to be cancelled.

Changing your name

• After marriage or a civil partnership: send your marriage or civil partnership certificate.
• Any other name change: show you’ve used the new name for two years: two documents from two different sources (at least one from the Government) going back two years, plus photo ID in your new name. Deed polls aren’t accepted.

A name change counts as a complex renewal, so allow 15 working days.

If you need it urgently

The Urgent Appointment Service is for renewals (including a lost or stolen passport), not first passports or passports issued more than 15 years ago:

London offers a five-day service for renewals too. You can’t change your name at a same-day appointment, and at a four-day one only after marriage, civil partnership, divorce, separation or a court order. A child’s name can’t be changed at an appointment. Bring four identical photos and your current passport.

For a medical emergency or a death of a family member abroad, the Passport Service runs a same-day emergency service: call 01 671 1633, or +353 1 408 2000 out of hours.

The passport card

A passport card is a credit-card-sized travel document for the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK. You need a passport book too: it lasts up to 5 years, but never beyond the book. It costs €35, or €100 with an adult passport.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources