The Passport Service has paused the processing of Foreign Births Registration (FBR) applications as Ireland is at Level 5 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. Passport Service staff have been temporarily reassigned to provide consular assistance for Irish citizens overseas.
While applicants can continue to apply using the online service, Passport Service staff must be on site in order to process FBR applications which often involves official paper documentation related to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. This is to protect the personal data of the applicant.
My Department operates a clear and transparent general policy of processing FBR applications in order of receipt. However, we will consider urgent requests to expedite an application on a case by case basis. During Level 5 restrictions, applicants can make contact with the Passport Service through the WebChat service.
The Department has advised applicants not to submit supporting documents for the FBR applications during this time. Where documents have been submitted, they will be registered to facilitate the return of documents on request by the applicant. It should be noted that the return of these documents does not obviate the need to examine their original versions at a later stage of the process when the FBR service resumes. Applicants should, therefore, be aware that they may be requested to re-submit these documents to the Department.
Where an applicant wishes to cancel their application and receive a refund of the application fee, they should e-mail fbrpayments@dfa.ie When Ireland returns to Level 3 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19, the application will be cancelled, the supporting documentation returned and the fee refunded.
At present, there are 27,000 applications in the FBR system that are awaiting processing.
A comprehensive plan is in place to resume all services, in line with the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. Applications will be processed when services resume at Level 3 of the Framework.
