100 signatures reached
To: Jim O'Callaghan
Keep the 3 year citizenship route for spouses of Irish citizens
We are calling on Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan to remove the increase in the qualifying period for spouses of Irish citizens from the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026, and to retain the existing three years of marriage and three years of residence.
Why is this important?
The draft Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026 proposes to raise the qualifying period for spouses of Irish citizens from three years to five. It would require five years of marriage and five years of residence in the State, including two years of continuous residence immediately before applying.
The shorter period for spouses of Irish citizens is not a loophole. It exists because an Irish citizen building a family with a foreign spouse has a special stake in the future of this country. That distinction has been recognised in Irish law for decades and no case has been made publicly for removing it now.
This change falls hardest on a specific group. A very large number of people left Ireland over the past decade because they could not afford to live here. Rents were beyond reach and buying was not an option. Many of us met and married our partners abroad.
Some of us are now coming home, in many cases into Healthcare and Construction jobs the State says it needs to fill. Adding years to how long it takes our spouses to settle is a further cost imposed on people who already carried the cost of that failure once.
For many of us the plan was to start a family once our spouse's status was settled rather than while it still depended on annual renewals. Adding two years to that wait moves a decision that cannot always be moved, particularly for couples already in their thirties.
Irish Citizens who made irreversible decisions based on published law should not be caught by a change made after the fact.
We are asking Minister O'Callaghan to retain the three year period for spouses of Irish citizens.
The Bill has been referred to the Oireachtas Justice Committee for scrutiny, which means the text is not final. There is still time to change it.
The shorter period for spouses of Irish citizens is not a loophole. It exists because an Irish citizen building a family with a foreign spouse has a special stake in the future of this country. That distinction has been recognised in Irish law for decades and no case has been made publicly for removing it now.
This change falls hardest on a specific group. A very large number of people left Ireland over the past decade because they could not afford to live here. Rents were beyond reach and buying was not an option. Many of us met and married our partners abroad.
Some of us are now coming home, in many cases into Healthcare and Construction jobs the State says it needs to fill. Adding years to how long it takes our spouses to settle is a further cost imposed on people who already carried the cost of that failure once.
For many of us the plan was to start a family once our spouse's status was settled rather than while it still depended on annual renewals. Adding two years to that wait moves a decision that cannot always be moved, particularly for couples already in their thirties.
Irish Citizens who made irreversible decisions based on published law should not be caught by a change made after the fact.
We are asking Minister O'Callaghan to retain the three year period for spouses of Irish citizens.
The Bill has been referred to the Oireachtas Justice Committee for scrutiny, which means the text is not final. There is still time to change it.