Fairly nice people at the Chicago Irish Consulate. While there is a culture barrier there, and I am sure that 100 people call the office with the same questions, they still don't tell you to feck off!
The Consulate is "open" to the general public for 2 hours (10a-12p) M-F. Don't let that fool you though. They have people available in the office to speak to until 5pm. A FBR-1 (or FBR-A) is the form you will need to fill out close to it's entirety, depending on how far back you are looking to do the fact/lineage finding. My grandparents came across, and for the most part, that is the last of it. Once you get to the grandparents, they usually cut it off. So I consider myself lucky.
Right, the FBR...The Consulate gives you a form attached to the application which gives you the ability to see exactly where you are in your findings so you have a check system.
I will get into that in another blog, because I would like to be very detailed about it, and I feel the better the detail, the more helpful to others I can be.
Once everything is in possession, signed, notarized etc...make a copy for yourself. Then send it in however the Consulate wants it sent. The Chicago Consulate wants it sent via Fed-EX overnight (well they did when I sent mine).
It's a waiting game after that. I had to wait six months, which is short. I also had a mishap with some of the forms that i "THOUGHT" were correct, and was wrong hahaha!
Be prepared to spend some money. Also, if any of your family is going to "get in" on your citizenship later - meaning they are going to use the exact same docs, minus their own birth certs...have them help you and save some cash :)
The total costs for acquiring a FBR in Ireland is not cheap, so be prepared to spend close to $400US. The cost for the FBR application to be turned in is $213US alone...FYI.
Next is going to be my trial and error with the Illinois State Government System, costs and fees for different documents you will need, things you don't, things that you may not, but look great and may help, notaries, bank checks, etc...
Monday, December 14, 2009
Why oh why would you get a dual-citizenship?
I looked for many stories online about people and their Dual Citizenship adventures. Mine will be close to all of their stories. The reason I decided to blog about this was to keep my inspiration alive, and to remind myself as well, that once I put my mind to something, I will stop at nothing till it's completion.
Once upon a time (I always wanted to start a story like that), there lived a boy who's dream was to see Ireland. I loved my grandmother very much. Hannah Francis McDonnell (nee Sugrue). She was a beautiful woman. Old and wise, and a wise ass as well. I loved her dry wit, her force-feeding of anyone that came into her home, the three floor walk-up to her flat, our long good byes, her chocolate chip cookies, her butterscotch candies and ALWAYS her ability to look past the craziness that was me!
When it was time for me to sleep at night, we shared a hide-a-way couch bed in her spare bedroom. We laid down and said our prayers, and she would always carry on a bit longer than I would. I know I asked her one night to count for me in Irish. Other nights, she would give me the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary" - all in Irish.
This developed a strong pride in my "roots" of sorts. Later i would learn basic "hello" and "good bye", "how are you", "fine thanks" etc...some of which I still know to this day (December 14, 2009 - the day after my mother's 62nd birthday, and my 7th month of sobriety).
Since High School I had always wanted to go to Ireland. I said, it would be great to move there. I didn't know that one day i was going to work hard at making it a reality, how hard it would be, or anything else that involves the whole process.
I filled out my first Dual-Citizenship by decent (FBR) application in 1999. Again in 2003, and finally sent it in around October of 2008 (upping the cost almost $120 by waiting the years I did)...Getting all the right docs in order was joyous :) more to follow!!
Once upon a time (I always wanted to start a story like that), there lived a boy who's dream was to see Ireland. I loved my grandmother very much. Hannah Francis McDonnell (nee Sugrue). She was a beautiful woman. Old and wise, and a wise ass as well. I loved her dry wit, her force-feeding of anyone that came into her home, the three floor walk-up to her flat, our long good byes, her chocolate chip cookies, her butterscotch candies and ALWAYS her ability to look past the craziness that was me!
When it was time for me to sleep at night, we shared a hide-a-way couch bed in her spare bedroom. We laid down and said our prayers, and she would always carry on a bit longer than I would. I know I asked her one night to count for me in Irish. Other nights, she would give me the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary" - all in Irish.
This developed a strong pride in my "roots" of sorts. Later i would learn basic "hello" and "good bye", "how are you", "fine thanks" etc...some of which I still know to this day (December 14, 2009 - the day after my mother's 62nd birthday, and my 7th month of sobriety).
Since High School I had always wanted to go to Ireland. I said, it would be great to move there. I didn't know that one day i was going to work hard at making it a reality, how hard it would be, or anything else that involves the whole process.
I filled out my first Dual-Citizenship by decent (FBR) application in 1999. Again in 2003, and finally sent it in around October of 2008 (upping the cost almost $120 by waiting the years I did)...Getting all the right docs in order was joyous :) more to follow!!
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