deadshoppingmalls

We had our kid in May, and we're starting to think about travel back to Europe for a month in November/December(we're both LPR...one Spanish, one Irish)

Applying for our kids passport was such a dream in comparison to getting her Irish one (Spanish was likewise easier than anything)

USA
Go to passport office - get photo done. Give over application + proof of citizenship pay check - all done! Passport came back 8 days later

Irish

• Go all over DFW trying to find a place that will do the passport photo to Irish specification (5 hours later...done!)
  
• Find a notary willing to sign passport application + back of photo. Had to go through 3 until found one willing to do it.
  
• Send everything through to consulate in Chicago. 3 days later get a phone call saying that x was wrong. She said she'd sort it (i.e. I hadn't put my middle name on there - it's on my birth cert, not my passport)
  
• 6 weeks later, (yesterday) email comes through from Irish passport office in Dublin saying that there will be a delay of 6 weeks as they're prioritizing applications in Ireland.

Spanish

We had to do all of this...fortunately in one day as the consulate in Chicago

Bring Birth Cert + Spanish certified translation along with Childs mother proof of Spanish citizenship (DNI). The consul certified it all, then wrote our child into our "libra de familia". They photocopied that - and made all the necessary photos + forms.

Everything arrived yesterday 2 weeks after we did it.


It's amazing how easy things are here...and after being away from Ireland for a few years...amazing how difficult things are there..

Jack8602

lol, sounds like a fun process for th eirish one.

I have to renew my UK one next year, hoping it'll be releatively straight forward, from what I've read - i'm hopeful!

MarylandNed

Although, to be fair, it's obviously easier applying for a US passport if you actually live in the US. Normally both parents have to appear in person for a child passport application.

If you lived in Ireland, you wouldn't have trouble finding somewhere that took Irish passport photos and your application would receive priority because you lived there. And you might have a bit more trouble obtaining a US passport in Ireland.