I read on Wikipedia that people born in Northern Ireland have both Irish Citizenship and UK Citizenship, but it is all owned by UK. Is that true? So if I was born in Northern Ireland I could just go to Ireland without a visa?
Other - Ireland - 4 Answers
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1 :
MOST people born in Northern Ireland are entitled to dual citizenship. The exceptions are babies born to non-citizen immigrants from outside Ireland OR the UK. In practice, most people only get one passport by choice, although they do have an entitlement to both. To be fair, the dual citizenship doesn't have many benefits because Ireland & the UK have a "Common Travel Area", meaning I (as an Irish citizen- not a UK one) can move to and work in the UK, and be treated almost as a citizen of that country without even a passport - never mind a visa. British citizens in Ireland and Irish citizens in the UK aren't, and never have been, treated as foreigners. The only exception is they can't vote in referendums or get passports of the country they aren't citizens of. There are also the benefits of the "free movement" principles of the EU, but the Common Travel Area benefits are far more wide ranging (eg welfare benefits, voting in government elections, immunity from deportation (although not extradition) etc). It stems from the fact that in the original constitution of Ireland, Ireland claimed (in words) the sovereignty of the whole island. This was only relatively recently changed, and part of the agreement was that the "people of Northern Ireland" had the right to identify as Irish, British or both, and to have Irish, British or both passports.
2 :
Northern ireland is NOT owned by anybody else only the people who live there and the majority have voted to remain PART of the UK. And they can chose british,irish or both hence they live in ireland (NI)and are part of the uk. No visa is required.
3 :
You wouldn't need a visa anyway, because both countries are members of the EU. The passport/citizenship thing was an agreement between the Irish and British governments as part of sorting out the differences between the two main communities up there.
4 :
Its very simple. Everyone born there is naturally British. This is same throughout the world nationality by birth whether they like it or not. However under Good Friday Agreement they can apply for dual ctizenship as a few in the north still feel a little allegiance to the ROI .
