COVID-19 - Travel Information and Embassy Services
From late April, Passport Online, our online passport application service, is open to all Irish citizens resident in the United States. Consequently, the Embassy no longer sends nor accepts paper based passport applications from US-based applicants. We will continue to provide them to first time applicants based in the Caribbean Islands. Passport renewals from anywhere in the world, including the Caribbean Islands, must be completed using Passport Online. Applicants whose last passport was issued more than 15 years ago must apply as a first-time applicant. Further details are set out below.
Updated 6 March 2022
Travel to Ireland
Entering Ireland from the US:
From Sunday 6 March 2022, travellers to Ireland are not required to show proof of vaccination, proof of recovery or a negative PCR test result upon arrival. There are no post-arrival testing or quarantine requirements for travellers to Ireland.
Any individual that develops COVID-19 symptoms while in Ireland should follow the HSE guidance in relation to isolation and undertaking antigen or PCR testing as appropriate.
From Sunday 6 March 2022, travellers to Ireland are no longer asked to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form. Travel carriers will not ask to check a PLF receipt prior to travel to Ireland.
Please check the Irish Government Advice Page for further up-to-date information on COVID 19 travel restrictions. All guidance is subject to change and travellers should check current requirements before travelling.
Passports / Irish Citizenship
From late April, our Passport Online system will be open to all Irish citizens - including children and first-time applicants - applying from the US. As of now, the Embassy no longer sends or accepts paper application forms from US-based applicants. The Embassy will continue to provide paper application forms to applicants based in the Caribbean Islands: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands (US), Virgin Islands (British).
Passport Online - https://www.dfa.ie/passportonline/ - is a faster and simpler way to apply for your passport. Once you upload a photograph, it takes about 10 minutes to complete the online application and pay with a credit card. If you are an adult renewing your passport with the same information, you normally won’t need to submit any supporting documents. If you are a first time applicant, renewing for a child or changing the information on your passport, Passport Online will e-mail you a list of documents which you need to submit directly to the Passport Service in Ireland. When your passport is printed, it will be sent back to you directly at the postal address you provide.
If you wish to apply for an Irish passport for the first time, please check your entitlements. If your connection to Ireland is through a grandparent born in Ireland (i.e. if your parent was not born in Ireland), you must first be entered on the Register of Foreign Births and have received your Foreign Birth Registration certificate. This is an online application process centralised in Dublin.
The processing of Foreign Birth Registrations is currently paused in line with the move to Level 5 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. If you have submitted supporting documentation to the FBR hub, it will be held securely until it reopens. If you have not submitted supporting documents, please wait until Ireland has returned to level 3 or lower on the National Framework for Living with COVID-19. Details are available here. The Embassy has no involvement in the FBR process and thus is not in a position to advise on individual queries.
Visas
As of 13 September, we are now accepting short stay visa applications. We continue to accept all long stay visa and preclearance applications (as of 1 June).
All remaining Covid-19 restrictions on entry visa and preclearance processing, which were brought in as a necessary interim measure to help reduce the spread of Covid-19, have now been lifted.
All travellers arriving into Ireland must continue to comply fully with measures required by law including producing proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid-19 or a negative PCR test.
If you are unsure as to whether you require a visa/preclearance to enter Ireland, you can check here by entering your nationality.
As of 1 November, we have resumed the processing of Working Holiday Authorisations.
Updated information is available on the gov.ie website, the website of the Irish Immigration Service and on the Department’s country specific travel pages. For more information, please refer to the Visas section of our website.
Travel to the USA from Ireland
Please see here for information on travelling to the USA from Ireland.
Other Services
Other consular services are not available, except in cases of genuine emergency. Again, if you have a need for consular assistance which you feel is an emergency, we would ask that you contact us, as per the above.