Benefits of an Irish passport?

Pestilence · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:29

Irish passport gives eligibility for the US Green Card Lottery!

Ahleckz · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:31

Strife212 said:
Probably get less grief at the border somewhere like Iran?

I imagine anyone from the Western world with the relevant visa's to get into Iran will suffer pretty much the same grief. That is, barely any.

[TW]Fox · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:37

Ahleckz said:
I imagine anyone from the Western world with the relevant visa's to get into Iran will suffer pretty much the same grief. That is, barely any.

My GF had zero issues getting into Iran with a British passport. Infact the only issues came last year when a guy at JFK Airport spotted the Visa stamp and wanted to know more!

Ahleckz · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:39

[TW]Fox;22788888 said:
My GF had zero issues getting into Iran with a British passport. Infact the only issues came last year when a guy at JFK Airport spotted the Visa stamp and wanted to know more!

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I don't understand why people think that a British passport will cause issues. Obviously, some stamps could cause questions but those places know about these and will happy stamp a bit of paper instead if requested.

Jimbeam3678 · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:39

[TW]Fox;22788888 said:
My GF had zero issues getting into Iran with a British passport. Infact the only issues came last year when a guy at JFK Airport spotted the Visa stamp and wanted to know more!

Bloody Americans

[FnG]magnolia · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:44

Tomsk said:
There was a time when Irish didn't have potatoes either.

setter · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:44

scorza said:
Wasn't there a fella who got kidnapped by Al-Quada but managed to avoid being beheaded because he had an Irish passport and wasn't British after all? Guess the Irish are staying neutral in the war on terror too

That was the case of ken bigley, the irish government issued him with a passport, but it didnt prevent his kidnappers from killing him.

Uther · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:47

Interesting loophole, thats another benefit to getting the passports, as well as them being a bit cheaper than their British equivalents.

[TW]Fox · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:48

setter said:
That was the case of ken bigley, the irish government issued him with a passport, but it didnt prevent his kidnappers from killing him.

Plus Ireland have troops serving in Afghanistan anyway so I doubt they are perceived as not involved.

rodenal · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:53

The only issue (using the iran example) being if you wish to travel through after being in Israel....but that's got zero to do with your british passport and can easily be avoided by better travel plans!

setter · 17 Sep 2012 at 22:56

[TW]Fox;22788961 said:
Plus Ireland have troops serving in Afghanistan anyway so I doubt they are perceived as not involved.

This, and a lot of us troop transports use irish airports as stop overs on route to deployments in afghanistan. Also irish airports are reputed to have been used in so called rendition flights.

TJM · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:19

[TW]Fox;22788754 said:
Can anyone suggest situations where it is easier to travel on an Irish passport? The British passport is one of the most travel friendly on the planet and allows access to more countries than almost any other?

It's less of a liability when travelling in unstable regions or former colonies. No-one is targeted or hassled abroad for being Irish.

[TW]Fox;22788961 said:
Plus Ireland have troops serving in Afghanistan anyway so I doubt they are perceived as not involved.

There are six Irish soldiers in Afghanistan. I'd be amazed if that was common knowledge anywhere and affected how Ireland is perceived.

[TW]Fox · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:22

TJM said:
It's less of a liability when travelling in unstable regions or former colonies. No-one is targeted or hassled abroad for being Irish.

Once you are through the border crossing nobody knows what passport you hold. Random thugs or undesireable characters are not going to ask for your passport to check before they target you or hassle you.

MrMoonX · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:33

TJM said:
It's less of a liability when travelling in unstable regions or former colonies. No-one is targeted or hassled abroad for being Irish.

There are six Irish soldiers in Afghanistan. I'd be amazed if that was common knowledge anywhere and affected how Ireland is perceived.

Utter rubbish :rolleyes:

The British passport lets you into more countries visa free than Irish one so no it's not more flexible

Castiel · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:37

Most people in the countries where it would matter wouldn't know or care about the difference between an Irish or British EU passport....

Bear · 18 Sep 2012 at 07:08

If you ever work in a job that needs security clearance, having dual citizenship can work against you, especially if its ITAR for instance.

Castiel · 18 Sep 2012 at 07:14

Bear said:
If you ever work in a job that needs security clearance, having dual citizenship can work against you, especially if its ITAR for instance.

I have dual nationality British/US and while it means a lot of extra paperwork I have never found it a barrier.

Bear · 18 Sep 2012 at 07:26

Castiel said:
I have dual nationality British/US and while it means a lot of extra paperwork I have never found it a barrier.

Im guessing because it is US citizenship ITAR wont be a problem, any other nationality in the defence company I work for would be a problem.

Some of the dual citizenship workers we have arent allowed to work on quite a few projects due to clearance issues etc.

danielanthony · 18 Sep 2012 at 07:51

Castiel said:
I have dual nationality British/US and while it means a lot of extra paperwork I have never found it a barrier.

If you work for GCHQ they will make you sign a document saying that you won't try to gain dual nationality if you're eligible to do so whilst working for them. If you already have dual nationality then they won't issue you DV, other security agencies might have different rules though.

Judgeneo · 18 Sep 2012 at 09:36

Ahh thats something I hadn't considered, I do plan on applying for jobs that would require security clearance.