In a fraught time in America's political life an Irish passport has the look of a safety valve. Or even an exit strategy.
Reports and anecdotal evidence since the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House for a second term have pointed to a surge in interest in obtaining Irish citizenship and its most tangible confirmation: an Irish passport.
Words such as "slammed" and "unprecedented" have swirled around such entities as Irish consulates in the U.S. and the Irish government's Department of Foreign Affairs online passport application link.
Now, a UK-based immigrant lawyers group, Immigration Advice Service, has put numbers on what has been taking form in recent months.
According to IAS, Americans with Irish roots have been actively exploring Irish citizenship options with searches spiking by more than 250 percent following key moments tied to Trump’s second term.
Said a release from IAS: "Between September 2024 and January 2025, interest in Irish passports, dual citizenship, and residency surged for us after major political events, including Trump’s re-election and tough immigration rhetoric. The highest jump (358%) followed the appointment of a hardline CBP (Customs and Border Protection) chief.
"Even before the inauguration, searches were 14X higher than the previous year, indicating a long-term shift in American interest in Irish immigration.
"Startling statistics from the Immigration Advice Service show Americans with Irish connections plotted their escape routes for weeks before Trump’s inauguration."
The study by IAS points to a sharp rise in online page visits for Irish citizenship by descent, and for other Irish citizenship and passport-related pages.
It states: "The first significant surge in the number of visits for Irish residency and citizenship pages occurred on 13 September 2024 when Trump amplified his immigration rhetoric, reciting the ‘snake’ parable to suggest that immigrants are inherently dangerous and a threat to American society. This led to a 332% increase in engagement across the IAS Ireland website compared to the previous day, as it experienced pent-up American demand for Irish immigration services.
"The second spike coincided with the election results on 5th November 2024, which peaked at a 314% increase following the announcement that Donald Trump would serve a second term in the White House. Searches didn’t return to ‘relatively normal numbers’ until 10 days after the event.
"The third spike occurred on 5 December 2024, when Trump made key policy announcements and personnel appointments before his inauguration. His appointment of former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) saw the focus fall on stringent border security, resulting in a 358% spike compared to the previous day.
"The fourth significant spike occurred on 19 January 2025 and remained consistently higher than usual searches for 5 days after Trump took office on 20 January 2025.
"The week before the inauguration saw a steady build-up of website visitors from the U.S. On 10 January 2025, the Irish Citizenship by Descent page on IAS Ireland experienced 14 times more traffic than the same day the previous year. The peak dropped but remained between 300-600% higher until election day, when the page remained 70% higher than the previous year.
"Stats show that Americans are considering moving their future away from the USA. Ireland, with multiple routes for Americans with Irish connections, is high on the wishlist.
"The spike occurred across the website, with work and family visas in Ireland and general Ireland pages, like ‘how to move’ and ‘pros and cons’ receiving the highest net increase in visits. The Join Family Visa saw the most significant spike at over 60%."
An Irish passport, of course, provides access not just to the entire island of Ireland and next door Britain but also, to varying degrees, into the entire European Union.
Earlier this month RTE reported that the number of people in the United States seeking to become Irish citizens had "significantly increased."
Last year, according to the report, the number of foreign birth registrations in the U.S. increased by half compared to 2023.
Stated the report: "The Foreign Births Register allows the descendants of Irish people who have moved abroad to claim Irish citizenship. Applications for Irish passports in the United States also rose by 10% last year.
"The number of foreign birth registrations in the United States increased by 50% last year. Figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs show that there were 7,726 registrations in 2023, but 11,601 in 2024. Registrations from the U.S. accounted for over a quarter (27%) of all foreign birth registrations last year."
With regard to Irish passport applications in the U.S. the RTE report stated: "Last year there were 31,825 passport applications from the U.S., an increase of almost 10% on the previous year. Last November, saw the highest number of passport applications from the U.S. in a calendar month in the ten years worth of figures supplied to RTÉ News. There were 3,692 applications made that month."
Of course there are multiple reasons for applying for Irish citizenship and a passport. Those reasons can be purely sentimental. They might be based on a desire for greater flexibility and mobility in an increasingly mobile world.
Or, as might well be the case in most recent times, Irish citizenship and a passport is a very real Plan B for the future.
