My parent’s and four other couples were planning a general site-seeing trip to Ireland. One of the men going on the trip had a grandfather born in Ireland and asked me to see if I could find the specific place his grandfather came from. Anyone who has attempted this task knows that this is a very difficult task.  I ordered his grandfather’s death record and was able to come up with the county in Ireland in which he was born, but that wasn’t enough.  So I ordered his grandparent’s marriage certificate to see if the information matched or if there was another clue. When I received the marriage certificate I was ecstatic. It listed the supposed townland in which the grandfather was born. With that information in hand I scoured Irish records and came up with a baptismal record with the same name as his grandfather, which had the same parent’s listed as on the marriage record. I called my client with the good news and he immediately called his travel agent and planned an additional week to spend in his grandfather’s townland.  I received great news when he returned. The church where his grandfather was baptized was still standing and not only did he find the original copy of his grandfather’s baptismal record, but also his great-grandparent’s marriage record, and baptismal records for siblings of his grandfather.

A few weeks after return he asked if there was anything he could do to honor the memory of his grandfather. This is when I brought up the idea of applying for Irish Citizenship by descent. Since he was the grandchild of a person born in Ireland, he was eligible to apply. Application is not as easy as it sounds.  There are forms to fill out and certified documentation required and a few more hoops to jump through. He carefully followed the application guidelines and requirements and handed K.B. Genealogy and Research the task of the certified documentation the Irish Embassy requires.

Three months later I received a wonderful phone call.  The man was now a Citizen of Ireland as well as the United States. He was also now eligible for an Irish Passport.  The passport arrived the beginning of March and next thing I know I was invited to a St. Patrick’s day party to celebrate his new Irish Citizenship and Irish Passport. What is he going to do now with dual citizenship? He’s not quite sure yet as it’s only been a couple months. All I know is that I love it when a plan comes together.