No. Really. I mean it. I'm Irish now. Like, a certified Irish citizen.(1) I left on the train for Shanghai yesterday morning an American and I returned last night clutching an Irish passport. It's quite amazing really, but it turns out Ireland has something called Foreign Birth Registration by which if you have a parent or grandparent who was born in Ireland, you qualify for Irish citizenship. The trick of course is that you have to prove the relationship. Quite a business has sprung up in the Old Country of people who for a rather largish sort of fee will track down a birth or baptismal certificate to prove your lineage.
Luckily for me, my mom and dad had saved not only my grandmother's (Irish!) birth certificate, but also my grandfather's (Irish!) passport. Not only saved them, but were willing to hand them over to me to bring to China. This is quite a leap, as I am not the sort of person you should trust with important documents. As it turned out, they not only needed to send me these irreplaceable documents, but they needed to supply me with a complete record of the linkage from Grandma to me; which included their birth certificates and marriage certificate. This would be quite a lot of important stuff to be passing along to someone as blithe as myself. But they did it, and the result is that I can now pass myself off as Irish.
The gentleman at the consulate helping me with the paperwork was right amazed by this. He'd never seen a near-century old passport.
The only sad bit is that I failed to do all of this prior to my marriage. If I had, then Jeff and the wee children could have sailed in on my lineage coat-tails and also claimed to be European. Alas, while Jeff and I vaguely discussed obtaining the citizenship prior to our marriage, at the time, it felt sort of, I don't know, poseur-like. I mean, why on earth would I ever need such a thing, other than to quietly mention it in a smug sort of way at a cocktail party?
Which, come to think of it, you might actually be wondering about right now. I mean, what in the heck would be the point of spending an entire day in Shanghai not to mention freaking your parents out for months while you hold in your less-than-trustworthy-hands their very precious and original documentation? How about because once you are a citizen of Ireland, you can live and work anywhere in the EU with out a visa? Ah, the lightbulbs all just went off, didn't they?
Yes, I can now live anywhere in the European Union. More importantly, I can now work anywhere in the EU. Funny how important that seems right about now, whereas ten years ago I couldn't have imagined such a thing. Right about now, when Jeff is off exploring Prague, Budapest, and Sofia as possible options for our next posting.
So, sometimes it's a good idea to be a poseur. You never know when you might need it.
Well, I'm off to raise a glass of Guinness in celebration at Finnegan's Wake. That would be the newest (wait, the only) Irish pub in Our Fair City. It's run by a Scottish guy, though, so he won't mind one bit that I'm a poseur.
(1) Hey! None of that. I heard Debbie out there whispering "Certifiable's more like it!"
That is very interesting :) My great grandfather came from Ireland. I am Irish too. I should bug the heck out of Mom :) I love Europe!!
Posted by: April | February 02, 2010 at 12:48 PM
Wow!! Very cool! But does this mean what I think it means?
Posted by: Debbie Hanson | February 04, 2010 at 07:08 PM
Awesome! I could do that too! Very very tempting. I'll toast you a Guinness. Emmy says hi too :)
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