Published: 22.09.2026
The Irish Government has approved the drafting of legislation that would increase the reckonable residence requirement for naturalisation from five to eight years. The proposals also include English or Irish language testing, a civics test, a financial self-sufficiency requirement and restrictions linked to recent social-protection receipt; time spent in Ireland under the Temporary Protection Directive would not count toward the eight-year period.
If enacted, the bill would extend the route to Irish citizenship by three years for most new and existing applicants and add integration and financial self-sufficiency tests. According to sources, the current rules remain available until the new legislation is enacted, and applications under the existing regime can be made before that point. This is particularly relevant to critical-skills workers, their spouses and other foreign residents who chose Ireland based on the previous five-year pathway; the treatment of time spent under temporary protection would also affect Ukrainians. Anyone choosing Ireland for long-term status should factor in a potentially longer period of renewing residence permissions and monitor the bill’s progress.