The number of people from the US seeking Irish citizenship has surged since Donald Trump became president for a second time.
A record 18,910 applicants sought citizenship through the foreign birth register (FBR) in 2025.
That marks a 63 per cent increase on the 11,601 who applied in 2024, the last year of president Joe Biden’s term. It is also more than double the 7,726 US citizens who sought an Irish passport in 2023.
The FBR is for those who are seeking to claim Irish citizenship through a parent or grandparent born in Ireland.
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Irish citizenship allows individuals to live and work anywhere in the European Union.
The number of US citizens seeking Irish passports has grown every year since 2015 with the exception of 2020 and 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2015, just 2,064 Americans applied for FBR status. The number increased to 5,399 at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017 and overall 20,172 applied for Irish citizenship during that term.
Immigration lawyer Carol Sinnott, who is also chairperson of the Irish Immigration Lawyers Association, said the demand for Irish citizenship surged after Trump was re-elected in November 2024 and then peaked after his inauguration in January 2025.
“There has been a very steady stream of US applicants since then and we expect that trend to continue,” she said.
“We come across many US citizen clients who have always known of their Irish ancestry and the probability of their entitlement to obtain an Irish passport.”
She said the Trump administration had moved many people to view obtaining an Irish passport as a matter of priority.
“A common thread among many of our US clients applying for citizenship is a desire to have a plan B or contingency plan for a safer and less hostile society should the need arise,” she explained.
“Many US citizens that we consult with feel that their country no longer reflects their values.”
Not every American who seeks an Irish passport intends to live in Ireland, but many do, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.
It shows that nearly 10,000 Americans moved to Ireland in 2025, up from 4,900 in 2024. An average of around 5,000 move to Ireland annually which makes last year’s surge noteworthy.
“That does not surprise me in the slightest and it would certainly correspond with the trends that we are noticing in immigration applications,” Sinnott said.
Many are seeking a Stamp 0 permission which allows people of sufficient independent means to reside in Ireland. Many of these are people who wish to retire to Ireland.
The number of Americans seeking asylum in Ireland increased from 22 in 2024 to 94 in 2025, according to figures released in a parliamentary question by the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan last year.
Sinnott said the Trump administration’s attitude to transgender people was the principal driver behind the increase in Americans seeking asylum in Ireland.
One of his first actions as president was to issue executive orders restricting access to gender-affirming care in any healthcare facility which receives federal funding.
