Did you know that a successful application will result in a ‘change of name licence’ being issued to such persons for a fee of just €13?
In fact, if any non-EEA national over the age of 18 wishes to legally change their name to a name that is different to the one on their birth certificate, they can apply for a change of name licence.
Once they have been granted a change of name licence, they must then apply to the Deed Poll Office to legally change their name.
This aspect of the immigration process has not been the subject of frequent or even infrequent debate.
Indeed, to find one of the handful of posts on the issue you would have to go back to this in 2021 from Sinnott Solicitors who specialise in the area of immigration law.
For Sinnott’s, “it is not uncommon for individuals to come to Ireland under false identities.”
The firm goes on to state however that “it is important to point out that this often arises in circumstances where individuals are ill advised by traffickers and other individuals whom they trust for guidance when coming here.”
Important to note the use of the word ‘often’ there I think.
Sinnott Solicitors were responding at the time to the case of an Albanian man who was handed down a (rare) criminal conviction after he was granted Irish citizenship using a false identity.
As the post confirmed, the man in this case submitted his application to be granted Irish Citizenship on the basis of being a national of Kosovo, and not Albania, his true country of origin.
“Following an investigation by the Garda National Immigration Bureau along with the Passport Office, the Immigration Service Delivery, the Citizenship Division of the Department of Justice and Equality and local Gardaì based in County West Meath, the man was prosecuted under Section 29A of the Irish Naturalisation and Citizenship Act 2004.”
It seems to be the case now however that arrests on the basis of a person using a false identity during a citizenship or immigration related application are almost entirely absent from the legal landscape.
This is not surprising when such persons can simply change their name after arriving here with a false ID for a fee that would not even cover the cost of a pint in The Temple Bar.
There also seems to be no way of establishing just how many people are currently residing here who are still using their false identities for reasons known only to themselves.