Key Changes
The residency requirement previously increased from three to five years at the end of 2025, and under current proposals will increase further to eight years. According to the Irish Times, applicants will need two years of continuous residency immediately before submitting an application, plus six years out of the ten years before that.
There will be an English or Irish language test to ensure that everyone can integrate and communicate effectively in civil and everyday life. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan stated that the language test will assess whether people have proficiency in "Irish or most likely English."
The new proposals will allow the minister to set an income threshold that a person must earn before being granted citizenship.
Who Will Be Affected
When asked whether people about to receive citizenship would be affected, the minister said there will be cutoff dates, so if someone has been in Ireland for four and a half years at the time the law changes, it will affect them. This means people currently in the middle of the citizenship application process could be subject to the new rules.
The law will also specify that time spent living in Ireland under the Temporary Protection Directive will not count toward the residency requirement for Ukrainian citizenship applicants. Many Ukrainian refugees, who have been in Ireland since 2022, are residing under temporary protection, and the Taoiseach stated that temporary protection "was never intended to be a pathway to citizenship."
Pitfalls to Avoid
These measures are still in draft stage and must go through the full legislative process before becoming law. The legislative process could take several months or longer, and final regulations may differ from the initial proposals. This means final details remain uncertain.
No draft bill text exists, and no official press release from the Department of Justice regarding this announcement was found as of September 8, 2026. Current information is based solely on public statements from politicians.
Background
Official figures reported in August 2026 showed more than 31,000 applications submitted during 2024 and 2025 combined, with approximately 61,000 cases awaiting decision. This change will bring Ireland in line with a small number of EU countries that require longer residency periods before granting citizenship.