The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration this morning (12 October 2026) confirmed that Cabinet has granted priority drafting status to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026, moving the long-trailed overhaul of Ireland’s naturalisation regime onto an accelerated legislative track. According to the General Scheme published last month, the Bill will increase the qualifying period of ‘reckonable residence’ for most applicants from five to eight years, introduce compulsory language and civics testing (including an Irish Sign-Language option), and create an express statutory basis for revocation of citizenship obtained by fraud or serious criminality. For employers and global-mobility teams the headline change is the longer residence horizon: highly-skilled permit holders who currently factor a five-year pathway to citizenship into retention packages will need to adjust timelines, assignment lengths and succession planning. The Bill’s explicit focus on “economic self-sufficiency” is also expected to put fresh scrutiny on periods spent outside the State and on reliance on social-welfare supports, potentially complicating applications for employees who travelled extensively on assignment. The Department insists that existing residence permissions (Stamp 1, 1G, 4, etc.) are unaffected, but immigrant-rights NGOs warn the move could lengthen the time many families wait for the stability that citizenship confers. Companies sponsoring staff should review relocation policies now, ensure records of tax compliance and continuous residence are watertight, and consider budgeting for additional legal support once the new tests are in force. Guidance notes and an implementation timetable are promised before the Bill reaches committee stage later this term.
Source: Eversheds Sutherland
