As part of the forthcoming International Protection (Amendment) Bill 2025, Ireland’s Cabinet has approved a measure that extends the residence requirement for recognised refugees who wish to naturalise as Irish citizens from three years to five. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said the reform “restores consistency” by aligning refugees with all other naturalisation applicants and ensures newcomers are economically integrated before receiving a passport. Applicants will also have to demonstrate ‘self-sufficiency’—meaning they must not have relied on certain long-term welfare benefits in the two years before applying.
Detailed lists of disqualifying benefits will appear in secondary legislation, but officials have indicated that Jobseeker’s Allowance and Supplementary Welfare will be among them. Time spent in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive (used by many Ukrainians) will not count towards the new five-year clock.
![Refugees Must Now Live Five Years in Ireland Before Applying for Citizenship]()
The change has significant implications for employers that actively recruit refugee talent. Technology and healthcare multinationals often tie long-term assignments, stock-option vesting or mobility packages to the point at which an employee becomes eligible for citizenship. Those frameworks now need to be revised.
NGOs argue the longer timeline could slow integration because many refugees need extra time to secure stable employment. The Government counters that faster asylum processing—see the new three-to-six-month target announced this week—will offset the longer naturalisation path.
Companies should audit current refugee employees’ career plans and flag that citizenship timelines have effectively been pushed back by two years unless individuals already have three years of reckonable residence.
Detailed lists of disqualifying benefits will appear in secondary legislation, but officials have indicated that Jobseeker’s Allowance and Supplementary Welfare will be among them. Time spent in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive (used by many Ukrainians) will not count towards the new five-year clock.
The change has significant implications for employers that actively recruit refugee talent. Technology and healthcare multinationals often tie long-term assignments, stock-option vesting or mobility packages to the point at which an employee becomes eligible for citizenship. Those frameworks now need to be revised.
NGOs argue the longer timeline could slow integration because many refugees need extra time to secure stable employment. The Government counters that faster asylum processing—see the new three-to-six-month target announced this week—will offset the longer naturalisation path.
Companies should audit current refugee employees’ career plans and flag that citizenship timelines have effectively been pushed back by two years unless individuals already have three years of reckonable residence.
