Ireland Has Issued One Million Passports So Far in 2022
The Irish Passport Service has issued one million passports this year, with the milestone of one million being issued yesterday, November 1.
According to the Irish Foreign Ministry, this is the first time that over one million passports were issued in one calendar year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Despite a challenging year, the Passport Service today issued its one-millionth passport in 2022. This is the first time over one million passports have been issued in a calendar year. Passport Online is the quickest and most efficient way to apply for a passport,” the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The demand for Irish passports was on the rise throughout 2016, as a report by the Times reveals that Members of the Parliament and their peers were applying for Irish passports aiming to retain EU citizenship after the United Kingdom left the EU.
The same report reveals that more than ten Member of the Parliament and Members of the House of Lords had filed their requests for dual citizenship, which could allow British passport holders to retain their right to freely move, live, and work across the European Union.
“If people are elected to represent the UK and now decide they want to be a foreign national, then that’s a bit of a stab in the back for us. Perhaps they should also take a share of southern Irish debt. I think they should immediately stand down from the House of Commons if they have done that,” MP Andrew Bridgen said at that time.
Irish passport is considered relatively strong, listed as the sixth most powerful passport in the world for 2022. According to Henley & Partners ranking, Ireland shares the sixth spot with France, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, with all of these countries having access to 187 countries in the world.
Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden share the fifth spot with access to 188 countries, while Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg, with a free pass to 189 countries in the world, are ranked fourth.
As per the top three, Germany and Spain, with access to 190 countries, are listed third, following South Korea and Singapore, which are listed second with a free pass to 192 countries. The country with the strongest passport for 2022 is Japan, which enables Japanese citizens to travel freely to 193 countries in the world out of a total of 195 that are there in the world.
