People are using DNA test results to try to claim citizenship of other countries, a report finds

Becoming a citizen of another country usually requires documents such as birth certificates, photographs, and tax information.

But now DNA ancestry tests from companies such as 23AndMe, MyHeritage and Ancestry are also being used to support applications.

The tests – which involve sending salvia samples through the mail – match parts of your DNA to reference databases of populations in other countries.

For adoptees or people with uncertain family backgrounds, the tests finally provide evidence about their origins.

It means that Britons will become citizens of countries like Ireland, allowing them to rejoin the EU after Brexit. the guard defeated.

DNA testing works by analyzing genetic fragments from a simple buccal swab or drop of saliva, which are placed in a test tube and sent through the mail.

They claim they can provide insight into everything from ancestry to personality, hair color and disease risk.

Professor Turi King, director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said the number of applications for citizenship using DNA testing “will only increase”.

“The more people take tests and the more people find out about their ancestry and who their biological parents are, the more they can use that evidence to gain citizenship of a particular country,” she told the Guardian.

DNA evidence helps prove people are entitled to Irish citizenship through a parent, a spokesperson for Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed.

Briton Richard Sayers used evidence from a DNA ancestry test to discover the identity of his father: an Irishman born in Galway.

The results enabled Mr Sayers, originally from Liverpool, to obtain Irish citizenship and correct his birth certificate last year.

After Brexit stripped the UK of its EU status, he and his family were able to easily emigrate to Spain, now that he is an EU citizen again.

He and his family sold their home in Formby, Merseyside and moved to La Manga in January, but it is unclear how much time he spends in Ireland.

Mr Sayers is one of many featured in the BBC programme ‘DNA Family Secrets’, presented by Professor King and Stacey Dooley.

“I went on the program because I had no idea who my father was or where he came from… I just wanted some answers,” he said.

John Portmann from Arizona was also granted Irish citizenship after a DNA test revealed he was “100 percent Irish.”

Mr. Portmann was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1963, but was placed in a convent as an infant and never knew his biological parents. CNN reported.

After receiving the results, he worked with a “DNA detective” to identify his biological mother and father.

After a lengthy process at the Irish embassy, ​​he was granted citizenship. Mr Portmann is convinced that he is the first person to be granted Irish citizenship based on a DNA test alone.

“I want to inspire other adoptees to recognize their constitutional right to citizenship,” said Portmann, a professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia.

Although each individual case is different, the results of a DNA test can provide crucial information that would otherwise be lost to history.

They can help trace biological relatives and provide important information for people with mysterious origins, but depending on the country, they are not accepted as sole evidence.

According to the UK Home Office, a DNA test can be submitted in support of an application for a British passport, but not as a stand-alone application.

“DNA evidence alone is not sufficient to issue or deny a passport,” the Interior Ministry website states.

“It must be used in conjunction with other evidence linking the client to the alleged parents.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. government says, “Genetic testing helps verify a genetic relationship, but not a pregnancy relationship, in the absence of sufficient evidence to establish such a relationship.”