Securing employment permits for non-EEA employees in Ireland can seem complex and daunting for employers and applicants alike. There are many steps to be considered and criteria to adhere to. VisaWork have broken down the key steps in preparing and submitting an employment permit application below.
Step 1 – Check Eligibility
Confirm that both the employer, the prospective employee and their proposed job role are eligible for an employment permit. DETE sets down specific eligibility criteria for job roles, employers and applicants. Ensure that the prospective employee meets any professional registration requirements.
If you are satisfied that all eligibility criteria are fulfilled, proceed to the next step.
Step 2 – Labour Market Needs Test
If applying for a General Employment Permit, the employer needs to conduct a Labour Market Needs Test (LMNT) as per DETE’s guidelines for 28 days before they can submit the permit application.
Critical Skills Employment Permit applications can skip this step.
Step 3 – Information & Documentation Collection
The next step is for both the employer and the prospective employee to collect and review all information and documentation required for the employment permit application. This can be done by carefully reviewing the online application form and DETE’s helpful application guides.
Once you are satisfied that all information is correct, proceed to the next step.
Step 4 – Complete Online Application Form
Go to the Employment Permits Online System (EPOS), create a new application according to the permit type you’re applying for, and fill in all sections of the application form. Ensure that you save the Work ID so that you can log back into your application later. Once completed, ‘Submit’ the form to confirm all of the details and print out the PDF of the completed form. Ensure that the employer, prospective employee and agent (if applicable) sign the form.
Step 5 – Upload Required Documentation, Pay & Submit Application
Upload clear scans of all required documentation to your application on the EPOS, including the signed signature pages of the form. The EPOS will inform you of the documentation required and what is mandatory to attach before proceeding. The DETE application guides linked above give a detailed description of the required documentation so that you can prepare these in advance.
Once all documentation is uploaded, proceed to the payment page of the application. Once you insert your payment details and make the application fee payment via card, this will automatically submit the employment permit application. You will receive a successful submission message on the screen, and a submission confirmation email from DETE a few hours later.
Step 6 – Await A Decision
Once you have submitted the application, you must wait for DETE to process and review it. This can take different amounts of time depending on the type of permit, whether the employer is a Trusted Partner, and how busy DETE is at any given time. DETE publishes regularly updated processing times here, so you can estimate when your application will be processed. Critical Skills applications are generally processed a few weeks quicker than General Permit applications, and Trusted Partner applications are processed typically 1 week faster than those from Standard Employers.
Step 7 – Outcome of Application
Once DETE reviews the application and makes a decision on it, you will receive an email notification from DETE informing you of the decision. This will take the form of one of the following: a confirmation that the permit has been granted and attaching same, a rejection email specifying the reasons for same, or a request for further information needed to process your application.
Step 8 – Next Steps
Depending on the outcome of your application, the prospective employee/employer can then proceed to one of the following: apply for a long-stay Visa to enter Ireland, come straight to Ireland to start employment if non-Visa required nationality, appeal a rejected permit decision, or satisfy the further information request within 28 days.
Contact VisaWork if you need expert advice or a tailored approach on how to submit your permit applications for the best chance of success.
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