Ireland - Obtain a General Employment Permit

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Procedure

1. Applications can be made using the General Employment Permit application form.
2. Submit the completed application along with all required documents to the Employment Permits Section of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
3. Pay the application fee.

Current Processing Dates for Employment Permits

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Required Documents

Labour market needs test

All new applications for General Employment Permits must include evidence that a labour market needs test has been carried out.

Waivers: Beginning 1 October 2014 the requirement for a labour market needs test may be waived if the application:

• Is for a former permit holder who has been made redundant or
• Is for a job listed on the Highly Skilled Occupations List or
• Has been recommended by Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland or
• Is for a carer with a proven history of caring for the sick person or
• Is for a job with an annual salary of 60,000 or more

To know more

Completed Application form: Link

Supporting documents: A list can be found on the application form.

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Employment Permits Section
Davitt House
65a Adelaide Road
Dublin 2
Ireland

Tel:+353 1 417 5333
Local: 1890 201 616
Fax:+353 1 631 3268

Helpline operating hours: Monday to Friday 9:30am - 5pm

Email: [email protected]

Website

Immigration: Long-term Residence Division
Department of Justice and Equality
Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service
P.O. Box 12079
Dublin 1
Ireland
Email: [email protected]
Website

Eligibility

General Employment Permits

Generally applications: must have a minimum annual remuneration (pay) of 30,000. Remuneration includes the salary for the job and health insurance.

Applications for jobs with annual pay of 27,000[Note] are considered on an exceptional basis in the following cases:

• Non-EEA students who have graduated in the last 12 months, from an Irish third level institution, and have been offered a graduate position from the Highly Skilled Occupations List.
• Non-EEA students who have graduated in the last 12 months, from an overseas third level institution, and have been offered a graduate position as an ICT professional from the Highly Skilled Occupations List
• Applications for specialist language support and technical or sales support with a fluency in a non-EEA language for companies who are getting support from the State enterprise development agencies

Note: The annual pay must be 30,000 when the permit is renewed.

Non-EEA nationals with a stamp 1, 1A, 2, 2A or 3 residence permission, who have been offered a job in an occupation on the Highly Skilled Occupations List, may apply for an employment permit.

Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List

Qualifications:

• Applicants must have the qualifications, skills and experience required for the job.
• Applicants must be directly employed and paid by his/her employer. General Employment Permit applications from recruitment agencies and other intermediaries are not acceptable .
• The employer must be trading in Ireland, registered with Revenue and with the Companies Registration Office. The employer cannot deduct recruitment expenses from the employees pay or retain their personal documents.
• A General Employment Permit will not be issued to companies where the granting of the permit would mean that more than 50% of the employees would be non-EEA nationals. However, this requirement may be waived in the case of start-up companies or where the applicant will be the only employee.

Occupations that are ineligible for an employment permits:

Employment permits are not issued for occupations included in the Ineligible Categories of Employment list (except for certain carers).

However, applicants for the Dependant/Partner/Spouse and the Reactivation Employment Permit Schemes can get employment permits for these occupations apart from those taking place in a domestic setting (except for certain carers) or contrary to public interest.

Fees

New applications:

• Duration of permit: Amount
• Up to 6 months: 500
• Up to 2 years: 1,000

Renewals:

• Duration of permit: Amount
• Up to 6 months: 750
• Up to 3 years: 1,500

GNIB Certificate of Registration: 300

Notes:

• The fee must be paid by the applicant.
• If an application is refused or withdrawn, 90% of the fee will be refunded to the applicant.

Validity

An employee with an employment permit has all the employment rights of Irish or EEA citizens for the duration of the employment permit.

A General Employment Permit is valid for the first 2 years and then may be renewed for a further 3 years.

Documents to Use

General Employment Permit application form

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

General Employment Permits are issued by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

Who may apply for the permit: Either the employer or the employee can apply for a permit which must be based on an offer of employment.

When the permit is issued to the employee it includes a statement of the employee's rights and entitlements.

Required Information

A list which displays the kind of information which is required to complete the procedure.
e.g.
1. Date of Birth.
2. City or County of Birth.

Need for the Document

In general, non-EEA nationals need to secure an employment permit to be able to work in Ireland. EEA and Swiss nationals do not need an employment permit.

Under the Employment Permits Acts 20032014 there are 9 types of employment permit one of which is General Employment Permit.

Following is a procedure on how you can obtain a general employment permit.

Information which might help

A non-EEA national do not need an employment permit if he/she:

• Have permission to remain as the spouse, civil partner or dependant of an Irish or EEA national
• Is a Swiss national
• Have been granted refugee status - whether through the normal process or as a programme refugee
• Have been granted temporary leave to remain on humanitarian grounds, having been in the asylum process
• Have been granted leave to remain as the parent of an Irish citizen
• Have specific immigration permission to live and work in Ireland
• Have business permission to set up a business in Ireland
• Is a registered student

You will not be issued an employment permit if you:

• Entered the State on the basis that you are not taking up employment, for example, as a visitor
• Are in the State illegally or you no longer comply with the conditions under which you were admitted
• Have been asked by the Department of Justice and Equality to leave the State
• Are in the process of being deported
• Are seeking employment with a non-European Economic Area/Swiss employer who is operating in the State without business permission from the Minister for Justice and Equality

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Citizen's Information Ireland:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/migrant_workers/employment_permits/work_permits.html

Others

More information which might help people.