Ireland Work Visa 2026: Types, Cost, Processing Time, How to Apply

Who needs an Irish work visa at all

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit to work in Ireland. UK citizens also need none, under the Common Travel Area. You arrive, get a PPS number and start.

Ukrainians under temporary protection in Ireland may work immediately without an employment permit, until 4 March 2028.

Everyone else needs an employment permit before starting work, and most nationalities also need an entry visa. Ireland is English-speaking, has no quota, no points and no language test, and it is Workuro's third-largest source of live job adverts. It also has the clearest rulebook in Europe: a salary floor, a list of occupations that can never get a permit, and a 28-day advert rule. If your job clears those three, the process is fast. If it does not, no agent can change it.

The permit types and what they cover

• General Employment Permit (GEP): the permit for most trades. Requires a job offer with a minimum annual salary, EUR 34,000 since January 2025 for most occupations (with lower floors of around EUR 30,000 for a few, such as healthcare assistants and home carers, and transitional figures for meat processing and horticulture; as of October 2026 check the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment page). The occupation must not be on the Ineligible List of Occupations, and the employer must have run a Labour Market Needs Test. First permit up to two years, renewable, and after five years you can apply for the stamp 4 that frees you from permits.
• Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP): for occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List at EUR 38,000 or more, or any eligible occupation at EUR 64,000 or more. Mostly degree-level: engineers, nurses, IT, some construction professionals. No labour market test, family can join at once, stamp 4 after two years.
• Seasonal Employment Permit: a pilot that started in 2025 for horticulture, for up to seven months, employer-driven, with approved employers only. Small numbers.
• Intra-Company Transfer, Contract for Services, Exchange Agreement permits: for specific situations, not general hiring.

The Ineligible List: occupations that cannot get any employment permit. It has for years included general labourers, cleaners, drivers of most categories (except some HGV categories that were made eligible), waiting and bar staff, retail, security, and most farm work outside the seasonal pilot. The list is reviewed roughly twice a year and trades move on and off it; chefs, healthcare assistants, meat processors, bus and HGV drivers and some construction trades have been made eligible in recent reviews. Check the list for the date of your application.

Who files what, and in which order

• 1. The employer runs the Labour Market Needs Test (for a GEP): advertises the job with the Department of Social Protection's Jobs Ireland and EURES for 28 days, and in a national newspaper or jobs site for three days, and finds no Irish or EU candidate. The 50:50 rule also applies: at least half the employer's staff must be EU/EEA nationals at the time of application, with an exception for start-ups and for a first employee.
• 2. Either side files the permit application on the Employment Permits Online System. The employer or you can be the applicant; the fee is paid online by whoever files, and the employer may not recover it from you.
• 3. The Department decides and issues the permit.
• 4. Entry visa: nationals of visa-required countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, the Philippines and most of Africa and Asia) then apply for a long-stay "D" employment visa through Irish Immigration and the local visa office or VFS.
• 5. In Ireland: you register with immigration for the Irish Residence Permit (IRP), stamp 1, and get your PPS number.

A GEP ties you to the employer for the first 12 months, after which you can change employer with a new permit without the labour market test in some cases. Permits are for a named job and a named employer.

Official fees

As of October 2026, in euro; the Department's fee table is public:

• GEP or CSEP, up to six months: EUR 500.
• GEP or CSEP, six months to two years: EUR 1,000.
• Renewal up to three years: EUR 1,500.
• Refund: 90 per cent of the fee is refunded if the application is refused, which is unusual in Europe.
• Long-stay D visa: EUR 60 single entry, EUR 100 multiple entry, plus the VFS fee.
• IRP registration in Ireland: EUR 300 per registration.

Translations and legalisation are your own cost. There is no fee for the labour market test and no "sponsorship" fee.

Processing time

The Department publishes current processing dates weekly, by applicant type. In practice:

• Trusted Partner employers (registered with the Department, most large employers and many recruiters): two to four weeks.
• Standard employers: four to twelve weeks, longer in peak periods such as the months after a list review.
• Visa after the permit: Irish Immigration states up to eight weeks for employment visas; Indian and Pakistani applicants have at times waited longer.

A worked example: a Cork nursing home, a Trusted Partner, advertises a healthcare assistant post at EUR 30,000 on Jobs Ireland and EURES from 1 to 29 March and finds nobody. It files the GEP on 1 April and pays EUR 1,000. The permit issues on 18 April. The Filipino applicant lodges the D visa in Manila on 25 April with the permit, police clearance and accommodation letter, and the visa is granted on 10 June. Arrival 20 June, IRP appointment in July. Four months from the first day of the advert, with the visa office, not the Department, as the longest wait.

Count on two to five months from advert to arrival. What slips: the labour market test. An advert that ran 27 days, or that was placed on the wrong platform, or a wage below the floor, is refused, and the 28 days start again.

Documents and legalisation

For the permit: passport, a signed job offer or contract stating salary, hours and duties, proof of qualifications where the occupation needs them (nurses: NMBI registration; healthcare assistants: a QQI level 5 or equivalent; drivers: the Irish licence exchange or CPC), the employer's registration details and the labour market test evidence. For the visa: passport, the permit, proof of funds, accommodation, travel insurance, a police clearance from each country you lived in, and biometrics. Ireland does not require apostilles for most permit documents but the visa office may ask for legalised police certificates. Documents not in English or Irish need a certified translation.

Reality check

• The Ineligible List is the wall: labourers, cleaners, most drivers, waiters, security. No employer can get a permit for those, however willing.
• EUR 34,000 is the floor, not a target: a GEP for EUR 33,000 is refused. For a 39-hour week that is about EUR 16.80 an hour, above the Irish minimum wage, so many trade jobs qualify and many service jobs do not.
• The 28-day advert is real: if the employer did not advertise, the application fails.
• Rent in Dublin takes half or more of a trade wage. Cork, Limerick and Galway are cheaper but not cheap. Ask about accommodation before you sign.
• You may not be charged for the permit, by law. If you were, keep the receipt; the Department can revoke the employer's permits.
• Family: a GEP holder can apply for family reunification after 12 months of work, with income conditions; a CSEP holder from day one.

Where this leaves you

Ireland is one of the strongest routes for chefs, healthcare assistants, meat and food processing workers, HGV and bus drivers, and listed construction trades, and it is where many of the employers in Workuro's register are advertising. Read the page for your country, for example working in Ireland from India or from the Philippines, the trade pages chef and kitchen jobs in Ireland and caregiver jobs in Ireland, and the Ireland work permit processing time page.

Whatever route fits you, the Workuro profile is free: employers search the register and contact you, and nobody is ever charged to be listed, so create a free profile and let the employers who can actually sponsor you find you.