Critical Skills Employment Permit Ireland

What is Critical Skills Employment Permit in Ireland?

The Critical Skills Employment Permit is an Ireland employment permit intended for those who are deemed to be highly skilled or those who will be earning above a certain threshold.

If your application for the Critical Skills Employment Permit is successful, you can apply for immediate family reunification. That means that your spouse or partner, as well as dependent children can join you in Ireland. Once they are in Ireland, they can apply for an Employment Permit for free.

In addition to that, after you have lived in Ireland under the Critical Skills Employment Permit for a certain period of time, you will be able to apply for permission to live and work in Ireland without having to have an employment permit.

Who can apply for Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit?

Only those who work in occupations deemed to be highly skilled are eligible for the Critical Skills Employment Permit in Ireland. Moreover, they need to work in professions that are in shortage in the Irish labour market and are important to Ireland’s economy.

You can apply for the Critical Skills Employment Permit if your job belongs to one of the following categories:

• Professions with an annual salary of at least €64,000 except for jobs that have been placed on the Ineligible List of Occupations for Employment Permits
• Professions with an annual salary of at least €38,000 that have been added to the Critical Skilled Occupations List.

You can also be eligible for this permit if you are a non-EEA national with 1, 1A, 2, 2A, or 3 immigration stamps and you have been offered a job in an occupation on the Highly Skilled Occupations List.

Job offer criteria for Critical Skills Employment Permit Ireland

To make you eligible for the Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit, your job offer in Ireland has to meet the following criteria:

• The employer who offered you the job is trading in Ireland and is registered with Revenue and the Companies Registration Office
• You will be directly employed and paid by the employer in Ireland
• The job offer is for at least two years.

Additional criteria include:

• The applicant has to be able to prove that they have relevant qualifications, skills, and work experience
• The employment permit will not be granted to companies if their workforce does not comprise at least 50% EEA nationals.

Keep in mind that jobs offered through recruitment agencies are not accepted under the Critical Skills Employment Permit.

Our Immigration experts can review the job offer you hold to verify whether it meets the criteria for the Critical Skills Employment Permit. If they determine that you are eligible for it, they will help you complete your application to the highest standard.

Application process for Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit

There are three main steps in the application process for the Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit.

First, you need to complete the application form online using the Employment Permits Online System. There you have to provide details regarding your skills and qualifications and your proposed employment in Ireland. You have to state the date of your intended arrival and the remuneration that you will be receiving.

After you submit the online application, it will be placed in the relevant processing queue depending on the type of employer.

Then, an immigration official will process it and will inform you about the decision. Sometimes they might ask you to provide additional information. If that happens, you will have 28 days to submit the requested evidence. If your application for the Critical Skills Employment Permit is refused, you will be told the specific reasons for it.

Make sure to submit your application for the Critical Skills Employment Permit at least 12 weeks before the proposed employment start date. The same applies to any other employment permit for Ireland.

How much does Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit cost?

The fees that all foreign citizens applying for the Critical Employment Permit have to pay are:

• €1,000 for the processing of the Critical Skills Employment Permit application. This fee is partially refundable. If your application is refused, you will receive 90% of it.
• €300 for the Irish Residence Permit (IRP). You will only have to pay this fee if your application is successful.

All the fees can be paid online. It is worth noting that the fee for the processing of the application can be paid by a third party but if it needs to be refunded, the refund can only be given to applicants.

The total cost of applying for the Critical Skills Employment Permit varies depending on the individual circumstances of each applicant. For example, some people might have to have their documents translated by an official translator.

Can I change my job while on the Critical Skills Employment Permit in Ireland?

When applying for the Critical Skills Employment Permit you have to provide proof of having received a job offer in Ireland.

You are normally given the permit to come to Ireland to work for this specific employer. As of June 24, 2024 it is permitted to switch employers after 9 months on the Critical Skills Permit. This requirement can be waived in some unforeseen circumstances.

Residency in Ireland with Critical Skills Employment Permit

Once you have been granted a CSEP, you will first need to apply for an entry visa at your local Irish Embassy or Consulate if you are a visa-required country national for Ireland. If you are visa-exempt, you can skip this step but note that you will be subjected to the usual controls by Irish immigration officials at your port of entry to Ireland, including document checks.

EEA, UK or Swiss national CSEP holders do not need any further registration to live and work in Ireland. All other foreign national CSEP holders must register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) upon their arrival in Ireland. After a successful registration, you will be issued with an Irish Residence Permit (IRP). Your dependent family members will also need to register and obtain their IRPs following the same process.

If you are already residing in Ireland on another immigration permission when you received your CSEP, you will have to register your change of status with the GNIB.

Renewals of Critical Skills Employment Permit in Ireland

A CSEP permit is granted for 24 months. After living and working in Ireland for 21 months on a CSEP, you may be eligible for a  Stamp 4 permission. You will not require any employment permit to live and work in Ireland if you get a Stamp 4 permission. As of 30 November 2023, you will not need to apply the DETE for a Stamp 4 Support Letter.

The Stamp 4 applicants, however, must fulfil its corresponding qualifying criteria. Your immigration history, employment permit conditions, and goodness of character will be thoroughly checked before you are granted a Stamp 4 permission. A Stamp 4 is issued for two years, and is renewable thereafter provided you continue to comply with the eligibility requirements. CSEP holders may apply for long term residence in Ireland after living and working in the country for five years.

If you do not fulfil the requirements for Stamp 4, the GNIB will issue you with a Stamp 1 permission, in which case you will need an employment permit to live and work in Ireland.

Transfer of Undertakings

From 2 September 2024 onwards, a CSEP holder must continue with their employer for at least nine months if it is their first employment permit in Ireland (unless there are exceptional circumstances like the holder has been made redundant etc.). Post this period, you are allowed to change your employer.

Note that while on your CSEP, you can make a maximum of three applications for a change of employer. Every time you change your employer, you must submit a new contract of employment signed by both yourself and your new employer. In addition, you will have to start working for your new employer within one month from the issue date of the new permit.

You will not be required to apply for a new CSEP as long as your new job is within the same occupation or occupation classification on your original permit (e.g. different roles in the ICT sector).

Cancellation of Employment Permits

If a CSEP holder ceases to be employed by their employer while their permit is still valid, they must return their permit to the DETE within 28 days from the last working date. It will be considered an offence if you (or your employer) fail to comply with this rule. The status of returned permits will be changed to ‘cancelled’ and they will no longer be valid.

However, if you lose your job due to redundancy, the DETE will allow you to stay in Ireland for six months to find another job. If you get another job in Ireland within that period, you can apply for a new employment permit.

Dependants on Ireland Critical Skills Employment Permit

If the family members of a CSEP holder are citizens of the EEA (the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein), the UK or Switzerland, they have an automatic right to join them in Ireland.

For any other foreign national holding a CSEP, their eligible family members may apply to join them immediately in Ireland under Immigration Service Delivery’s family reunification policy.

In this context, eligible family usually means:

• Spouse, civil partner or de facto partner
• Dependent children under 18

Children over 18 may also join you in Ireland if they are wholly dependent on you, financially or otherwise. if you can show that they are wholly dependent on you. If your parents or parents-in-law are financially dependent on you, they can also be considered eligible.

In exceptional or compassionate circumstances, other dependent family members may also be permitted to join you in Ireland.

What Is the Difference Between a General Work Permit and a Critical Skills Permit in Ireland?

As per the amended Employment Permits Act 2024, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) can issue nine types of employment permits in Ireland. Among them, the two most common employment permits are the Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP) and the General Employment Permit (GEP).

Critical Skills Employment Permit

As the name indicates, the CSEP aims to attract highly skilled foreign nationals to Ireland to take up critical jobs–for which there exist qualification, experience or skill shortages among the domestic workforce–and to encourage them to eventually settle in the country permanently.

A CSEP can only be granted to a foreign worker if their occupation is mentioned on the Critical Skills Occupations List, such as professionals in the fields of ICT, health, engineering, media, design, architecture, academics etc. However, if your offered remuneration is €64,000 or above, you will be eligible for a CSEP even if your job is not mentioned on the Critical Skills Occupations List.

General Employment Permit

On the other hand, a GEP allows its holder to work in a broader range of occupations. Unlike CSEP, these occupations are not specific, and any occupation is eligible as long as it is not listed in the Ineligible List of Occupations for Employment Permits. You may choose to apply for a GEP even if your occupation is listed in the Critical Skills Occupations List.

Apart from the specificity of eligible occupations, there are certain other notable differences between the CSEP and the GEP, as listed in the following table:

How can IAS help?

Here at IAS, our immigration consultants have expert knowledge of Irish immigration law and they helped many clients successfully apply for employment permits, including the Critical Skills Employment Permit.

If you are not sure whether your qualifications and job offer in Ireland make you eligible for the Critical Skills Employment Permit, talk to our immigration consultants. They will analyse your circumstances and will determine whether you can apply for it.

Our experts will guide you through each step of the application process and will be around to answer any questions you might have. Should you be refused the Critical Skills Employment Permit, our team of consultants will tell you what other visas to Ireland you might be eligible for.

Contact us today on +44 (0)333 414 9244 or +353 (0) 61 518 025 to find out how our Immigration Service can help you.