International recruitment and relocation

Candidates from outside the EEA, the UK and Switzerland usually need an employment permit, and most use one of two routes. The Critical Skills Employment Permit covers occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List. The General Employment Permit covers more roles and typically requires the job to be advertised first. The Department of Enterprise's Roadmap Review 2025 set minimum pay from 1 March 2026 at €40,904 for Critical Skills with a relevant degree, €36,605 for General permits and €32,691 for healthcare assistants and care workers. Thresholds, lists and quotas change, so check with the Department before relying on them.

For regulated professions, typically yes. Nurses and midwives register with NMBI, which describes two steps for people who qualified outside Ireland: recognition of the qualification, then registration. CORU regulates health and social care professions such as physiotherapists, radiographers and social care workers. At the time of writing, in October 2026, neither body published processing times on the registration pages we checked, so we do not quote one. We start registration as early as possible, help candidates assemble documents and suggest any offer is made conditional on registration. Always confirm current requirements with NMBI or CORU directly.

Plan in months, not weeks. Most stages depend on the one before: sourcing and interviews, professional registration where the role is regulated, the employment permit, any entry visa, then notice and travel. We do not quote a standard duration, because the regulators and the Department of Enterprise set the pace and their processing times move. As one illustration, the Irish Farmers Journal reported an overseas hire for a dairy farm in 2022 that took up to six months from start to finish. You get a dated plan at the outset, and we update it whenever a stage moves.

You pay our fee, and only when someone starts, on terms confirmed in writing before any work begins. Your written plan lists other costs, such as permit and registration fees and travel, and who pays each. Candidates never pay us, or anyone acting for us. That matters: in a Migrant Rights Centre Ireland survey of 1,019 permit holders that closed on 25 February 2026, 35% said they had paid a recruitment fee. For health and care roles we follow the principles of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted in 2010.

Some occupations are capped by quotas. For example, the Department of Enterprise said on 26 August 2026 that its quota of 1,000 permits for meat processing operatives was almost filled and closed to new applications. Quotas change, so check the Department's current notices before relying on this. We check eligibility before any search and tell you in writing if a route is closed. No fee is due unless someone starts, and permanent placements carry our replacement guarantee, with its length and conditions confirmed in writing before any work begins. For a refusal, take advice from an immigration solicitor.