Moving to Ireland for Work: Employment Permit Types and Where the Jobs Are

Why you need an employment permit to work in Ireland

Most non-EEA nationals who want to take up employment in Ireland need an employment permit before they start work. According to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Employment Permits Act 2024, as amended, allows for nine different types of employment permits to be granted. Each permit type is designed for a different situation, from highly skilled professionals to company employees being transferred within a multinational group.

The nine employment permit types explained

The Department sets out nine permit categories, each with its own purpose:

• Critical Skills Employment Permit - aimed at highly skilled people the State wants to encourage into permanent residence, covering occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List, including ICT professionals, professional engineers and technologists.
• Dependant/Partner/Spouse Employment Permit - for dependants, recognised partners, civil partners and spouses of Critical Skills Employment Permit holders and of Researchers on Hosting Agreements.
• Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit - facilitates moving senior management, key personnel or trainees from an overseas branch of a multinational to its Irish branch, while the employee can stay on the foreign payroll.
• General Employment Permit - covers a broad range of occupations; unlike the Critical Skills permit, all occupations are assumed eligible unless they appear on the Ineligible List of Occupations.
• Contract for Services Employment Permit - for a foreign contractor that has won a contract to provide services to an Irish company, allowing the contractor's non-EEA staff to work on the Irish contract.
• Reactivation Employment Permit - for a non-EEA national who entered the State on a valid permit but fell out of the system through no fault of their own, or who was badly treated or exploited at work.
• Internship Employment Permit - for full-time students enrolled outside the State, studying a discipline relevant to the Critical Skills Occupations List, to gain work experience in Ireland.
• Sport and Cultural Employment Permit - for non-EEA nationals with the relevant qualifications, skills or experience to work in sporting and cultural activities.
• Exchange Agreement Employment Permit - for non-EEA nationals coming to Ireland under prescribed or international reciprocal agreements.

How Ireland decides which permit - and why salary matters

Each of these nine permit types carries its own eligibility rules, and the occupation and salary criteria differ by permit. The General Employment Permit assumes all occupations are eligible unless specifically excluded, while the Critical Skills Employment Permit is limited to occupations named on the Critical Skills Occupations List. Because the detailed salary and occupation conditions are set out separately for each permit type, anyone planning a move should check the Department of Enterprise's dedicated page for the specific permit that matches their situation before applying.

Live job openings in Ireland right now

Separately from the permit system, the Irish job market itself gives a sense of where demand sits. On our Ireland jobs page, there are about 6,490 vacancies open now, with about 680 added in the past week. About 290 of the current openings are remote, and about 1,780 list a salary. Among the employers with the largest number of listings are Aureol Global Connections, EY, ESB, Uisce Eireann and Grant Thornton Ireland.

For anyone weighing up a move, these figures give a live read on how active hiring is in Ireland at any given moment, alongside the permit route that will apply to their occupation and circumstances.

Getting started

Working out which of the nine permit types applies starts with occupation: check whether your role sits on the Critical Skills Occupations List, the Ineligible List of Occupations, or neither. From there, the Department's page for that specific permit type sets out the conditions that apply. Pairing that with a look at live openings, such as the roughly 6,490 current vacancies in Ireland, about 1,780 of which show a salary, can help narrow down which employers and roles are worth targeting first.

You can browse current openings on our Ireland jobs page.