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Ireland work visa: how long the Critical Skills Employment Permit takes, what it costs, and whether it leads to permanent residence

This permit is commonly searched as the Green Card. The authority states that it replaces the Green Card.

Work Permit

Two-year employment permit — not a visa and not permanent residence

Employment permit issued by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for a job offer of at least two years. It is not a visa and not a residence stamp. After grant, a visa-required national applies separately to ISD for a long-stay employment visa; after arrival the holder registers residence permission (typically Stamp 1) and pays the IRP registration fee. The permit is tied to the named employer, occupation and location; a new permit for a different employer cannot be considered until nine months have elapsed since the holder first commenced employment in the State (Employment Permits Regulations 2024, section 18), except redundancy or a fundamental unforeseen change in the employment relationship. Remuneration thresholds in force from 1 March 2026 (S.I. No. 643/2025): €40,904 a year for occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List with a relevant degree (or €36,848 where that Level 8 or higher qualification was obtained in the 12 months before the application); €68,911 a year for other eligible occupations not on the Ineligible List. Public-sector roles bound by a public-sector pay agreement use that agreement’s rate. A Labour Market Needs Test is not required. Immediate family reunification is applied for to ISD, not to the permit department. The permit itself does not grant permanent residence.

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

Does Critical Skills Employment Permit lead to permanent residence?

Residency

Temporary — not a permanent-residence route on its own

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

Do you need a job offer for Critical Skills Employment Permit?

Job offer

Required

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

What education does Critical Skills Employment Permit require?

Education

A relevant degree is required only for the Critical Skills Occupations List track at the €40,904 (or recent-graduate €36,848) threshold. The €68,911 track allows “the necessary level of experience” instead of a degree. Nurses and midwives may use an NMBI-accepted diploma. Old stored value “bachelor” as a blanket minimum has been removed from the program fields.

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

Needs review — the stored record is incomplete

How much money do you have to show for Critical Skills Employment Permit?

Funds

Not published on the page we read

DETE Critical Skills page opened 2026-09-21. The page does not publish a personal funds figure.

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-09-21

How much does Critical Skills Employment Permit cost to apply for?

Application fee

EUR 1,000

Employment-permit processing fee only: €1,000 for a first Critical Skills application up to 24 months (DETE fees page and Critical Skills page). If unsuccessful, 90% is refunded. This is not a visa fee and not an IRP fee. Separate later stages, where they apply: ISD long-stay visa single-entry €60 or multi-entry €100 (visa-required nationals only); IRP registration €300 per person for Stamp 1. Do not add those figures to 1000.

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

How long does Critical Skills Employment Permit take to process?

Processing time

No commitment to a processing time

Open the authority's page for this fact

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-09-25

We tell you when we re-read a route you follow, in the note from that check, with the official link.

Not published on the pages we read

We checked for each of these and the page carried no figure. The absence is recorded with the reason, so this page states nothing the authority does not.

The process

How it works

  1. 1The permit is issued for a named employer, occupation and location.
  2. 2A visa-required national applies separately to ISD; after arrival, residence is recorded as a stamp (typically Stamp 1).

What changed when we last checked this record

DETE Critical Skills page opened 2026-08-15. The page states the permit replaces the Green Card, requires a job offer of at least 2 years, and that “An employment permit is not a Residence Permission.” CONTRADICTION for a human: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-enterprise-tourism-and-employment/publications/critical-skills-employment-permits/ (last updated 13 February 2025) still prints €38,000 / €64,000; the live enterprise.gov.ie page and S.I. No. 643/2025 (https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2025/si/643/made/en/print, Irish Statute Book (iris Oifigiúil / statutory instrument), in operation 1 March 2026) print €40,904 / €36,848 / €68,911. This file stores the statutory-instrument and enterprise.gov.ie figures. Nine permit types are listed at https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/workplace-and-skills/employment-permits/permit-types/. After arrival ISD records permission as a stamp (https://www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/information-on-registering/immigration-permission-stamps/). ISD Stamp 4 upgrade after 21 months from commencement: https://www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/how-to-renew-your-current-permission/information-on-stamp-4-upgrades/. Visa-required nationals then use https://www.irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-work-in-ireland/what-are-my-work-visa-options/applying-for-a-long-stay-employment-visa/employment-visa/. Long Term Residency (further 5-year permission after 60 months, not permanent residence): https://www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/long-term-residency/. Stamp 5 / WCATT after 8 years: https://www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/without-condition-as-to-time/. Naturalisation after 5 years reckonable residence: https://www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to-become-a-citizen/become-an-irish-citizen-by-naturalisation/. Old stored minAge 18, blanket bachelor, 1–3 month processing, USD 1000 fee, 24-month PR pathway, and a Google search officialSourceUrl have been removed.

Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Employment Permits Section; pages still branded DETE) · verified 2026-08-15

Other verified Ireland routes

Other routes with a published salary floor: UK work visa: Skilled Worker Visa · Netherlands work visa: Highly skilled migrant · Germany work visa: EU Blue Card · Sweden work visa: Work permit (employee) · New Zealand skilled migration: Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa · UAE work visa: Golden Residence — specialised / skilled workers · Portugal digital nomad visa: remote work

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