Revisions to Employment Permit System in New Bill

4 November 2022

On 12 October 2022, Ireland’s Minister for Business, Employment and Retail introduced a new bill (“the Bill”) concerning the Employment Permit system in Ireland.¹ While still in draft stage, the Bill proposes several key changes, including the introduction of a new Seasonal Employment Permit, modernising of Labour Market Test Requirements, and the movement of several key timing criteria to Regulations.

Key changes proposed

• Seasonal Employment Permit: The Bill seeks to create a new Seasonal Employment Permit.  This would allow third-country nationals to work seasonally in Ireland on a short-term basis.  The types of employment and approved employers would be specified by the minister.
• Labour Market Tests: The Bill seeks to simplify the existing Labour Market Test by removing the requirement to test the market through newspaper advertisements, and instead proposes a modernised online advertising process with the minimum advertising period moved to Regulations (see below).
• Employer Obligations: In the case of some Employment Permits, the Bill seeks to make the grant of a permit conditional on the Irish employer introducing measures to increase the skills, knowledge, and experience of its existing Irish/European Economic Area workforce in addition to index linking of salary thresholds.
• Moving of Timing Criteria to Regulations: The Bill moves almost every quantifiable part of the Employment Permit process to Regulations, allowing the minister to regulate critical timing elements through a more flexible process.  As one example, it is proposed the minister will be able to specify a prescribed period of time during which a foreign national must commence work following the grant of an Employment Permit. 

Footnote

1  Department of Justice (14 February 2023), "Minister Harris announces closure of the Immigrant Investor Programme."