(Ireland’s Employment Permits (Amendment) Act takes effect Oct. 1. In a series of alerts, BAL will highlight the major changes to help prepare employers for this overhaul of Ireland’s employment permit regime.)

IMPACT – HIGH

What is the change? Ireland’s Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) has released the new employment permit application forms and the list of eligible occupations for highly skilled workers.

What does the change mean? Companies must use the new forms when filing employment permit applications and determine whether assignees fall under eligible occupations in the nine new employment permit categories.

  • Implementation timeframe: Immediate.
  • Visas/permits affected: All employment permits.
  • Who is affected: Companies applying for employment permits.
  • Impact on processing times: Delays are anticipated during the rollout of the new application forms and the transition to the new regime.
  • Business impact: The transition period will affect start dates for employees and assignees.
  • Next steps: BAL will update clients on the details of the eligible occupations in coming days.

Background: The Act is now in force and new application forms for employment permits in the nine new categories have been released. DJEI previously announced it would not provide a grace period during the transition to the new forms; therefore, applicants must use the new forms immediately. DJEI has also published the list of eligible and ineligible occupations by industry.

BAL Analysis: Companies should prepare for some confusion and longer wait times during the rollout.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group in the United Kingdom. For additional information, please contact uk@bal.com.

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