IMPACT – MEDIUM

Ireland’s Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation has announced changes to the employment permit system, including amendments to the Critical Skills List and Ineligible List of Occupations and to revenue documentation requirements. The changes will take effect April 22.

Key Points:

  • Five occupations will be added to the Critical Skills Occupations List. This list, formerly called the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List, determines which workers are eligible for Critical Skills Employment Permits. The occupations that will be added are:
    • Civil engineers
    • Quantity surveyors
    • Construction project managers
    • Mechanical and electrical engineers with BIM expertise
    • High-performance directors and coaches for high-level sports organizations (i.e., where employment as a high-performance director or coach is in a national or high-profile sports organization engaging in international competition).
  • Eleven occupations will be removed from the Ineligible Occupations List. Workers in occupations that are not on this list, formerly the Ineligible Categories of Employment List, are eligible for General Employment Permits. The occupations that will be removed on April 22 are:
    • Sheet metal workers
    • Welding trades
    • Pipefitters
    • Air conditioning and refrigeration engineers
    • Shuttering carpenters
    • Glaziers, window fabricators and fitters
    • Scaffolders, stagers and riggers
    • Crane drivers
    • Transport and distribution clerks and assistants (freight forwarders, cargo and freight agents, brokerage clerks), subject to a quota of 300
    • Plasterers, subject to a quota of 250
    • Bricklayers, subject to a quota of 250
  • Revenue documentation requirements will be updated in line with the Revenue Commissioners PAYE Modernisation Initiative. The documentation that will be required is as follows:
    • A P30 receipt or a statement issued by Revenue Commissioners showing the employer’s monthly statutory return dated within three months before the application is submitted.
    • A P60 or copy of electronic access to an end-of-year income statement compiled by the Revenue Commissioners. The P60 and/or end-of-year statement must demonstrate the foreign national’s employment history (if applicable).
    • A P45 or evidence of the employment record held by the Revenue Commissioners indicating the date on which employment ended after the foreign national’s redundancy.

The DBEI also made technical changes to the requirements for employment permits for chefs and announced that secondary schools will be able to sponsor career guidance teachers through the employment permits system in the same way in which they sponsor other secondary school teachers.

More information is available here. The regulations can be located here.

Analysis & Comments: The changes will affect all employment permit applications filed on or after April 22. Employers are encouraged to review the changes before they take effect.

Source: Deloitte LLP. Deloitte LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC303675 and its registered office at 1 New Street Square, London EC4A 3HQ, United Kingdom.