The Employment Permits Act 2024, effective from 2 September 2024, applies to non-EEA nationals who wish to take up eligible employment and residence in the State. The non-EEA national must secure an offer of employment in the State before applying for an employment permit and applications will be subject to a range of conditions including minimum remuneration, skills and qualifications.
Labour Market Needs Test (LMNT)
The LMNT must be met before an application for an employment permit can be granted. The legislation prohibits the grant of certain employment permits unless the Minister is satisfied that the employer has published a notice of the employment as prescribed and has, before making the application, offered the employment to an Irish, EEA or Swiss confederation citizen.
The Act provides for the publication of these notices on one or more online platforms. These online platforms can be an electronic system for the online publication of information that are easily accessible by Irish/EEA citizens including websites, software or any other electronic technology that provides for the online publication of information. Online platforms can include the newspapers websites or dedicated employment websites. The requirement for vacancies to be published with Jobs Ireland and EURES websites operated by the Department of Social Protection continues.
Change of Employer
The Act introduces a new provision allowing certain employment permit holders to change their permit employer to another employer nine months after commencing their first employment permit in the State. The provision eliminates the need for the permit holder to apply for a new permit and is restricted to movement within the occupation or occupation classification on the original permit.
The change of employer applies to the General Employment Permit (GEP) and the Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP).
The holder of a GEP can apply to change to an employer within the type of employment for which they have been granted a permit as identified by its 4 digit SOC code.
The holder of a CSEP can change to an employer across a broader category of employments as identified by its 3 digit SOC code. The additional flexibility for CSEP holders is because their roles are identified on the Critical Skills Occupations List indicating a high demand for these skills in the labour market.
The permit must be in force and will remain in force for at least two months when making the application. The duration of the permit will remain unaffected. The provision provides the permit holder with greater freedom of movement to employment with more attractive terms and conditions.
The following conditions apply to the change of employer process:
• The maximum number of applications for change of employer that may be granted to a permit holder is three.
• A new contract of employment signed by both the new employer and employee is required to be submitted.
• The employee is required to commence employment with the new employer within one month of the new permit being issued.
The new employment cannot commence until the employment permit has been reissued.
There is no requirement to conduct the LMNT before the permit holder applies to change their employer.
A change of employer request form will be available for the new employer and employee to sign and submit through a dedicated email address.
The Act provides discretion to grant a changer prior to the nine-month period in cases due to a change of circumstances or instances of exploitation.
Information
Only one permit per foreign national can be in place at one time.
The foreign national must commence employment within a period of six months from when the permit is granted or comes into force.
The Dependant/Partner/Spouse Employment Permit has been revised to cater for the dependants of Critical Skills Employment Permit holders and Researchers under Directive 2005/71/EC. Spouses and partners of these non-EEA nationals may apply to the Department of Justice for immigration permission giving them access to the labour market without an employment permit.
The Minister can provide a two year multi-site General Employment Permit to suitably qualified foreign nationals who take 6 month employment contracts as non-consultant hospital doctors in health facilities in different locations. This eliminates the need for multiple applications for each employer hospital and ensures a smooth transition from one employment to the next of up to two years.
The Act allows for employment relationships that can facilitate the salary of a permit holder to be paid by an entity other than the employer. This allows for an employment agency to be the employer of a permit holder carrying out the work of a client of the agency where the client or the agency provide for the salary while the agency remains as the employer.
The Seasonal Employment Permit (SEP) is a short-term employment permit for a non-EEA national to work for a maximum of 7 months per calendar year in a seasonally recurrent employment. The permit will be first introduced under a limited pilot scheme with the intention that it commences in early 2025. Permit holders will have the option to transfer their SEP to another approved seasonal employer.
Approved seasonal employer employers wishing to apply for the new SEP will be required to apply annually to become registered pre-approved seasonal employers to access the scheme.