A non-EEA national, except in certain specific cases, requires an employment permit to take up employment in Ireland. The EEA (European Economic Area) comprises the Member States of the European Union together with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
It is an offence under the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006 for both an employer and an employee to have a non-EEA National in employment without an appropriate employment permit.
Employment permit holders can only work for the employer and in the occupation named on the permit. If the holder of an employment permit ceases, for any reason, to be employed by the employer named on the permit during the period of validity of the permit, the original permit and the certified copy must be returned immediately to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The issuing and administration of Employment Permits on behalf of the State is handled by the Employment Permits Section of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment from its offices at Earlsfort Centre, Lower hatch Street, Dublin 2, D02 PW01.
Further full information in relation to Employment Permits (who needs a permit, how to apply, fees, etc.,) are available on the Employment Permits Section of the website of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
A new facility has been made available by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment allowing an employee or an employer to make an online application for a new Employment Permit, or to renew an existing permit. The online portal may be accessed on https://epos.djei.ie/
Trusted Partner Initiative
Under the Trusted Partner Initiative a Person who will make an offer of employment / Employers/Connected Persons and EEA contractors may apply for Trusted Partner status. When Trusted Partner status is granted a unique Trusted Partner Registration Number is assigned. Applicants granted Trusted Partner status will have access to their own suite of employment permit application forms where they must only provide their Trusted Partner Registration number in lieu of all employer details.
Applications by Trusted Partners on the Trusted Partner employment permit applications forms only need to provide details relating to the employment and the foreign national when they are applying for a permit.
Objective
The objective of the initiative is to ease the administrative burden on employers/connected persons/EEA contractors in expansion mode and to remove the requirement that they replicate the same employer/connected person information in respect of each employment permit application made for grant or renewal.
The Trusted Partner Initiative will streamline the application process for the person making the offer of employment/employers/connected persons and EEA contractors when applying for Employment Permits. It is open to companies in expansion mode, start-up companies, as well as regular users of the permits regime.
For full details of this initiative, please see Employment Permits - Trusted Partner Initiative
For related Forms please see EPOS Online Portal