The new Employment Permits Act (The Act) came into force on Monday, 2 September 2024 in Ireland.
The Act consolidates and modernises employment permits law and brings benefits for employers and permit holders alike.
The changes are extensive but below is a very high-level overview of some of the key changes:
- Seasonal Employment Permit: The introduction of a Seasonal Employment Permit which will support the seasonal needs of certain sectors. There will be a pilot scheme for the horticulture sector in 2025.
- Subcontractors: Subcontractors will be given access to the employment permit system.
- Labour Market Needs Test: The requirement for employers to place the adverts for vacancies in print media has been removed and the Act now provides for the publication of these adverts to be placed ‘on one or more online platforms’ in addition to the requirement for vacancies to be published with the Jobs Ireland/EURES websites operated by the Department of Social Protection.
- Change of Employer: The following permit holders can change their permit employer to another employer after a period of nine months has passed since commencing their first employment permit in the State:
- 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 (identified by its 4-digit SOC code).
- The holder of a CSEP can change to an employer across a broader category of employments, for example, different engineering roles (identified by its 3-digit SOC code).
The permit must be in force and will remain in force for at least two months when making the application and the duration of the permit will remain unaffected.
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 has been set at 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.
It is important to note that the new employment cannot be commenced until the employment permit has been reissued.
- 6 month rule: A new provision also requires that the foreign national must commence employment within a period of six months from when the permit is granted.
- Restriction on grant – 50:50 rule. The 50:50 criteria for employers who have no employees at time of application has been revised and no longer restricts the employer to the one employee permit holder after grant for particular permit categories. The 50:50 rule will be triggered when a second application is made for an employment permit for the same employer.
