Employment Permits Section

Fees for Permits

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation are the only body authorised to issue employment permits on behalf of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

All fees for an employment permit must be paid by the applicant i.e. the employer or the employee and all cheques, postal orders or bank drafts submitted must be made payable to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

• Who needs an Employment Permit?
• Current Application Processing Dates

In order to work in Ireland a non-EEA National (unless exempted) must hold a valid Employment Permit. The issue of an Employment Permit requires a job offer from a prospective Irish employer who has made every effort to recruit an Irish or EEA national for the post. Applications, which can be submitted by either the prospective employee or employer, are considered under the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006.

The holder of an Employment Permit is only permitted to work for the employer and in the employment stated on the permit. Should the employee named on the permit, for any reason, cease to be employed by the employer and in the employment stated on the permit during the period of validity specified, the permit and any copies thereof must be returned immediately to the Employment Permits Section. It is an offence for both an employer and an employee to be party to the employment of a non-EEA national without a valid employment permit.

Important Notice: The Employment Permits Section does not have a public office and cannot facilitate personal callers to the office.

Information and applications forms can be downloaded from this website and for specific queries you can contact our call centre.

New Postage Requirements: In order to streamline the processing of employment permit applications, please indicate on the front of the envelope the type of employment permit you are applying for e.g. Green Card, Work Permit, Spousal/Dependant or ICT.

Note on Data Protection: In submitting a completed, signed application form to this Department, both the employer and prospective employee accept that the Department may share the information contained on the application with other Departments and State Agencies for the sole purpose of verifying the information supplied by the applicant.

Note on documents for download: All documents presented on these pages are in PDF format, unless otherwise indicated. If you don't have a PDF Reader you may download one free of charge at the Adobe Acrobat website.