The Irish government has announced a number of new measures designed to allow employers in the country to gain easier access to skilled non-EEA (European Economic Area) candidates.
The government has introduced a number of changes including increasing the number of occupations eligible under the green card scheme, lowering the employment parameters for intercompany transferees, and simplifying labour market tests and reducing the requirements of supporting documents.
The key Highlights of the new Irish immigration rules are as follows:
- Concerning work permits for certain positions, the minimum salary limit that a worker will need to be paid has been decreased from €30,000 to €27,000.
- In case of an intercompany transferee availing work permit, the foreign national must be employed by the respective foreign entity for a minimum of six months. This limit has been lowered from the existing one year limit.
- Non-EEA nationals will now be eligible for a newly introduced benefit. They can now change to a work permit or green card in case they have a one-year intercompany transfer permit or a service contract-based permit.
- The Highly Skilled Occupations List has been widened to include more occupations especially from the IT sector. The list contains occupations which qualify as “highly skilled” under Ireland’s green card employment permit programme.
- Applicants awaiting interviews for positions on the Highly Skilled Occupation list can now stay in the country till their employment permit applications are being processed.
- The Labour market test parameters for employers that requires advertising openings with the Department of Social Protection for eight weeks (previously) has now been lowered to two weeks.
According to Nair & Co, who provides Global HR services for companies looking to set up foreign operations, the changes will be particularly good news for IT workers, as Ireland bids to become the Internet capital of Europe.