Work Permits in Ireland 2026: All 9 Types From the Statutory Instrument
Ireland's permit system is one Act, nine instruments and a fresh statutory instrument that re-priced everything on 1 March 2026 — figures most of the English-language SERP hasn't absorbed yet. The complete family with the real numbers, the Labour Market Needs Test decoded as the four-week recipe it is, and the router that matches offers to permits.
Quick answer
The family (thresholds per SI 643/2025, from 1 Mar 2026): ① CSEP — the flagship (€40,904+ guide); ② GEP — the general permit at €36,605 (grad tier €34,009; transitional care/processing €32,691) with the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test; ③ ICT — transfers at €49,523 key personnel / €36,605 trainees; ④ Contract for Services — €49,523; ⑤ Seasonal — €30,000; ⑥ Dependant/Partner/Spouse — free; ⑦ Reactivation; ⑧ Exchange; ⑨ Sport & Cultural (+ Internship). Fees: €1,000 class (GEP renewals to €1,500; 90% refund on refusal). No language tests anywhere. Sources below.
The two workhorses: CSEP vs GEP
| Critical Skills (CSEP) | General (GEP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | €40,904 (CSOL) / €36,848 grads / €68,911 off-list | €36,605 / €34,009 grads / €32,691 transitional |
| Occupation logic | CSOL (Sch. 3) or the high tier | Anything not on the Ineligible List (Sch. 4) |
| Labour Market Needs Test | None | Yes — 28-day EURES/JobsIreland + 2nd platform |
| Offer duration | 2 years | The contract's terms |
| Path | Stamp 4 at 2 years | Renewals (€750/€1,500) toward the 5-year Stamp-4 route |
The strategic reading: the CSEP is the express train, the GEP the regional service — same tracks, different stops. GEP-land covers the economy the CSOL doesn't: hospitality management, logistics, construction trades, the care sector's transitional tiers (whose €32,691 sub-rate phases out to 2030 by design — the state's scheduled wage-normalisation of the care economy). Its Labour Market Needs Test is real but procedural — 28 days of prescribed advertising, then file inside the window (90/120 days) with the evidence stapled: employers who follow the recipe pass; the test refuses improvisation, not applications.
The specialist instruments
- ICT (€49,523 key personnel / €36,605 trainees): intra-group transfers for senior staff and trainees — time on ICT permits builds differently toward settlement (the assignment logic); multinationals moving keepers long-term often prefer direct CSEP hires;
- Contract for Services (€49,523): the outsourcing instrument — foreign contractors delivering into Irish clients; niche and compliance-heavy;
- Seasonal (€30,000): the newest family member — horticulture-class seasons under the scheme's registered-employer machinery;
- Dependant/Partner/Spouse — free of charge: the CSEP family's superpower documented in its own guide;
- Reactivation: the second-chance instrument — workers who fell out of the permit system lawfully re-entering it: Ireland's small, humane regularisation valve;
- Exchange / Sport & Cultural / Internship: the defined-purpose margins (reciprocal programmes, athletes and coaches, Level-9+ students' placements at €1,000/12-month class fees).
Mechanics common to the family
- The 50:50 rule: permit employers need ≥50% EEA workforce (waivable for startups via the enterprise-agency letter) — the quiet gate that surprises small sponsors;
- Fees and the refund: €500/€1,000 by duration at first application (GEP renewals €750–€1,500), 90% refunded on refusal — file boldly;
- The visa layer: visa-required nationals add the long-stay D work visa after the permit grant; visa-free nationals fly on the permit letter;
- IRP registration on arrival (the arrival chain) — Stamp 1 for permit holders, the card, the PPSN machinery;
- No language tests, no points, no quotas — the Irish system's character: occupation lists, salary floors and paperwork discipline do all the governing;
- Processing: the Department's dashboard publishes live queues — Trusted Partner employers (the registered high-volume sponsors) run materially faster: the Irish version of the ask-if-certified question;
- The permits-to-immigration seam: the Department of Enterprise grants permits; the Department of Justice's ISD grants visas, registrations and Stamp 4 — two machines, one journey, and the files that stall usually stall at the handoff: keep both sides' reference numbers and mirror the data exactly across them.
Running the GEP gauntlet: the test as project plan
Since the Labour Market Needs Test decides the GEP's fate, treat it as the four-week project it is. Week zero: the employer drafts the vacancy to the statutory pattern — the actual duties, the actual salary (≥€36,605 or the tier), the reality that will appear identically in the permit application, because inconsistency between the ad and the application is the classic refusal. Weeks one to four: the ad runs the full 28 days on EURES/JobsIreland plus the second online platform — dated screenshots and posting confirmations archived from day one, not reconstructed later. The window: application filed within 90 days of the test (120 in the defined cases) with the evidence bundle: the ads, the applicant tally, the interview outcomes and the honest reasons EEA candidates didn't fit — specificity persuades where formulas don't. The realistic failure modes: ads that ran 27 days, salary drift between ad and offer, windows missed by holiday drift, and duties rewritten mid-process. None of these is a merits judgment — the Irish test, unlike continental refusal-tests, almost never says "a local could do this job"; it says "you didn't follow the recipe." Employers who calendar the recipe pass at rates that make the GEP a slower CSEP rather than a different destiny — and candidates evaluating a GEP offer should ask one diagnostic question: "Have you run the LMNT before?" The answer prices the next three months.
The router
| Profile | Permit | Key figure |
|---|---|---|
| CSOL occupation, degree/experience | CSEP | €40,904 |
| Fresh Level-8+ graduate, CSOL role | CSEP grad tier | €36,848 |
| Senior off-list role | CSEP high tier | €68,911 |
| Eligible occupation, standard pay | GEP + LMNT | €36,605 |
| Care/processing transitional roles | GEP sub-tier (to 2030) | €32,691 |
| Group transfer | ICT | €49,523 |
| Season work | Seasonal | €30,000 |
| Spouse of CSEP holder | Dependant permit — free | NMW floor |
| Fell out of the system | Reactivation | — |
Key takeaways
- Nine instruments, two workhorses: CSEP (no test, Stamp 4 at 2) and GEP (€36,605 + the 28-day test).
- SI 643/2025 re-priced everything 1 March 2026 — and schedules further escalations: check the current figures at offer time.
- The LMNT is a recipe, not a wall — 28 days' prescribed ads, file in the window, staple the evidence.
- 90% fee refunds, free spouse permits, no tests anywhere — the system's civilities.
- Trusted Partner employers = the fast queue; the 50:50 rule = the small-sponsor trap.
FAQ
Can GEP holders reach Stamp 4?
Yes — the longer road: five years of permit residence supports the Stamp-4 application (against the CSEP's two). The permit family shares the destination at different speeds.
What's on the Ineligible List?
Schedule 4 names the closed occupations (most retail, drivers in the main, domestic roles) — the GEP's true boundary. Check the current schedule; it moves with review cycles.
Do permits bind me to the employer?
Initially yes, with mobility easing across the permit's life (the 9-month logic on the CSEP side; change-of-employer applications thereafter). Stamp 4 ends the question.
Northern Ireland complications?
The permits cover the Republic; the UK system governs the North — cross-border lives run on the Common Travel Area's citizen privileges, which don't extend third-country workers' permissions across the line. Site your permit where you'll work.
Sources (official only)
- All thresholds: SI 643/2025 Schedule 8 — irishstatutebook.ie
- Permit types, conditions, LMNT recipe, fees and refunds: enterprise.gov.ie — employment permits
- Schedules (CSOL Sch. 3 / Ineligible Sch. 4): the consolidated regulations via irishstatutebook.ie
- Visa and registration layers: irishimmigration.ie
Verified against the statutory instrument and official pages as of 22 July 2026. Information, not legal advice.