Tag Archive for: CRITICAL SKILLS EMPLOYMENT PERMIT

UPDATE TO ELIGIBILTY REQUIREMENTS FOR STAMP 4

UPDATE TO ELIGIBILTY REQUIREMENTS FOR STAMP 4

The Department of Justice have recently changed the eligibility requirements for a Stamp 4 upgrade for employment permit holders. Please note that Stamp 4 support letters are no longer required for this upgrade, and your Stamp 4 permission can be registered at your registration office.

Effective from 3rd April 2024, employment permit holders with a Stamp 1 or 1H permission who have completed 21 months of employment are eligible for a Stamp 4 upgrade at their registration office.

The eligible categories include Critical Skills Employment Permit holder, individuals resident on the basis of a Hosting Agreement as a Researcher, or a Multi-Site General Employment Permit holder as a Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor.

General Employment Permit holders can now obtain a Stamp 4 after 57 months as opposed to 60 months. This means that General Employment Permit holders do not have to apply for long-term residence to the Immigration Service Delivery and can instead upgrade their permission to a Stamp 4 at their registration office.

A significant change to this is that the time period is now judged from date of commencement of employment, rather than the date of registration of Stamp 1 permission, as it had been previously. This had been a significant issue for employees recently due to long delays in registration. Commencement of employment in the State will be determined via your Employment Detail Summary, available on revenue.ie/myaccount.

This blog has been drafted with reference to the following website:

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/update-to-eligibility-requirements-for-stamp-4-upgrades/

For further details on immigration permissions or stamps please visit the following link:

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/information-on-registering/immigration-permission-stamps/

Berkeley Solicitors are available to provide support and assistance to any employment permit holders looking to upgrade to a Stamp 4.

This blog article has been prepared on the basis of current immigration law and policy, which is subject to change. Please keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page where articles relating to updates and changes in immigration law and policy are regularly posted.

MINISTER RICHMOND ANNOUNCES LARGEST EVER EXPANSION TO THE EMPLOYMENT PERMITS SYSTEM

On the 20th of December 2023, the Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retails announced significant changes to Ireland’s employment permits system. These changes include an increase in salary thresholds for permit holders and an additional 43 occupations becoming eligible for employment permits.

Minister Richmond stated that the changes have been introduced to reflect both inflation and economic growth in the State and the necessity and of the skills, experience and cultural diversity that Migrants bring to Irish society.

From 17th January 2024, the minimum salary for new General Employment Permits (GEP) will increase from €30,000 to €34,000. Employers seeking to hire GEP roles are advised should advertise this salary rate as Labour Market Needs Tests that do not reflect the appropriate salary will be rejected.

The new standard Critical Skills Employment Permit minimum salary requirement has also increased to from €34,000 to €38,000.

Health care assistants and home carers salary requirement will increase from €27,000 to €30,000 and the minimum salary for meat processors and horticultural workers will increase from €22,000 to €30,000. These changes bring all permit holders in line with the minimum salary requirement for family reunification as many workers in these roles will wish to avail of this.

Additionally, a number of occupations have now become eligible for employment permits as of 20th December 2023.

Occupations added to the Critical Skills Occupations List include:

  • Professional Forester
  • Resource modelling, earth observation and data analyst
  • Meteorologist
  • Operational Forecaster
  • Chemical Engineer
  • Project Engineer
  • BIM Manager
  • Optometrist (Ophthalmic Optician)
  • Commercial Manager
  • BIM Coordinator/Technician
  • Estimator

Occupations eligible for a General Employment Permit:

  • Residential Day and Domiciliary Case Managers – in Disability Services
  • Play Therapist – in Disability Services
  • Genetic Counsellor
  • Social Care Worker
  • Family Support Workers – in Disability Services
  • Project Offices, Disability
  • Support Worker (social, community, public and charity)
  • Guide Dog Mobility Instructor for the Visually Impaired
  • Autism Assistance Dog Instructor
  • Pig Managers
  • Smiths and forge workers
  • Moulders, core makers and die casters
  • Metal plate workers and riveters
  • Car mechanic, Motor mechanic, Auto electrician, Motor vehicle technician
  • HGV mechanic
  • Vehicle body builders and repairers/Body shop panel beaters
  • Electrician, electrical contractor, electrical engineer,
  • Vehicle paint technician
  • Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades supervisors
  • Upholstery and furniture operatives
  • Butchers/(de)boner
  • Baker
  • Furniture makers and other craft woodworkers
  • Senior Care Workers – in Disability Services
  • Textile Process Operatives
  • Wood Machine Operatives
  • Saw Doctor/Wood Machine Mechanic
  • Armature Rewinder
  • Pig Farm Assistants
  • Speciality Forestry Harvesting Technician

 

Further occupations which had previously been made eligible for General Employment Permits have had their quotas extended as follows:

  • 1,000 GEPs for meat processing operatives
  • 350 GEPs for butcher/deboners
  • 350 GEPs for dairy farm assistants
  • 1,000 GEPs have been provided for horticultural workers to support the sector until the introduction of the Seasonal Employment Permit 

 

For further information, please see the below guidance note published by the Department of Enterprise:

https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/publications/publication-files/advisory-note-users-of-employment-permit-system.pdf

 

Please see also the below link for details of Minister Richmond’s announcement:

https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/news-and-events/department-news/2023/december/20122023.html

 

Berkeley Solicitors are available to provide support and assistance to any employment permit applicants.

This blog article has been prepared on the basis of current immigration law and policy, which is subject to change. Please keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page where articles relating to updates and changes in immigration law and policy are regularly posted.

EMPLOYMENT PERMITS NOW OPEN TO HEALTHCARE ASSISTANTS

In an announcement published on 14th June 2021, Minister Damien English confirmed that healthcare assistants will now be eligible to apply for employment permits in the State.

Eligibility for employment permits in Ireland is determined by the critical skills list and ineligible occupations list which are reviewed twice a year.

In deciding to remove healthcare assistants from the ineligible list it was noted that:

‘evidence within the healthcare sector suggest increasing competition for skilled candidates in several healthcare roles.’

In order to be eligible applicants must have a QQI Level 5 qualification after two years of employment.

Minister English commented that:

‘Our economic migration policy accommodates the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill skills and labour gaps in the domestic economy in the short to medium term.’

The full announcement can be read at:

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/ab8d7-minister-damien-english-announces-changes-to-the-employment-permits-system/

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are affected by this notice or by the matters raised in this blog.

IMMIGRATION SERVICE DELIVERY ANNOUNCES CHANGE OF PERMISSION APPLICATIONS CAN BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY UNTIL 20TH MAY 2020

Immigration Service Delivery issued a new notice on 27th April 2020 confirming that a number of change of permission applications may be submitted electronically on a temporary basis until 20th May 2020.

The notice confirms as follows:

“In light of the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as a temporary measure between now and 20th May 2020, applications for the following change of permissions may be submitted electronically to the Registration Office, Burgh Quay, Dublin ([email protected]):

 

From Stamp To Stamp
Stamp 1 (Critical Skill Employment Permit) Stamp 4 (after 2 completed years on CSEP and DBEI Stamp 4 support letter)
Stamp 1 (Employment Permit) Stamp 4 (after 5 completed years on Employment Permits)
Stamp 2 Stamp 1 (Employment Permit)
Stamp 2 Stamp 1A (Trainee Accountant Contract)
Stamp 1, 2 or 3 Stamp 1G (Spouse of Critical Skill Employment Permit holder)
Stamp 1, 2 or 3 Stamp 4 (Spouse of Irish National)

 All required documentation should be scanned and included in the application. All eligibility criteria will continue to apply.

 Where a permission has been granted, applicants will still be required to register the change as normal once the Registration Office in Burgh Quay and local Registration Offices reopen.”

 

This is a positive development for any clients who wish to submit an application for change of permission and who fall within the categories listed in the notice.

Our office continues to act for many clients who have pending immigration applications, and we are continuing to liaise with INIS on behalf of our clients as normal.

The full notice can be read here.

If you would like more information regarding an application for change of permission, please contact our office.

RECENT REFUSALS OF EMPLOYMENT PERMIT VISAS

HIGH COURT DECISION ON REFUSAL OF EMPLOYMENT PERMIT FOR TRAINEE ACCOUNTANT

On 25th March 2020, Mr Justice Heslin delivered his judgment in Julia Olivera Rodriguez v The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

This case concerned a Venezuelan national with a BSc. Degree in Public Accounting from Venezuela and a Certificate in Business Accounting which she obtained in Ireland through the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in May 2018.

Ms Rodriguez’s application for an Employment Permit for the role of Trainee Accountant was refused by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation on the basis that the position of Trainee Accountant does not fall within the list of eligible categories of employment, as set out in the Employment Permits Regulations, 2017.

Ms Rodriguez challenged this decision in the High Court, arguing that the Minister had been incorrect in this finding and that the role of ‘Accountant’ should be interpreted to include those training for the position, as is the case in the UK.

Mr Justice Heslin in his decision stated:

“I am entirely satisfied that the 2017 Regulations cannot be interpreted in the manner in which the applicant contends. Doing so would involve this Court importing into the 2017 Regulations words which are simply not there and also ignoring the plain meaning of words which incontrovertibly appear in the 2017 Regulations.”

Mr Justice Heslin stated that the regulations very clearly set out employments of which there is a shortage and which are required for the proper functioning of the economy, including Accountants and Tax Consultants with particular specialisms and specified experience:

“Schedule 3 of the 2017 Regulations very clearly sets out those employments in respect of which there is a shortage in relation to “qualifications, experience or skills” required for the proper functioning of the economy and these include “Chartered and Certified Accountants” with particular specialisms, “Qualified Accountants” with particular experience and “Tax Consultants” with specified experience. As a matter of fact, the applicant falls into none of the categories specified in Schedule 3. For this Court to hold that she does, would be to do violence to the specific words used in Schedule 3 and would amount to this Court deciding, impermissibly, that someone who is unqualified comes within a category which explicitly addresses shortages in “qualifications”. This Court has no power to ignore the clear wording in Schedule 3 of the 2017 Regulations and to hold that shortages in the qualifications set out in Schedule 3 are met by unqualified persons.”

The court found that Ms Rodriguez does not fall within any of these categories and the decision to refuse her application for an Employment Permit was upheld.

The full text of the judgment can be found here.

If you would like more information on the application process for Employment Permits in Ireland, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

MINIMUM SALARIES RAISED FOR EMPLOYMENT PERMITS FROM JANUARY 2020 AND OTHER IMPORTANT CHANGES

The Employment Permits (Amendment)(No.2) Regulations 2019, 9th July 2019 amend the Employment Permit Regulations 2017-2019.

A number of the new regulations are now in force and a number will come into force in the new year, on 1st January 2020.

The required period of validity of an applicant’s passport has been reduced from 12 months to 6 months. There has also been a change to the numbers of employment permits that can be issued in respect of particular professions- dairy farming and the meat industry.

The most notable amendment is that there is to be an increase in the minimum salary required for a critical skills employment permit from €30,000 to €32,000 for an occupation on the highly skilled occupations list and from €60,000 to €64,000 for other professions.

In respect of General Employment permits, the period of time a job has to be advertised with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to satisfy the Labour Markets Needs test will also be increased from 14 days to 28 days.

WELCOME CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION PERMISSION FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF CRITICAL SKILLS EMPLOYMENT PERMIT HOLDERS

The purpose of the Critical Skills Employment Permit Scheme is to attract highly skilled people to Ireland in key areas where skills shortages have been identified, mainly in the IT Sector. The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) have recently announced an update on revised immigration arrangements for family members, spouses and partners of the holders of Critical Skills Employment Permits (CSEP).
The previous immigration requirement was that family members, spouses and partners of Critical Skills Employment Permits obtain their own Dependant /Partner/ Spouse Employment Permit from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI). Although more favourable conditions applied to the grant of these employment permits, this still amounted to an obstacle to access to the labour market and often delayed or hindered a person’s ability to work in the State.

From 6th March 2019, the INIS will now grant eligible spouses and de facto partners of CSEP holders’ permission to reside in the State on Stamp 1G Conditions, without the need to obtain a work permit from DBEI.

This change will affect the spouses and partners of non- EEA national CSEP holders in terms of their permissions in the State and their access to the labour market. In addition, the Policy change also applies to the partners and spouses of Researchers in the State on Hosting Agreements.

This policy change means that partners and spouses of CSEP holders no longer need to apply for and hold their own employment permit in order to work in the State. They will be eligible to work in the State on the basis of their own Stamp 1G permission.

The new procedure allows spouses or partners of CSEP holders currently resident in the State, to attend the INIS registration office at Burgh Quay. They will be issued a new Irish Residence Permit (IRP) on Stamp 1G. This will allow the registered person to access the labour market without acquiring a work permit.

There are no charges for those that present a valid IRP however if the current IRP is due for renewal, the normal registration of €300 will apply. If you wish to register under this new policy and you live outside of Dublin, you must attend your local Garda Registration Office.
In addition to this change in policy, from April 1st of 2019, INIS have also confirmed that there will be a new pre clearance procedure in place for non- EEA de facto partners and spouses of CSEP holders. Both visa and non-visa required nationals will now be required to seek permission to reside in the State as spouse or partner of a CSEP holder before arriving in the State. This new procedure is intended to reduce processing times and provide clarity with the new Stamp 1G conditions. The INIS have previously indicated their intention to operate such a pre clearance procedure in respect of many other family reunification applications from non-visa required persons. It will be interesting to see if this pre clearance procedure in respect of partners and spouses of CSEP holders is rolled out to other categories of family reunification.
Ultimately this new policy is intended to provide clearer conditions and more accessibility to the labour market for spouses and partners of CSEP holders. While there is now a necessity for non-EEA spouses and partners to go through a pre clearance procedure before entering the State, this has been introduced with the intention of a more streamlined application and registration process overall in respect of CSEP holder’s family members.

This change in policy is to be welcomed, it is our view that any restrictions on a person’s right to work and access the labour market should be removed from the Irish Immigration system. The Reform Stamp 3 campaign should be congratulated for their work in campaigning for this change.

Our office is currently working on many applications for change in immigration permission from Stamp 3 to Stamp 4 to allow our clients the right to work and earn a livelihood.