Certain Healthcare Occupations Now Eligible for Employment Permits

The following healthcare occupations have been removed from the Ineligible Categories of Employment List, making them eligible for Employment Permits:

• Health Care Assistant (earning over EUR 27,000 and with a new requirement to complete specified education while undertaking the role);
• Social Worker;
• Occupational Therapist;
• Physiotherapist; and
• Speech and Language Therapist

Additionally, the Dietician occupation has been added to the Critical Skills Occupations List, making applicants earning less than EUR 64,000 in this role eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit.

• Ineligible occupations. Employers are unable to sponsor applications for roles on the Ineligible Categories of Employment List, and therefore are generally only able to hire from within the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom for these roles. The change in the Ineligible list allows employers to recruit talent from outside Europe into these roles.
• Critical Skills Occupations List. Employers seeking to employ dieticians can now recruit foreign nationals under a Critical Skills Employment Permit while meeting the basic pay threshold of EUR 32,000. The Critical Skills Employment Permit allows foreign nationals to be accompanied by family when moving to Ireland and offers a faster route to a more secure immigration status. Dieticians earning over EUR 64,000 annually were already eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit, or a General Employment Permit if eligible.

Ireland regularly reviews ineligible and critical occupation lists, seeking stakeholder feedback, to ensure that these lists continue to accurately represent local labour market conditions.