Certain Healthcare Occupations Now Eligible for Employment Permits
June 15, 2021
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At a Glance
- Effective immediately, certain healthcare occupations have been removed from the Ineligible Categories of Employment List in Ireland, making foreign nationals in these positions eligible for Employment Permits.
- Additionally, the Dietician occupation has been added to the Critical Skills Occupations List, making applicants in this role eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit in certain circumstances.
The situation
Effective immediately, more healthcare occupations are eligible for Employment Permits in Ireland following changes to the Ineligible Categories of Employment List and Critical Skills Occupations List.
A closer look
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.
Impact
- 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.
Background
Ireland regularly reviews ineligible and critical occupation lists, seeking stakeholder feedback, to ensure that these lists continue to accurately represent local labour market conditions.
Looking ahead
These changes address increased scarcity of skilled healthcare workers despite increased efforts to recruit from the Irish and European labour markets. The new policy allows Irish employers to seek skilled staff outside Europe.
The Health Service Capacity Review 2018 forecasted that by 2031, there will be a 59% increase in the population aged over 65, a 95% increase in the population aged over 85 and an increase of 10,000 long-term care beds required; as well as flagging significant EU-wide shortages over a range of health care roles. The Irish Health Services Executive plans to recruit 16,000 additional staff to anticipate these developments.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
