Ireland: New Employment Permit Application Platform Launched

• Sole application platform. Employers and employees must use the new EPO platform for all Employment Permit applications moving forward.
• New features. The new EPO platform includes two-factor authentication, and the ability to electronically sign and track Employment Permit applications.
• Application documentation. Despite this new system, the information and documentation that applicants must provide in support of an application remains the same.
• Pending applications. All submitted Employment Permit applications that were still pending on the previous system when it was taken offline should have been migrated to EPO. Any unsubmitted or draft applications have not been moved to the new system and must be re-drafted on the new EPO.
• Registration. Employers seeking to use the EPO system must first register and supply certain documentation before they may submit any Employment Permit applications.

As this is a new platform, and given the volume of applications that it will need to support, it is expected that there may be initial delays for Employment Permit applications. Some employers have been experiencing challenges and initial bugs have been identified since the new system’s launch. Fragomen is actively liaising with the DETE in relation to these issues, providing feedback to the authorities and will advise of any impact on application timelines.

This latest development is in line with Ireland’s continued digital transformation in the immigration space, along with the expansion of the online renewal process for Irish Residence Permit cards, the new Digital Contact Centre (an immigration self-service portal), and the new online process for in-country applications for permission under the De Facto Partnership scheme.

Fragomen remains actively engaged with the DETE on issues that have arisen for employers and foreign nationals during this rollout and, in particular, can support the new initial employer registration process. It is hoped that any initial challenges being experienced will be resolved by the DETE as soon as possible.

It also remains to be seen how this new online system will interact with the government’s planned efforts to combine Employment Permits and visas into a single application procedure, which would allow Ireland to opt-in to the European Union’s Single Permit Directive. We will report on this as more information is available.