Ireland: Seasonal Employment Permit Program Commences

• Seasonal work. The permit – open to non-European Economic Area nationals – allows for seasonal-period work as a so-called ‘horticultural operative’ in the soft fruit or vegetable growing sector for a maximum of seven months per year, from April 14 until November 13.
• Renewal. A Seasonal Employment Permit holder will be able to renew their permit two additional times.
• Minimum salary level. The minimum annual remuneration for a Seasonal Employment Permit is EUR 30,000.
• Approved employers. Seasonal Employment Permits can only be granted to employees of an approved seasonal employer. At present, only six employers will be granted ‘approved seasonal employer’ status each year. An approved seasonal employer must employ at least two Seasonal Employment Permit employees during their employer approval period.

The Seasonal Employment Permit will provide employers with a new pathway to source seasonal talent, which is expected to benefit the horticulture and food production sectors. Previously, employers were either unable to source seasonal foreign workers or instead had to rely upon alternative immigration pathways, which provided less certainty or were administratively challenging.

This new Seasonal Employment Permit – which first emerged as part of wide-ranging mid-2024 legislative reform but only came into effect in February 2025 – is part of Irish efforts to make the employment permit system more flexible and responsive to the labor market.

The current implementation of the Seasonal Employment Permit is in pilot form and could be expanded in scope in the future, including more approved employers per year and greater breadth of eligible roles and sectors. The government is currently proceeding cautiously with this permit type given its comparatively lower minimum salaries and generally novel quality in the Irish immigration system.