Work Permits and Retirement Routes to EU Residency

Key Highlights

• ✓ Critical Skills Employment Permit — the skilled work route: minimum annual remuneration of €40,904 for occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List, or €36,848 where you qualified within the previous twelve months; any other eligible occupation qualifies at €68,911 or above. It requires a two-year job offer, carries no labour market needs test, and allows immediate family reunification. The fee is €1,000, of which 90% is refunded if the application is unsuccessful.
• ✓ General Employment Permit — the broader work route: open to any occupation not on the Ineligible List, with a minimum annual remuneration of €36,605, or €32,691 and at least €16.12 per hour for named roles including health care assistants, home support workers, horticulture and meat processing. Issued for two years initially and renewable for up to three more.
• ✓ From permit to unrestricted permission: Critical Skills holders may move to Stamp 4 — living and working in Ireland without an employment permit — after 21 months from starting employment. General Employment Permit and intra-company transfer holders qualify at 57 months.
• ✓ Retiring to Ireland (Stamp 0, person of independent means): an individual income of €50,000 a year, plus access to a lump sum large enough to cover a major expense such as buying a home. Your finances must be certified by an Irish accountancy firm, private medical insurance is required, and you may not work or use State benefits or publicly funded services.
• ✓ The retirement application must be approved before you travel: you submit the TPER application form to Immigration Service Delivery and wait for an approval letter; visa-required applicants then obtain a D-Reside visa; on arrival you register your permission within 90 days. Applications take about four months on average.
• ✓ Citizenship: naturalisation requires 1,825 days of reckonable residence, including one continuous year immediately before you apply, with absences of up to 70 days permitted in that year. Time spent on Stamp 0 is not reckonable — retiring to Ireland does not build toward citizenship, while time on an employment permit does.