Changes to Employment Permits regime

The government has published a new Employment Permits Bill which will become law this year.

We welcome the change which addresses the situation which allows an employer to avoid liability for breach of an employee’s rights where the employee does not have a work permit (as identified by the High Court in the Younis case in 2012).

The types of employment permit

The new Bill will provide nine different types of permit. These are

• A Critical Skills Employment Permit to replace the ‘Green card’ which currently exists. This type of permit has been designed to address critical shortages of skills, which will be identified in Regulations. In order to attract individuals who possess such skills, this permit type allows immediate family reunification and a fast track to residency. In addition, a number of the criteria normally applying to issue of an employment permit will be waived for this category;
• A Spouses, Civil Partners and Dependents Employment Permit to enable the family members of holders of Critical Skills Employment Permits and Researchers, to work in the State;
• A General Employment Permit which will issue in cases where a contract for a designated highly skilled occupation has been offered for a duration of less than two years, or for other occupations, apart from those included on a list of ineligible jobs, where a number of other criteria have been met;
• An Intra­Company Transfer Employment Permit to allow for the temporary transfer of employees between affiliated foreign and Irish companies;
• A Reactivation Employment Permit to allow for the return of individuals to employment who had fallen out of the employment permits system through no fault of their own;
• A Contract for Services Employment Permit to allow the employee of a foreign company that has entered a contract with an Irish company to work in the State;
• An Exchange Agreement Employment Permit to allow individuals to whom a designated exchange agreement applies to work in the State;
• A Sports and Cultural Employment Permit to allow individuals with sporting or cultural expertise to work in the State;
• An Internship Employment Permit to allow students of foreign institutions to work in the State, where that is a key component of the course which they are following.