Ireland Work Permit for Non-EU Nationals: What Indian, Filipino, and Brazilian Applicants Need to Know

Getting an Ireland work permit as a non-EEA national involves two separate approval processes: the employment permit from the Department of Enterprise, and the entry visa from the Department of Justice. Both must be in hand before you can travel. This two-step structure trips up applicants who assume the permit is the finish line.

The specifics vary depending on your nationality, which embassy you apply through, and whether your role falls under the standard General Employment Permit criteria or one of the sectoral rules. Here is what applicants from India, the Philippines, Brazil, Nigeria, and other visa-required countries need to know.

Step One: The Employment Permit

The General Employment Permit (GEP) is issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE). It is the employer's application — they initiate it through EPOS 2.0 — but both the employer and the prospective employee must have accounts on the system and co-sign the submission.

Before the application can be submitted, the employer must complete a Labour Market Needs Test (LMNT): advertising the role on three platforms for 28 consecutive days and demonstrating that no suitable EEA candidate was available. This is the longest and most administrative part of the process.

Once the application is submitted, DETE processing takes approximately 9 to 11 weeks. The fee is €1,000 for a standard 24-month permit. If refused, 90% is refunded.

The minimum salary for a standard GEP role as of March 2026 is €36,605. Healthcare assistants, meat processing operatives, and horticulture workers qualify at €32,691. These thresholds apply to gross basic salary only — benefits and bonuses do not count.

Step Two: The D-Visa (Long Stay Employment Visa)

If you are a citizen of a visa-required country — which includes India, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Pakistan, and many others — you cannot enter Ireland on your employment permit alone. You also need a Long Stay 'D' Employment Visa, issued by the Department of Justice through the Irish embassy or consulate in your home country.

This is a separate application from the employment permit. You apply for it after your permit is granted, not at the same time. Submitting both simultaneously is not possible in the current system.

The D-Visa assesses different criteria than the employment permit. The visa officer at the embassy evaluates:

• Your immigration history (previous refusals from the UK, US, Canada, or Australia must be disclosed and will be assessed)
• Your financial standing (typically 6 months of bank statements)
• Your ties to your home country — family, property, previous international travel history — which are used to assess overstay risk
• The authenticity of your documents

Holding an approved employment permit does not guarantee D-Visa approval. The two processes are independent.

Country-Specific Notes

India

India is the largest single source of GEP holders after the Philippines. Indian applicants most commonly come to Ireland for healthcare assistant roles, construction trades, and food production roles.

The Irish visa office for India is in New Delhi. Processing times run approximately 4 to 8 weeks for a D-Visa. Approval rates are generally high for applicants with a confirmed employment permit, strong financial documentation, and no prior refusals. Indian nationals who have previously applied for UK or Australian visas and been refused should disclose this clearly — omitting it is treated as misrepresentation and results in refusal.

Recent Irish graduates from Irish universities applying for their first GEP benefit from a reduced salary threshold of €34,009 (reintroduced in 2026), which can make it easier to meet the minimum for their first role in Ireland.

Philippines

Filipino workers represent a significant share of Ireland's healthcare and domestic care workforce. The Philippines is the largest single source of healthcare assistant permit holders in the Irish system.

Key point for Filipino applicants: the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) requires overseas employment documentation for Filipino workers taking up positions abroad. Your employer's Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) compliance needs to be confirmed before you travel. Failure to have DMW-cleared documentation can cause problems at the Philippine departure gate regardless of your Irish permit and visa status.

Irish visa processing for Filipino applicants typically goes through the Irish embassy in Manila. Processing time is similar to the New Delhi office — 4 to 8 weeks — with a solid approval rate for confirmed permit holders.

Brazil

Brazil does not have a bilateral social security agreement with Ireland, which means Brazilian workers pay both Irish social insurance contributions and, potentially, Brazilian contributions on income earned abroad, depending on their specific situation. This is worth clarifying with a tax advisor before accepting an offer.

Brazilian applicants apply for an Irish D-Visa through the Irish embassy in Brasília or the consulate in São Paulo. Processing runs at 4 to 6 weeks in most cases.

Nigeria

Nigerian applicants face the most complex situation of any major source country. The Abuja visa office currently has a processing time of 8 to 12 weeks, and refusal rates run at approximately 35 to 45%, significantly higher than other offices.

Refusals in Abuja most frequently stem from:

• Undisclosed prior visa refusals from the UK, US, Canada, or Australia
• Insufficient financial documentation (the bank statement requirement is assessed strictly)
• Weak evidence of ties to Nigeria (family, property, employment history)
• Document authenticity questions

Nigerian applicants should prepare the most comprehensive D-Visa package possible, including multiple forms of evidence of ties to Nigeria. If you have had a visa refused anywhere — even from several years ago — disclose it. The consequence of non-disclosure is far worse than the refusal history itself.

The Full Timeline for Non-EU Applicants

For the typical non-EU applicant, the end-to-end timeline looks like this:

Plan for 6 to 8 months from the start of the LMNT to your first day at work. Some nationalities — particularly those going through Abuja — should plan for the upper end of that range.

IRP Registration and PPS Number

After arriving in Ireland on your permit and D-Visa, you must register with Immigration Service Delivery within 90 days to get your Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card. This is the physical card that proves your right to work for the employer named on your permit. It carries the Stamp 1 permission.

Registration happens at the Burgh Quay Registration Office in Dublin, or at local Garda registration offices outside Dublin if your work location is not in the capital. You need your passport, your employment permit, and proof of your Irish residential address. The registration fee is €300.

After IRP registration, apply for a PPS number — Ireland's version of a national insurance number — through the Department of Social Protection. This ensures your employer can run payroll correctly and that you are building a contribution record for Irish social insurance purposes.

Your Rights as a Non-EEA Worker in Ireland

A 2026 survey by MRCI found that more than 71% of GEP holders reported experiencing some form of employment rights breach. The most common were unlawful deductions, failure to provide payslips, and being pressured not to change employer after the 9-month mobility period had elapsed.

Key rights to know:

• Your employer cannot deduct the €1,000 permit application fee from your wages (the law requires the employer to bear this cost)
• After 9 months, you have the right to request a change of employer within your SOC occupation code without needing the employer's permission to do so
• Your salary must meet the current MAR threshold — the employer cannot offer a lower rate on the basis of nationality
• You have access to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to make complaints about pay, hours, or conditions regardless of your permit status

Understanding the 9-month change of employer rule is particularly important. It exists to prevent exploitation, but many GEP holders do not know it exists until they are already past the point where they needed it.

The 57-Month Path to Stamp 4

Every month you spend working legally in Ireland on a GEP counts toward the 57 months required to apply for Stamp 4 — unrestricted work permission that allows you to work for any employer or become self-employed without a permit.

For the full details on the Stamp 4 pathway, what documents you need to have retained over the 57-month period, and how to apply once you reach the threshold, see our post on the Stamp 1 to Stamp 4 pathway for GEP holders.

The Ireland General Employment Permit Guide includes country-specific checklists for the D-Visa application, the EPOS document list, and a rights summary you can keep alongside your contract — so you know what your employer is and is not permitted to do from your first week in work.

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