Looking for an investment-based route? Ireland doesn't run one — its routes require either a job offer or proof of independent income, not a capital placement. See other countries' guides
Working in Ireland: do you qualify?
An English-speaking EU economy with skills-led work permits and a separate track for people living on independent means.
Two ways in, and Ireland checks them differently
An employer, a government nomination or an approved body puts its name behind the application.
- Critical Skills Employment Permit
- General Employment Permit€36,605
You qualify on your own record — skills, points or capital — with no sponsor standing behind you.
- Stamp 0 Permission for Persons of Independent Means
The conditions behind the routes above
Your degree, work experience or occupation has to clear a bar set for that specific route.
An employer, a government nomination, or an approved endorsing body has to stand behind the route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Ireland's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
For occupations Ireland has flagged as in shortage — the fastest of the employment routes, with a shorter runway to long-term status than the general permit.
The broader employment route, open to occupations outside the shortage list, with a longer path to eventual settlement.
Built for people who won't work in Ireland — retirees or others supporting themselves from outside income, renewed annually rather than tied to an employer.
The order Critical Skills Employment Permit follows
- 2026-03-01Ireland raised the minimum salary an employer must pay to sponsor a General Employment Permit, part of a phased set of increases across all employment permit categories running through 2030. source
Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Ireland's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentEvery official figure on this page is checked against Ireland's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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