Employers review permit eligibility as Ireland raises salary thresholds

Ireland has increased the minimum salary thresholds for employment permits as part of the government’s plan to raise the thresholds gradually over the coming years. The change, which took effect on 1 March, means when a permit comes up for renewal the employee must meet the salary requirement in force at that time, not the one that applied when the permit was first granted. The message to employers with sponsored staff who are paid close to the current limits is – you may want to review that now rather than wait until renewal. We’ll speak to our Dublin-based immigration expert about the change and its impact.

This latest increase forms part of a roadmap first signalled in 2023 to bring employment permit salary levels more closely into line with pay across the Irish labour market. The adjustments are being introduced in stages, giving employers greater visibility over how the thresholds are expected to evolve through the rest of the decade. Even so, the changes can raise practical questions for employers whose sponsored workers are paid at, or only slightly above, the minimum required levels, particularly when permits come up for renewal. Employers may also need to consider how allowances are treated in salary calculations, how graduate recruitment routes interact with the permit rules, and how renewal timing affects eligibility. 

So let’s get a view on this. Earlier I spoke to Louise Shaw, an immigration lawyer based in Dublin who explained the background to this: 

Louise Shaw: “From 1 March the salary thresholds for employment permits are increasing again. This started back in 2023 as a plan to incrementally increase employment permit thresholds over two years. We now have a road map and it's looking likely that the permit thresholds will increase gradually up to 2030, instead of the original plan of just two years. This was in response to feedback from employers that the salary thresholds were increasing slightly too fast, so the Department of Employment has paid attention to that and is now doing a much slower, incremental increase up to 2030. But employers are still likely to feel the impact of this, particularly those that have migrants on permits very close to the thresholds, because when they renew their permits those migrants will need to be paid the current thresholds, not the threshold when they first applied for a permit. The general permits, for example, are available for two years initially, and then can be increased for a further three years so at that point of renewal the migrant will need to be paid the current threshold and they are increasing broadly between 2,000 to 3,000 Euros every year for the next four years.”

Joe Glavina: “What are the renewal risks for employers with existing sponsored employees under these updated thresholds?”

Louise Shaw: “So for employers with migrants on existing permits there are renewal risks because the migrant needs to be paid the increased threshold at the time of renewal. In particular sectors this will be more keenly felt, particularly in sectors such as healthcare where migrants are often paid at the threshold or very, very, close to it. In those sorts of sectors migrants might also count some allowances, for example accommodation or travel allowances, in that threshold to make up the threshold to meet the salary and in those circumstances the allowances are very keenly scrutinised by the Department at every renewal and there's a risk that the migrant just isn't paid enough at the time of renewal.”

Joe Glavina: “So what practical steps should employers be taking now to ensure they are prepared for this?”

Louise Shaw: “So in terms of practical steps, it's important to audit your workforce now, check how many staff you've got on permits, what salaries they're on and, critically, when each individual migrant will need to renew their permit and what the salary threshold is likely to be at the point of renewal. Check if they've got any allowances that they're counting and whether those will still be permitted, and whether they will be able to improve the allowances with the correct documentation when they reapply. It's also important if you are planning to rely on the new graduate route, which is available for migrants who have graduated from an institution with a degree. That’s available at a lower threshold within the first 12 months after graduating but, again, at the renewal stage that graduate would need to be paid the usual threshold for their role and, if they're not, then they won't be able to renew. So if you are planning to rely on the graduate route, you need to assess whether it’s feasible that the migrant will be paid the usual threshold of their salary when they renew their permit.”

Joe Glavina: “Finally, Louise, how does this affect employers with a presence in both the UK and Ireland?”

Louise Shaw: “So it's important to remember that they are completely distinct immigration systems, and for this purpose Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and then we've got the Republic of Ireland. So where there are employers who might have the need for workers who need a visa to travel between the two, it's very important to make sure that the migrant has the correct work permission for the country that they're working in. So if they're living and working in Belfast, for example, but they need to travel down to Dublin for work, they need to check whether they can do that within the permitted business visitor rules, and whether they have to apply for a business visa in advance or whether they actually need an employment permit in Ireland to carry out work in Dublin.” 

If you have sponsored workers you may want to review your  position now, particularly if you have permits that are coming up for renewal. That might involve checking salary levels against the updated thresholds, reviewing when existing permits expire, and making sure any allowances or graduate routes will still satisfy the rules. If you would like help with that kind of review, please do contact Louise – her details are on the screen for you.