Employment Permits Act 2024

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Employment Permits Act 2024.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions and for the repeal of different enactments or provisions of enactments effected by section 6.

2. Interpretation

2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1963” means the Registration of Business Names Act 1963;

“Act of 1967” means the Redundancy Payments Act 1967;

“Act of 1997” means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997;

“Act of 2003” means the Employment Permits Act 2003;

“Act of 2006” means the Employment Permits Act 2006;

“applicant”, in relation to an application, means the person who made the application;

“application” means an application under section 12 or, as the case may be, section 36;

“approved seasonal employer” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10(5);

“approved seasonal employer certificate” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10(6);

“civil partner” means a civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“connected”, in relation to the connection between a connected person and a foreign employer, means—

(a) the connected person is a subsidiary of the foreign employer,

(b) the foreign employer is a subsidiary of the connected person,

(c) the connected person and the foreign employer are both subsidiaries of a holding company that carries on business in the State or outside the State, or

(d) the connected person and the foreign employer have entered into an agreement with another person whereby each of them agree to carry on business or provide services with each other in more than one state and to carry on business or provide services in the manner provided for in the agreement;

“connected person” means a person carrying on business in the State who is connected to a foreign employer;

“contract for service employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(e);

“contract of employment” means—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing;

“contract service agreement” means an agreement between a relevant person and a contractor whereby the contractor agrees to provide, cause, or arrange for, services to be rendered for or on behalf of the relevant person;

“contractor”, in relation to a contract service agreement, means the person who agrees to provide, cause, or arrange for, services the subject of the contract service agreement to be rendered for or on behalf of a relevant person;

“critical skills employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(a);

“date of dismissal”, in relation to a foreign national who is dismissed by reason of redundancy, has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Act of 1967;

“dependant” means a foreign national who—

(a) has been determined by the Minister for Justice to be a dependant, other than the spouse or civil partner, of a primary permit holder or a research project researcher,

(b) has, since he or she landed in the State, resided in the State on a continual basis,

(c) is not in full-time education, and

(d) resides with the primary permit holder or the research project researcher referred to in paragraph (a);

“dependant employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(b);

“Directive 2005/71/EC” means Council Directive 2005/71/EC of 12 October 2005[^1] on a specific procedure for admitting third-country nationals for the purposes of scientific research;

“dismissed by reason of redundancy” means the dismissal by an employer within the meaning of section 9 of the Act of 1967 where the dismissal is—

(a) attributable wholly or mainly to one or more of the matters specified in paragraphs (a) to (e) of section 7(2) of the Act of 1967, or

(b) a dismissal referred to in section 21 of the Act of 1967;

“economic sector” means a sector of the economy concerned with a specific economic activity requiring specific qualifications, skills or knowledge;

“employer”, in relation to a foreign national who is in employment in the State, means the person with whom the foreign national has entered into or for whom the foreign national works under (or where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

“employment permit”, subject to section 70, means an employment permit granted under section 19;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005;

“enterprise development agency” means Enterprise Ireland or the Industrial Development Agency (Ireland);

“exchange agreement” means an agreement, including an international agreement to which the State is a party, that provides for the reciprocal employment—

(a) of Irish citizens, or certain Irish citizens, in the state in which a contracting party is located, and

(b) in the State, of foreign nationals, or certain foreign nationals, of a contracting party;

“exchange agreement employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(g);

“foreign employer” means a person carrying on business outside the State;

“foreign national” means a non-national within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1999;

“foreign national concerned” has the meaning assigned to it by section 12(3);

“general employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(c);

“health insurance” means insurance providing for the costs and charges of medical treatment;

“health insurer” means a person entered in the Register of Health Benefits Undertakings referred to in section 14 of the Health Insurance Act 1994;

“holder”, in relation to an employment permit, means the foreign national to whom it has been granted;

“holding company” shall be construed in accordance with section 8 of the Companies Act 2014;

“internship employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(i);

“intra-company transfer employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(d);

“Irish citizen” means an Irish citizen within the meaning of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956;

“medical treatment” includes medical services or medical care;

“Member State of the EEA” means a state that is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as amended for the time being;

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

“national minimum hourly rate of pay” has the same meaning as it has in the National Minimum Wage Act 2000;

“non-consultant hospital doctor” means a person who is employed as a registered medical practitioner within the meaning of section 2 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, other than a person registered in the Specialist Division within the meaning of that section;

“place” includes any dwelling or any building or part of a building;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“primary permit holder” means a foreign national to whom a critical skills employment permit—

(a) has been granted and is in force, or

(b) had been granted and has expired and following such expiration—

(i) the foreign national has been given the permission referred to in section 8(1)(f) to remain in the State, and

(ii) is in employment in the State pursuant to the condition, referred to in section 8(1)(f), of that permission;

“public interest” includes—

(a) public order and the interests of national security,

(b) public health and safety,

(c) the need to protect and strengthen the labour market, and

(d) supporting the economic growth of the State;

“reactivation employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(f);

“register” has the meaning assigned to it by section 64(2);

“registered with the Revenue Commissioners” means registered with the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with regulations made under section 986 of the Act of 1997;

“regulatory body” means a body which is concerned with regulating the entry to or the carrying on of, a profession, employment or trade in the State and includes a body established by or under any enactment;

“relevant person”, in relation to a contract service agreement, means the person for whom, or on whose behalf, services are rendered under the contract service agreement;

“remuneration” shall be construed in accordance with section 3;

“research project researcher” means a foreign national—

(a) who, pursuant to Directive 2005/71/EC, has been granted permission by the Minister for Justice to be in the State to carry out research pursuant to the Directive, or

(b) who, having been granted the permission referred to in paragraph (a)—

(i) has been given the permission referred to in section 8(1)(f) to remain in the State, and

(ii) is in employment in the State pursuant to the condition, referred to in section 8(1)(f), of that permission;

“seasonal employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(j);

“seasonally recurrent employment” means an employment that relates to a certain time of the year or seasonal conditions;

“sports and cultural employment permit” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(2)(h);

“standard working week remuneration” means the weekly remuneration that the foreign national concerned would receive if he or she were to work 39 hours each week at—

(a) the national minimum hourly rate of pay, or

(b) if the hourly rate of pay fixed under or pursuant to any enactment that applies to the employment concerned is greater than the national minimum hourly rate of pay, the hourly rate of pay that is fixed under or pursuant to that enactment;

“statement of earnings”, in relation to a foreign national who is in employment in the State, means a statement of the remuneration paid to the foreign national—

(a) that is provided to the foreign national to demonstrate that the foreign national has been paid his or her remuneration, and

(b) that accompanies the periodic payment of that remuneration and specifies in writing the gross amount of the remuneration paid and any deductions made from that gross amount;

“subcontractor”, in relation to a contract service agreement, means a person who enters into an agreement with a contractor to provide services (in whole or in part) the subject of the contract service agreement;

“subsidiary” shall be construed in accordance with section 7 of the Companies Act 2014.

(2) In this Act, a reference to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and “citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” shall be construed accordingly.

(3) In this Act, references to a document or record are references to a document or record in written or electronic form and, for this purpose “written” includes any form of notation or code whether by hand or otherwise and regardless of the method by which, or medium in or on which, the document or record concerned is recorded.

3. Definition of “remuneration”

3. (1) In this Act, “remuneration” means—

(a) subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), the total amount of—

(i) the salary that is paid to a foreign national, the hourly rate of which shall be not less than the national minimum hourly rate of pay or, where appropriate to the employment in respect of which the application is made, the hourly rate referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “standard working week remuneration”, and

(ii) any payment for health insurance in respect of a foreign national should he or she require medical treatment for illness or injury during the period for which the employment permit is in force,

(b) in respect of an intra-company transfer employment permit or a contract service agreement employment permit, the total amount of—

(i) the salary that is paid to a foreign national, the hourly rate of which shall be not less than the national minimum hourly rate of pay or, where appropriate to the employment in respect of which the application is made, the hourly rate referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “standard working week remuneration”,

(ii) any payment for board and accommodation, or either of them, or the monetary value of board and accommodation directly provided by the connected person, foreign employer, contractor or subcontractor, and

(iii) any payment for health insurance in respect of a foreign national should he or she require medical treatment for illness or injury during the period for which the employment permit is in force and which is made by the foreign employer or the connected person or both of them or by the contractor or subcontractor to—

(I) a health insurer, or

(II) a person outside the State who provides insurance for medical treatment in respect of the foreign national that has the same, or similar, effect as the health insurance provided by a health insurer,

or

(c) in respect of a seasonal employment permit, the total amount of—

(i) the salary that is paid to a foreign national, the hourly rate of which shall be not less than the national minimum hourly rate of pay or, where appropriate to the employment in respect of which the application is made, the hourly rate referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “standard working week remuneration”,

(ii) any payment for board and accommodation, or either of them, or the monetary value of board and accommodation directly provided by the employer, and

(iii) any payment for health insurance in respect of a foreign national should he or she require medical treatment for illness or injury during the period for which the employment permit is in force.

(2) In this Act—

(a) references to remuneration in relation to an application for the grant of an employment permit and the consideration of such application by the Minister shall be construed as the remuneration, specified in that application, that is proposed to be paid by—

(i) the person who has made the offer of employment in respect of which the application is made,

(ii) in the case of an intra-company transfer employment permit, the foreign employer, in accordance with section 24 and the payments in respect of the remuneration to be paid, in accordance with section 24, by the connected person,

(iii) in the case of a contract for services employment permit, the contractor or subcontractor in accordance with section 25, or

(iv) in the case of a foreign national who is employed under a contract of employment referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “contract of employment”, the employment agency or third person concerned,

and

(b) references to remuneration after a permit has been granted shall be construed as the remuneration paid to the holder of the permit by an employer, a foreign employer or connected person in accordance with section 24, or a contractor or subcontractor in accordance with section 25, during the period for which the employment permit has been granted in respect of the employment for which the employment permit was granted.

4. Regulations

4. (1) The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2) Different regulations under subsection (1) may be made in respect of different classes of matter the subject of the prescribing concerned and for different circumstances or classes of circumstances in relation to such different matters or different classes of matters.

(3) Regulations under this Act may contain such incidental, supplementary, consequential and transitional provisions as the Minister considers necessary for the purposes or in consequence of, or to give full effect to, such regulations.

(4) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling such regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

5. Expenses

5. The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6. Repeals and revocations

6. (1) The following enactments are repealed:

(a) the Act of 2003;

(b) the Act of 2006.

(2) The Employment Permits Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 95 of 2017) are revoked.

PART 2 Employment in State of Foreign Nationals

Chapter 1 Prohibition on employment in State without employment permit

7. Employment in State of foreign nationals

7. (1) A foreign national shall not—

(a) enter the service of an employer in the State, or

(b) be in employment in the State,

except in accordance with an employment permit that is in force in respect of that foreign national.

(2) Subsection (1)(b) applies whether the employment concerned results from—

(a) the foreign national being employed in the State by a person,

(b) the foreign national being employed outside the State by a foreign employer and being required by that foreign employer to carry out duties for, or participate in a training programme provided by, a person in the State who is connected to the foreign employer,

(c) the foreign national being employed outside the State by a person to perform duties in the State the subject of a contract service agreement, or

(d) any other arrangement.

(3) A person shall not employ a foreign national in the State except in accordance with an employment permit that is in force in respect of that foreign national.

(4) Where a contract service agreement is entered into between a relevant person and a contractor and either—

(a) it is customary in the trade or business in which the agreement is entered into, or