Correct as of 23 September 2026. Salary thresholds and permit rules change during the year. Get in touch and we will check the current position for your role and your accommodation arrangement before you spend anything on the process.
The short answer
No. There is no legal duty on an Irish employer to house a worker who arrives on a General Employment Permit or a Critical Skills Employment Permit.
That is the question employers ask. The questions that actually cost money come next. If you do offer a room, its value does not count toward the permit's minimum salary. Any rent you take through payroll has to be agreed the right way and declared on the permit application. And a "rent" deduction that quietly recovers the permit fee or the flights is a criminal offence.
This guide takes those in order, with the statute behind each one.
There is no duty to house
We hear the assumption most from farms and hotels outside the cities: that hiring from abroad means becoming a landlord. It stops good employers starting at all.
The Employment Permits Act 2024 does not say that. It mentions board and accommodation as something that may be agreed between you and the worker. Section 13 requires the application to specify the remuneration "and any deductions, where agreed, for board and accommodation". Section 21 carries the same statement onto the permit itself. "Where agreed" is the point. Housing is a term you can offer, not a condition of the grant.
The honest caveat is practical, not legal. Your new hire lands with no Irish rental history and no local references, into a tight rental market. If they cannot find a bed, they cannot start. So the real question is usually not "must I house them?" but "what will I do to make sure they have somewhere to go?" We come back to that below.
Accommodation does not count toward the salary floor
This is the most expensive misunderstanding on the topic, and it is written into the Act.
Section 3 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 defines "remuneration" three ways:
- General Employment, Critical Skills and most other permits: the salary, at an hourly rate no lower than the national minimum wage or any higher statutory rate, plus any payment for health insurance. Nothing else.
- Intra-company transfer and contract for services permits: salary, health insurance, and board and accommodation or its monetary value.
- Seasonal employment permits: salary, health insurance, and board and accommodation provided by the employer.
Board and accommodation appear only in the second and third. For the permits Irish employers actually use to hire a dairy assistant, a chef or a care worker, they are left out.
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's own General Employment Permit page says the same thing in plainer words. The components "deemed to be remuneration" are basic salary and health insurance paid to a registered Irish health insurer. That is the whole list.
In practice: whatever the threshold for your role, the salary in the contract has to reach it on its own, before any room, meals or transport are considered. A room worth a lot to the worker is worth nothing to the permit. We keep the threshold figures for each role in one place, so check our guide to permit salary thresholds for the figure that applies to your role.
Charging rent through payroll
You are allowed to provide accommodation and take a contribution for it from wages. Two sets of rules apply at once.
The Payment of Wages Act 1991
Section 5 lets you make a deduction only if a statute requires it, a term of the contract of employment authorises it, or the employee has given prior written consent. A rent deduction nearly always rests on a contract term or written consent.
Where the accommodation is necessary to the employment, such as a live-in role, section 5(2) adds more conditions. The deduction must be:
- authorised by a term of the contract, with the worker given a copy (or written notice of the term) before the accommodation is provided;
- fair and reasonable, having regard to all the circumstances, including the worker's wages;
- no more than the cost of the accommodation to you.
That last one surprises people. On a necessary-to-the-job arrangement, the rent deduction cannot be a profit line.
The permit application
Section 13(e) of the 2024 Act requires the application to specify any agreed deduction for board and accommodation. So the deduction has to line up across three documents: the contract, the application and, later, the payslips. Our guide to the contract DETE wants to see covers how those fields must match.
The deductions that sink a permit
Two patterns cause real damage.
The undeclared deduction. The permit states the salary and any agreed board and accommodation deduction. A renewal application has to include recent payslips, and DETE reads them against the permit. A weekly "accommodation" line that was never on the application, or is larger than stated, turns up as a discrepancy on the worker's own payslips. We cover what DETE looks at in our permit renewal guide.
The disguised recovery. Section 55 of the Act says an employer may not deduct from a permit holder's remuneration, or recover from them in any other way, any charge, fee or expense arising from:
- the permit application or renewal;
- the recruitment for the job;
- travel expenses you previously paid for the worker to take up the job.
Setting a rent figure that is really the flights spread over twelve months is still recovering the flights. Breaching section 55 is an offence. Under section 57, a conviction on indictment carries a fine of up to €50,000, up to five years' imprisonment, or both. The same section bars you from holding on to the worker's passport or other personal documents, which matters if you are also their landlord.
The clean arrangement is simple. Charge for the accommodation what the accommodation is, write it into the contract, declare it on the application, and keep every other cost on your side of the ledger.
Free or cheap housing is taxable
If you provide accommodation free or below its value, Revenue treats it as a benefit in kind. It is chargeable through PAYE to income tax, PRSI and USC, the same as salary. The rules below come from Revenue's page on free or subsidised accommodation, published 26 March 2026.
- Property you own: the benefit is the annual market rent, meaning what a landlord would charge an unconnected tenant, plus related costs you pay such as light and heat. Value it when you first provide it and review it every year. Revenue suggests evidence such as a statement from a local estate agent or auctioneer, and you must keep it for inspection.
- Furnished property: the furniture is a separate benefit, valued at 5% of its value when you first provided it.
- Property you lease in your own name: the benefit is the rent you pay, less anything the employee pays you.
- Rent you pay on a lease in the employee's name: Revenue treats this as a perquisite, taxed as the amount you paid less anything the employee makes good.
There is one exemption worth knowing. No benefit in kind arises where the employee is required to live in accommodation on part of your business premises in order to do the job. Revenue says this is usually met where the employee must be on call outside normal hours, is frequently called out, and the accommodation is there so they can reach work quickly. Care staff in residential or respite centres are one of Revenue's own examples. Revenue is also clear that you, the employer, decide whether the exemption applies on the facts, so a house on the farm is not exempt simply because it is on the farm.
The benefit in kind runs through payroll from the first payday, which is one more reason to have the worker's PPS number sorted early. See our first-payday payroll guide.
Helping without housing
Between "we house everyone" and "you're on your own" there is a lot of room, and it is where most employers we work with land. The common arrangements:
- A short landing period. A few weeks in a B&B, a spare room or short-let accommodation on arrival, while the worker finds their own place. Paid or subsidised by you, it is a benefit in kind, so run it through payroll.
- Help with the deposit. A deposit is often the real barrier. If you lend it and want repayments taken from wages, get the worker's written consent before the first deduction.
- A named local contact. Someone who knows the town, the landlords and the bus routes is often worth more than money.
- Introductions. Colleagues with a spare room, local landlords you already know, other employers in the area housing staff of their own.
Time is on your side here. For a worker from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, a General Employment Permit hire typically takes around six months from start to arrival, once the Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing, the visa and travel are counted. That is enough time to line up somewhere to live, if the conversation starts at the beginning rather than the week before the flight.
Where we come in
We raise accommodation on the first call, not the last. It affects the arrival date, the candidate you should pick and, if you are charging for a room, the contract and the application.
If you offer accommodation, we make sure the deduction is written into the contract, declared on the permit application and consistent with the payslips that follow, and that the salary clears the threshold without it. If you do not, we tell candidates that plainly at interview, so the person who accepts the job arrives knowing they are finding their own place.
CA Recruitment is Filipino-owned and based in Ireland. We place workers across agriculture, construction, healthcare, hospitality and care, and manage the DETE process end to end. For the full permit picture, start with our guide to hiring on a General Employment Permit, or see our agriculture and hospitality pages, where the housing question comes up most.
Weighing up whether to offer a room? Tell us about the role and we will set out what each option means for the permit, the payslip and your tax bill. Free, no obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Do Irish employers have to provide accommodation for overseas workers on an employment permit?
No. Nothing in the Employment Permits Act 2024 requires an employer to house the holder of a General Employment Permit or a Critical Skills Employment Permit. The Act treats board and accommodation as something the employer and worker may agree, and asks only that any agreed deduction for it be stated on the application. Many employers still help, because a worker who cannot find somewhere to live cannot start.
Does accommodation count toward the employment permit minimum salary?
Not for a General Employment Permit or a Critical Skills Employment Permit. Section 3 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 defines remuneration for those permits as salary plus any payment for health insurance. Board and accommodation are counted only for intra-company transfer, contract for services and seasonal employment permits. The salary line on its own has to clear the threshold for the role.
Can I deduct rent from an overseas worker's wages?
Yes, if it is set up correctly. The deduction must be authorised by a term of the contract of employment or by the worker's prior written consent under the Payment of Wages Act 1991, and the permit application must state any deduction agreed for board and accommodation. Where the accommodation is necessary to the job, the deduction must also be fair and reasonable and must not exceed what the accommodation costs you.
Is free staff accommodation a benefit in kind in Ireland?
Usually, yes. Revenue treats free or subsidised accommodation provided by an employer as a benefit in kind, charged through PAYE to income tax, PRSI and USC. For employer-owned property the value is the annual market rent plus related costs such as light and heat. There is an exemption where the employee is required to live on the business premises to do the job, for example to be on call.
Can I recover the permit fee or the worker's flights through a rent deduction?
No. Section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 prohibits an employer from deducting from the permit holder's remuneration, or recovering from them, any charge connected with the permit application or renewal, the recruitment, or travel expenses previously paid for taking up the job. Rolling those costs into a rent figure is still recovering them, and breaching section 55 is a criminal offence.