You have submitted an employment permit application for a new hire. Now you want to know where it stands. This guide tells you exactly where to look, what each status label means, and what you should do at each stage — whether your application is in the new Employment Permits Online portal or was submitted under the old system.
Where to check your application status
Since 28 April 2025, all Irish employment permit applications are managed through Employment Permits Online, the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's (DETE) cloud-based portal. The portal is at:
employmentpermits.enterprise.gov.ie
Log in with the email address and password you registered with. Once inside your account, you will see a record of all current and historical applications linked to that account. The status of each application is displayed on the application record and updates as the application moves through the processing stages.
For applications submitted before the portal launched on 28 April 2025, see the legacy section below — the process is different.
Registering for Employment Permits Online
If you have not yet registered, you will need to do so before you can track any application (or submit one). Registration requires:
- A valid email address and password
- Verification via Multi-Factor Authentication (a code sent to your mobile phone)
- Your company's Revenue details (tax registration number) and CRO number
After you submit your registration documents, DETE's Employment Permits Unit validates the account before it is activated. Once it is live, you can add additional contact points to the account — there is no limit — and any of those contacts can access application records and prepare or submit applications.
The employer, the employee, and any appointed agent each have their own separate portal account. All three are linked to the same application and can each view its status independently. This is a significant change from the old system, where status information was handled through separate email enquiries.
One important update: the Trusted Partner Initiative no longer exists under Employment Permits Online. All employers now operate through portal accounts, and because Revenue and CRO documents are submitted as part of registration, the separate trusted-partner process is not needed. Every employer with a valid portal account is treated equivalently.
What each status stage means
Once inside your portal account, your application will show one of the following status labels. Here is what each one means and what is happening at that stage.
Draft You have started the application but not yet submitted it. No processing has begun. The application remains entirely in your hands until you submit.
Awaiting Payment The application has been submitted but the permit fee has not yet been received or confirmed. DETE will not begin processing until the fee is cleared.
Processing The application is in the DETE decision queue and is being worked through in date order of receipt. This is the stage measured by the DETE current processing dates page — see our processing times tracker for the current figures.
Requested Information DETE has identified a query or a gap in the application and is asking you to provide something additional. An email notification will issue from the Employment Permits Online system to the verified email addresses linked to the application (employer, employee, and agent if applicable). The application is not being processed while this is open. Respond promptly and correctly — an application left unresponded to for too long can lapse.
Issued The permit has been granted and issued. For General Employment Permit holders, this triggers the next steps: the worker from a visa-required country applies for a long-stay employment visa, then arranges travel and registration on arrival in Ireland. Reaching this stage is not the same as the worker being ready to start.
Refused The application has been decided and the permit has not been granted. DETE will provide a reason. There is a right of appeal — see the section below on what to do next.
Appeal An appeal is in progress against a refusal decision. Appeals are processed in date order of receipt and currently carry a significant waiting time — as of 3 July 2026, DETE is deciding reviews and appeals received on 16 December 2025, which represents a wait of roughly six and a half months. If you are appealing, factor that into your hiring plan and consider whether an alternative permit type or route is available in the meantime.
Legacy applications (pre-April 2025)
If an application was submitted before 28 April 2025 under the old system, it will not appear in Employment Permits Online in the same way. For those applications, DETE provides a separate status enquiry form at:
enterprise.gov.ie → Employment Permits → Employment Permit Status Form
To use it you will need the Application ID (in the format EP-ABC100/10), the employee's date of birth, and an email address to receive the response. Once submitted, an automated email response typically issues within one hour, telling you the current processing stage and — where a decision has been made — the decision and its date.
For queries that the automated response does not resolve, contact the Employment Permits Unit directly (see below).
What to do at each stage
While processing: The most important thing you can do is wait with a clean application. A returned application — one where DETE has to come back to you for a missing document or a mismatched figure — leaves the queue while you fix it. The weeks you spent waiting are lost and the clock resets. The best way to avoid this is to get the application right before you submit it: correct salary, complete documents, a Labour Market Needs Test that was run to the letter. Our step-by-step application guide covers each requirement.
On Requested Information: Read the query carefully, compile everything DETE has asked for, and respond through the portal in one complete reply. Partial responses or follow-up emails create delays. If the request is unclear, call the Employment Permits Unit before responding.
On Issued: Do not assume the worker can start immediately. For a worker from the Philippines or another visa-required country, an employment visa application must be made to Immigration Service Delivery — that step takes several weeks. Line it up immediately once the permit issues. See our full processing timeline guide for the stages that follow the permit decision.
On Refused: Read the reason statement carefully. Common grounds for refusal include salary below the legal minimum for the role, a Labour Market Needs Test that does not meet the requirements, or a role on the ineligible occupations list. If the refusal is on a point you believe was incorrect, the appeal process is available — but with current appeal waiting times near six months, weigh whether addressing the ground of refusal and making a fresh application is the faster route.
Contacting DETE about your application
Technical issues with the portal: Email [email protected] — this address handles Employment Permits Online system-access and technical queries only.
Status and processing queries: Phone: 0818 80 80 90 (Lo-Call, within Ireland) or (059) 917 8900 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm.
A few practical points about calling. The phone lines can be busy during peak periods. If you are calling about a specific application, have your Application ID ready. For a straightforward status query on an application submitted after April 2025, the portal itself is faster than a phone call — the status is live and does not require waiting in a call queue.
How CA Recruitment handles this for employers
Tracking an application is one thing. Keeping it clean enough to avoid ever seeing a "Requested Information" status is another. In our experience, a Requested Information notification is almost always avoidable — it comes from a mismatched document, a salary that drifted below the legal minimum, or a Labour Market Needs Test advert that was pulled or amended before the 28 days were up.
We manage the permit process end to end for our clients. That means the Labour Market Needs Test run correctly, the application submitted complete, and the visa steps lined up to follow the permit without a gap. Our clients do not need to watch the portal and worry about what each label means — we do that for them.
If you are planning a hire and want the permit handled without the day-to-day monitoring, talk to us. We cover both General Employment Permits and Critical Skills Employment Permits, across all sectors.