Most Irish employers don't get stuck on whether they can hire a worker from outside the EEA. They get stuck on the filing itself — which portal, who is allowed to submit, what goes in the document pack, and what the fee actually is. This is the mechanics of the application: how a permit is filed in 2026, start to finish, and where the avoidable delays sit.
If you would rather not touch the portal at all, that is the short version of what CA Recruitment does — we run the submission for you. But here is exactly what the process involves.
Where applications are filed: EPOS
Every employment permit application is filed online through Employment Permits Online, at employmentpermits.enterprise.gov.ie, run by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. It launched on 28 April 2025 and replaced the old EPOS system. You will still hear the whole process called EPOS — DETE's own support mailbox is still [email protected] — but the old epos.enterprise.gov.ie address no longer serves a portal, so bookmark the new one.
EPOS works on separate accounts for each party. There is an employer account, an employee (worker) account, and an agent account. A single application is built collaboratively: you fill in the employer sections, the worker enters their own personal information from their own account, and if an agent is appointed they complete the parts for whoever they represent. Everyone signs electronically before it goes in.
That account structure matters for one practical reason. You cannot fully complete an application on your own — the worker has to enter their side. Coordinating that across time zones is one of the most common causes of a stalled draft.
Who can submit the application
Either the employer or the worker can be the applicant. For both the General Employment Permit and the Critical Skills Employment Permit, the Department allows the application to be made by the prospective employer or by the foreign national, and an appointed agent can file on behalf of either.
In reality most applications are employer-led. You hold the signed contract, the Revenue and CRO registration, and the Labour Market Needs Test record where one is required. It is far simpler for the employer (or an agent acting for the employer) to drive the submission and have the worker complete only their personal section.
Step 1 — Register your employer account
Before you can file anything, you need a verified employer account on EPOS. Registration takes three things:
- An email address and password for the account.
- Multi-factor authentication, confirmed through your mobile phone.
- Your company's Revenue and CRO details, uploaded so the Employment Permits Unit can validate that the business is real and registered.
The account is not live the moment you sign up. The Employment Permits Unit has to validate your Revenue and CRO documents first. Do this early — registering your account the same week you want to file is how employers lose days they didn't budget for.
Step 2 — Finish the pre-submission steps
Some of the work has to be done before a valid application can be submitted, not inside the form.
The big one is the Labour Market Needs Test. For most General Employment Permits you must advertise the role in three places — JobsIreland.ie, EURES, and at least one other public online jobs platform — for at least 28 days before you can file. Both JobsIreland and EURES are required — registering on jobsireland.ie covers both, as DSP places the vacancy on EURES automatically. The Critical Skills Employment Permit is exempt from this. If your role needs the test and you haven't run it, the application is not yet fileable, no matter how complete the form looks. Our guide to the Labour Market Needs Test walks through exactly how to run it.
The second timing rule: the application must reach the Department at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date. That is a floor on how early you file, not an estimate of how long the whole hire takes. If you are mapping the full timeline, see our processing times tracker.
Step 3 — Build the document pack
A clean document pack is the single biggest factor in a smooth application. Missing or inconsistent documents are the most common reason the Department issues a "requested information" status and pauses the clock. The core items are:
- A contract of employment signed by both parties. This is mandatory and must be submitted with every application. The salary, hours and job title on it have to match the rest of the form exactly.
- The job description and remuneration — the duties, the salary, and the weekly hours. Permits are not full-time-only: the Employment Permits Regulations 2024 set a floor of 20 hours a week for a General Employment Permit, and no ceiling above it. The annual remuneration for that permit and occupation still has to be met in full — it is not scaled down for a shorter week. The 48-hour figure you may have seen quoted is the maximum average working week under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, which applies to employees generally, not just permit holders. It is not a permit rule.
- The worker's details and qualifications — passport details and any qualifications or experience the role requires. The worker enters most of this from their own EPOS account.
- Your Revenue and CRO registration details, confirming the employer is a genuine, registered Irish business.
- Proof of the Labour Market Needs Test, where the permit requires one.
The Department publishes a checklist for each permit type, and the exact contents vary by permit and occupation, so check the checklist for the specific permit you are filing. Get the contract and the salary right first — those two carry the most weight.
Step 4 — Complete and sign the application
With the account verified and the pack ready, you complete the form in EPOS. You fill the employer sections, the worker fills theirs, and any appointed agent fills the parts for the party they represent. The application moves through a draft state while this is happening.
Once every section is complete, all parties sign electronically. Nothing is submitted to the Department until those e-signatures are in place — an unsigned draft simply sits there. This is the second common stall point after account verification: the form is finished, but one party hasn't signed.
Step 5 — Pay the fee
After signing, the application moves to an awaiting-payment state. The Department's fees in 2026 are:
- General Employment Permit — initial: €500 for a permit of six months or less; €1,000 for more than six months up to 24 months.
- General Employment Permit — renewal: €750 for six months or less; €1,500 for a renewal of more than six months up to 36 months.
- Critical Skills Employment Permit: €1,000 for a permit of up to 24 months. There is no renewal fee, because the holder moves to Stamp 4 rather than renewing.
If an application is refused, 90% of the fee is refunded — but DETE refunds the applicant, not whoever paid. Its policy is explicit: where the worker is the applicant and the employer paid the fee, the refund still issues to the worker. Being the named applicant yourself is what puts the €900 back in your own account. Treat the Department fee as one line in the cost of a hire — the entry visa, travel and your own administration time all sit on top of it.
What happens after you submit
Once paid, the application moves into processing and you track it from your EPOS account. The portal shows the status as it changes — through processing, a possible "requested information" stage if the Department needs more, and then issued, refused, or appeal.
The "requested information" status is the one to watch. If the Department comes back with a query, the faster you respond, the faster the clock restarts. This is exactly where a complete, consistent document pack pays off — fewer queries, fewer pauses.
One realistic expectation to set internally: the permit decision is only one part of the journey. Between the Labour Market Needs Test, the Department's processing queue, the entry visa and the worker's travel, a General Employment Permit hire typically runs to around six months from start to arrival. Anyone quoting you "a few weeks" is quoting the permit decision in isolation, not the hire.
What CA Recruitment does
Most employers we work with don't want to learn the EPOS portal — they want the role filled. So we run the application for them, as the appointed agent. That means we:
- Register and manage the EPOS submission end to end.
- Assemble the document pack, including a contract that matches the form.
- Run the Labour Market Needs Test where the permit requires it.
- Coordinate the worker's side of the application so the draft doesn't stall.
- Track the application through to the decision and handle any "requested information" queries.
CA Recruitment is led by Monette, a Filipino national based in Ireland, and we place Filipino workers with Irish employers across agriculture, construction, healthcare, hospitality and care. You sign the contract and approve the candidate. We handle the paperwork.
If you have a role to fill and want the permit side taken off your desk, message Monette on WhatsApp and we'll tell you the exact route for your role.
Frequently asked questions
The questions below cover what employers most often ask about filing the application itself. For the wider hiring picture, start with our guide to hiring on a General Employment Permit.
Applications are filed online through Employment Permits Online at employmentpermits.enterprise.gov.ie, run by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. It replaced the old EPOS system in April 2025, so ignore any guide still pointing you at epos.enterprise.gov.ie — that address is dead. You register an employer account, verify it with your Revenue and CRO details, complete the employer sections of the form, attach the document pack including the signed contract of employment, and pay the fee. The worker enters their own personal details in the same application, and all parties sign electronically before it is submitted.
Either can. For both the General Employment Permit and the Critical Skills Employment Permit, the application can be made by the prospective employer or by the foreign national, and an appointed agent can file it on behalf of either party. In practice most applications are employer-led, because the employer holds the contract, the Revenue and CRO details and, where needed, the Labour Market Needs Test record.
The application must reach the Department at least 12 weeks before the proposed employment start date. If the role needs a Labour Market Needs Test, you also have to advertise it for 28 days before you can file a valid application, so the real lead time in front of submission is longer. Build both windows into your hiring plan rather than treating the 12 weeks as the whole timeline.
For a General Employment Permit the Department fee is €500 for a permit of six months or less and €1,000 for a permit of more than six months up to 24 months. Renewals are €750 for six months or less and €1,500 for more than six months up to 36 months — a renewal can run longer than a first permit. A Critical Skills Employment Permit is €1,000 for up to 24 months. If an application is refused, 90% of the fee comes back, but it goes to the applicant, not to whoever paid: if your worker is named as the applicant and you paid the €1,000, DETE issues the €900 to them. These are only the Department's fees — the entry visa, travel and your own time sit on top.
The core document is a contract of employment signed by both you and the worker. Alongside it you provide the worker's personal and qualification details, the job description and salary, your company's Revenue and CRO registration details, and — for most General Employment Permits — proof that you ran the Labour Market Needs Test. The Department publishes a permit-specific checklist for each permit type; the exact list varies by permit and occupation.
Yes. EPOS allows an appointed agent to complete and submit the application on an employer's behalf. CA Recruitment does this end to end — we register and manage the EPOS submission, assemble the document pack, run the Labour Market Needs Test where it applies, and track the application through to the decision, so you are not in the portal yourself.