Civil, structural, site, mechanical and electrical engineers are all on Ireland's Critical Skills Occupations List, so you can hire one from outside the EEA on a Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP). Pay at least €40,904, offer at least two years, and there is no Labour Market Needs Test.
Where employers come unstuck is the occupation. An electronics or production engineer only qualifies with specific specialisms, and an engineering technician is not on the Critical Skills list at all, so below €68,911 the route is the General Employment Permit, with a different salary floor and a 28-day advertising stage first. Below is how to tell which you are hiring, and what an engineering recruitment agency should be doing for you when the candidate is overseas.
Correct as of 16 October 2026. The salary thresholds, occupation codes and processing dates below are as DETE published them on that date. Get in touch and we will check the current position for your specific engineering role before you spend anything on the process.
Domestic agency or permit-capable agency?
If the engineer you want already has the right to work in Ireland, any good engineering agency can find them. If they don't, answer these before anyone screens a CV:
- Which SOC occupation code does the role actually fall under?
- Is that code on the Critical Skills list, the Ineligible list, or neither?
- Does the salary clear the right floor for that route?
- Does your business pass the 50% EEA workforce rule?
We answer all four on the first call, before you pay for anything.
What you still sign as the employer
We can source the engineer and prepare the application, but the permit names you as the employer, so some of it stays with you.
The job offer. A CSEP is only issued for a job offer of at least two years. For anything shorter, the General Employment Permit is the route.
The workforce test. DETE will not grant a permit unless 50% or more of your employees are EEA nationals when you apply. There is a narrow waiver for start-ups supported by Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland. Our 50:50 rule guide explains how the count works.
The fee, if you are the applicant. Section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 says an employer who applies cannot deduct from the engineer's pay, or recover from them, any charge, fee or expense related to the application.
The paperwork after the hire. If the engineer leaves while the permit is valid, the permit must go back to DETE within 4 weeks. Failing to do that is an offence for the permit holder or the employer.
Which engineers are on the Critical Skills list
We read these off DETE's Critical Skills Occupations List on 16 October 2026. The list is organised by SOC occupation code, so match the code to the duties, not to the title on your job ad.
| SOC code | Occupation on the list |
|---|---|
| 2121 | Civil engineers; structural engineers and site engineers |
| 2122 | Mechanical engineers |
| 2123 | Electrical engineers |
| 2124 | Electronics engineers, with a listed specialism |
| 2126 | Design and development engineers, with a listed specialism |
| 2127 | Production and process engineers, with a listed specialism; chemical engineer |
| 2129 | Setting-out engineer; façade designer; project engineer; material scientists |
| 2461 | Quality control and planning engineers |
The general mechanics of the list, including the non-engineering occupations, are in our Critical Skills list employer check. IT roles are listed separately, under SOC 213.
The "specialising in" trap
Civil, mechanical and electrical engineers are listed outright. Three codes are not. Electronics engineers (2124), design and development engineers (2126) and production and process engineers (2127) are only on the list when they are "specialising in" one of these:
- Quality control, or validation and regulation engineering, in high-tech industry or food and beverages (2126 and 2127)
- Chip design, test engineering or application engineering (2124 and 2126)
- Process automation engineering (all three)
- Power generation, transmission and distribution (all three)
- Chemical process engineering (2127)
Each code also lists "related and relevant specialist skills, qualifications or experience", but the code still says "specialising in". A production engineer whose job spec reads as general line support, with nothing on automation, validation or process engineering, gives a decision maker little to place it on the list.
We write the job description to show the specialist duties the role really involves. We won't add duties to fit a code: the permit names the occupation, and the engineer has to do that job.
Engineer or engineering technician?
Engineering technicians (SOC 3112 electrical and electronics technicians, 3113 engineering technicians) are not on the Critical Skills list. They are not on the Ineligible Occupations List either, and the General Employment Permit treats every occupation as eligible unless that list excludes it. So you can hire a technician from overseas, on the General Employment Permit.
On that route you get:
- Permit: the General Employment Permit, not the CSEP.
- Advertising first: a Labour Market Needs Test, with the job advertised for 28 days on the DSP Employment Services/EURES network and for 28 days on one other online platform.
- Salary floor: generally €36,605, against €40,904 on the CSEP.
- Length: up to 24 months at first, then renewable for up to 3 more years. A CSEP needs a 2-year job offer and leads to Stamp 4 instead.
One exception helps senior hires. Any occupation not on the Ineligible list qualifies for a CSEP at a salary of €68,911 or more, so a technician paid at that level can use the Critical Skills route on salary alone.
On construction sites, check the duties as well as the title. DETE's application asks for a full description of the proposed employment, and SOC 5319, other construction and building trades, is on the Ineligible list.
The salary floor for engineers
For an engineering occupation on the Critical Skills list, DETE sets the minimum annual remuneration at €40,904, and a relevant degree or higher is required. Where the engineer received their qualification in the 12 months before the application, the floor is €36,848.
That lower floor helps with graduates. A civil engineering graduate who qualified within the 12 months before the application can be hired at €36,848. One who qualified two years before cannot, even into the same graduate-level job.
DETE counts two components towards the threshold: basic salary, and health insurance payments to an insurer registered with the Health Insurance Authority. The salary is stated excluding bonuses. If your package only reaches €40,904 with overtime or a site allowance on top, raise the basic.
Why the CSEP is the stronger offer
The CSEP gives you more to offer a candidate.
No Labour Market Needs Test. You skip the 28-day advertising period.
Immediate family reunification. The engineer can apply to bring their family straight away. A spouse or de facto partner can be given Stamp 1G, which lets them work in Ireland without needing their own employment permit.
A route to Stamp 4. At the end of the two-year permit, the engineer applies directly to the Department of Justice for Stamp 4 rather than renewing the permit. Stamp 4 lets them live and work in Ireland without a further employment permit.
For you, the trade-off is the 9-month rule. DETE expects a CSEP holder to stay with the first employer for at least 9 months, and will not usually consider a permit for a new employer before then.
The full detail on how the permit works is in our Critical Skills Employment Permit guide.
How long each route takes
Critical Skills Employment Permit. As of 15 October 2026, DETE was processing Critical Skills applications received on 6 October 2026.
General Employment Permit (technicians). On the same date DETE was processing new General Employment Permit applications received on 10 September 2026, and the 28-day advertising period comes before that.
DETE asks for every permit application to be in at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date. Check our processing times tracker for the current position.
We source engineers from any country that has the skills, not only the Philippines. A candidate from a visa-required country also applies for an Irish entry visa once the permit is granted. Our GEP vs CSEP comparison sets out the end-to-end planning figures we use for each route.
Fees, refusals and our guarantee
The DETE processing fee for a Critical Skills Employment Permit is €1,000. If the application is refused, 90% of the fee is refunded to the applicant. A refusal can be reviewed by a more senior official if you submit the review form within 28 days.
Our own recruitment fee is separate. It is agreed with you in writing before any work begins, and nothing is payable to us until the engineer starts with you. Visa, travel and relocation costs are passed through at cost. We give you the full breakdown before you commit.
Every placement carries our 90-day replacement guarantee. If the engineer leaves within their first 90 days, or you have to dismiss them for gross misconduct in that period, we find a replacement and waive our recruitment fee for it. It covers our fee only, not DETE, visa or travel costs. The full conditions are on our guarantee terms page.
Who we recruit engineers for
Most of the engineering employers we work with fall into two groups.
Construction contractors who need site engineers, setting-out engineers, civil and structural engineers and project engineers. All of these are on the Critical Skills list, and our construction recruitment page covers the trades side of the same projects.
Manufacturing plants that need maintenance, process and electrical engineers. We check the specialism and the engineer-or-technician question first. Our manufacturing recruitment page covers the production and trade roles we fill alongside them.
We are not the right firm for a senior pharma validation lead on a six-figure package. That is a different kind of search from ours. For site, plant and project engineers who keep a business running, we handle the whole process: occupation check, sourcing, the DETE application, the visa and travel.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Civil, structural, site, mechanical and electrical engineers are all on the Critical Skills Occupations List, so they qualify for a Critical Skills Employment Permit if the salary is at least €40,904 and the job offer runs for at least two years. Electronics, design and development, and production and process engineers are on the list too, but only where the role involves one of the specialisms the list names.
Yes. SOC code 2121 on the Critical Skills Occupations List covers civil engineers, structural engineers and site engineers. Setting-out engineers and project engineers are listed separately under SOC 2129. SOC 5319, other construction and building trades, is on the Ineligible Occupations List, so a site engineer job description has to read as engineering work rather than supervising a trade.
Engineering technicians (SOC 3112 and 3113) are not on the Critical Skills Occupations List, but they are not on the Ineligible Occupations List either. That means the role goes the General Employment Permit route: a Labour Market Needs Test first, then a salary of at least €36,605 a year. If the salary is €68,911 or more, a technician role can use the Critical Skills permit instead.
€40,904 a year for an engineering occupation on the Critical Skills list, where a relevant degree is required. If the engineer obtained their qualification within the 12 months before the application, the floor drops to €36,848. Basic salary and health insurance payments to a registered Irish health insurer count towards the threshold. Bonuses do not.
No. The Critical Skills Employment Permit does not require a Labour Market Needs Test, so you do not advertise the job on the DSP Employment Services/EURES network and a second online platform for 28 days before applying. That test only applies if the role ends up on the General Employment Permit route, as most technician roles do.
DETE refunds 90% of the €1,000 Critical Skills permit fee to the applicant. A refusal can also be reviewed if you submit the review form within 28 days. Third-party costs already spent are generally not recoverable, which is why we confirm the occupation code and salary before anything is submitted.