How to Choose a Healthcare Recruitment Agency in Ireland for Overseas Hiring

If you run a nursing home, homecare service or private hospital in Ireland, you already know local hiring is not keeping up. Recruiting from overseas fills the gap, but it puts you into a process most operators have never run: an employment permit, a registration body, a visa, and an agency you have to trust to get it right. This guide is about that last part — how to choose a healthcare recruitment agency for permit-based overseas hiring, and what actually separates a good one from a database of CVs.

The short version: judge an agency on whether it manages the DETE employment permit and the registration layer end to end, not on how many candidates it claims to have. In healthcare, the paperwork is where hires are won or lost.

The short answer

A healthcare recruitment agency worth hiring for an overseas placement should do four things. It should manage the full DETE permit process for you, not just supply candidates. It should understand the registration your role needs — NMBI for nurses, CORU for other health and social care professionals, the Medical Council for doctors — and coordinate it. Its fees should be transparent, agreed upfront, and separate from government costs, and it should never charge the worker. And its guarantee should be specific about what it covers, not a vague promise.

Everything below is how to test an agency against those four points before you sign anything.

Why healthcare hiring is different

Hiring a care assistant or a nurse from outside the EU is not the same as hiring a general operative. Two extra layers sit on top of the standard permit process, and both are healthcare-specific.

The first is the occupation rules. Care assistants and healthcare support workers are eligible for a General Employment Permit under SI 64/2025, which allocated 1,134 permits specifically for healthcare support workers at a pay threshold of €16.12 per hour. That is €32,691 per year on a 39-hour week. But "Senior Care Worker" is on DETE's ineligible list for standard nursing homes and homecare operators, so the wrong job title on the application gets it refused. An agency that does not know that trap will cost you a month.

The second is professional registration. A nurse cannot legally work on your ward until they are on the NMBI register, no matter how good the permit is. That step can take several months on its own. Miss it, or sequence it wrong, and the whole hire stalls. This is the single biggest reason healthcare hiring needs an agency that has done it before, and why a general recruiter who is strong on farms or construction is not automatically the right fit for a clinical role.

What to check before you choose

Run any agency you are considering through these seven questions. The answers tell you quickly whether they understand permit-based healthcare hiring or are hoping to hand you a CV and disappear.

1. Do you manage the DETE permit, or just find candidates? This is the dividing line. More on it below.
2. Which registration does my role need, and do you coordinate it? A good agency answers "NMBI for your nurses, and here is how the timeline works" without hesitating.
3. Do you know the current healthcare occupation rules? Ask about the care worker quota, the correct job title for a care assistant, and the salary threshold. Vague answers are a warning sign.
4. How are your fees structured? You want a fee agreed upfront, in writing, and clearly separate from the €1,000 permit fee and other government costs.
5. Do you charge the worker anything? The answer should be a flat no. Charging candidates placement fees is unethical and creates legal and reputational risk for you as the employer.
6. What exactly does your guarantee cover? Get the terms in writing and read them. A guarantee that sounds too generous usually is.
7. Who will I actually deal with? You want a named person who has run these placements and has real connections in the source country, not a call-centre handover.

End-to-end permit management: the dividing line

There are two kinds of agency, and the difference matters more in healthcare than almost anywhere.

A candidates-only agency sources a worker, sends you the CV, and takes its fee. You are then left to run the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, prepare and submit the DETE application, meet the 50/50 rule, handle the visa, and coordinate the NMBI or CORU registration yourself. For a service already short on staff, that is a second job.

A done-for-you agency runs all of it. It advertises the role correctly for the Labour Market Needs Test, uses the right job title, prepares the permit application so it is not returned for corrections, manages the visa and travel, and keeps the registration step moving in parallel. Your involvement is signing off on the candidate and providing the employer documents only you can provide.

The reason this matters so much in healthcare is timing. A General Employment Permit hire runs to around five to six months from first contact to the worker's first day once you add the Labour Market Needs Test, the DETE decision queue, the visa and travel. A nurse takes longer again because NMBI registration sits on top. Every avoidable error — a wrong job title, a returned application, a mis-sequenced registration — adds weeks you cannot get back. End-to-end management is how you remove the delays that are inside your control.

NMBI, CORU and the Medical Council

The registration layer is where healthcare hiring is genuinely specialised. A capable agency should be able to tell you which regulator applies to your role and how it fits the permit timeline.

Nurses and midwives register with NMBI. A nurse trained outside the EU applies through NMBI's MyNMBI portal to have their qualifications recognised, then to be entered on the register. NMBI often requires compensation measures before registration — in its own words, an adaptation period and/or an aptitude test — and an approved English language test to its standard. An adaptation period is a supervised clinical placement, which you may need to help arrange. NMBI advises applicants not to make travel or employment plans until they have a registration decision. A good agency builds the move around that decision rather than booking flights and hoping.

Other health and social care professionals register with CORU. Roles such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, medical scientists, dietitians, speech and language therapists and social care workers must be on the relevant CORU register before practising. If you are hiring into one of these professions, ask the agency directly whether it has handled CORU registration — it is a different process from NMBI.

Doctors register with the Medical Council, a separate body again. And care assistants and healthcare support workers are not currently subject to statutory registration, which is part of why that route is quicker than the nurse route — the permit and the recruitment are the main steps, without a registration board in the middle.

The test for any agency is simple: name your role, and see whether they immediately know which regulator applies and how it changes the timeline. If they do not, they have not placed your kind of hire before.

Fees, guarantees and the fine print

Cost is where employers get caught out, usually by not separating the parts. There are two entirely different sets of costs, and a straight agency keeps them clearly apart.

Government and statutory costs are fixed and go to the State, not the agency. The DETE permit fee is €1,000. Labour Market Needs Test advertising typically adds €200 to €500. The worker's salary must meet the threshold for the route — €16.12 per hour (€32,691 per year on a 39-hour week) for a care assistant on the current quota, and a higher figure for a nurse depending on whether the Critical Skills or General Employment Permit applies. Permits also are not full-time-only: hours can range from around 20 to 48 per week, with the annual salary floor as the binding minimum.

The agency's recruitment fee is separate. It should be agreed with you upfront, in writing, before any work starts. Be direct about asking how and when it is charged. And confirm the agency does not charge the worker a placement fee — ethical recruitment means the employer pays, never the candidate.

On guarantees, read the terms rather than the headline. A meaningful placement guarantee is specific. CA Recruitment's, for example, is a 90-day guarantee that covers the two things most likely to go wrong early — the worker leaving, or a dismissal for gross misconduct — and it applies to CA's recruitment fee only, not the government permit fee, visa or travel costs. What you should be wary of is any agency implying a "money back for any reason" promise. No reputable agency can carry that, because it cannot control every reason a placement might end.

Red flags to walk away from

• They quote a permit-only timeline of "a few weeks." The realistic full journey for a General Employment Permit hire is around five to six months, and longer for a nurse. A too-good timeline means they either do not know or are not telling you.
• They cannot say which regulator your role needs. If NMBI, CORU and the Medical Council are news to them, they have not placed clinical staff.
• They want to charge the worker. This is an ethical and legal red line, and it exposes you as the employer.
• The fee is vague or bundled with government costs. You should always be able to see exactly what goes to the State and what goes to the agency.
• The guarantee is sweeping but unwritten. If they will not put the terms on paper, treat the guarantee as marketing.
• You never speak to the same person twice. Permit hiring runs for months. You want continuity, not a rotating queue.

How CA Recruitment approaches it

CA Recruitment places overseas workers with Irish and UK employers and manages the full DETE employment permit process for every placement. For a healthcare hire, that means running the Labour Market Needs Test correctly, using the right job title, preparing the application so it is not returned, and coordinating the registration step — NMBI for nurses, CORU where it applies — alongside the permit, so the timeline moves in parallel rather than in sequence.

The company is founded and run by Monette, a Filipino national living and working in Ireland, with direct connections to qualified candidates in the Philippines. You deal with her directly, not a broker or an intermediary. The recruitment fee is agreed with you upfront and kept separate from the government costs, workers are never charged a placement fee, and the 90-day guarantee terms are set out in writing before you commit.

If you want the practical detail for a specific role, the care assistant hiring guide and the nurse hiring guide walk through each process step by step. For the broader question of picking a recruitment partner beyond healthcare, see choosing a Filipino recruitment partner.

Frequently asked questions

What should I look for when choosing a healthcare recruitment agency in Ireland?

Check whether it manages the DETE employment permit end to end or only supplies candidates, whether it supports the registration layer (NMBI for nurses, CORU for health and social care professionals), whether its fees are transparent and separate from government costs, and what its placement guarantee actually covers. For permit-based overseas hiring, the permit and registration handling matters more than the size of the candidate database.

Should a recruitment agency handle the employment permit, or just supply candidates?

For an overseas hire it should handle the permit. A candidates-only agency hands you a CV and leaves you to run the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, complete the DETE application, and manage the visa yourself. A done-for-you agency runs all of that. Getting the Labour Market Needs Test or the job title wrong can cost you weeks, so the permit handling is the part worth paying for.

Do overseas nurses need NMBI registration to work in an Irish nursing home?

Yes. A non-EU registered nurse must be on the register of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) before they can practise, and there is no exemption. NMBI may require compensation measures — an adaptation period and/or an aptitude test — plus an approved English language test. NMBI advises applicants not to make travel or employment plans until they have a registration decision, so a good agency builds the permit around the NMBI outcome, not the other way round.

What is CORU and when does it matter for overseas health staff?

CORU is Ireland's regulator for health and social care professionals. Roles such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, medical scientists, dietitians and social care workers must register with CORU before they can practise. Nurses and midwives register with NMBI instead, and doctors with the Medical Council. Care assistants and healthcare support workers are not currently subject to statutory registration. Ask any agency you consider whether it understands which regulator applies to the role you are filling.

How much does it cost to hire an overseas healthcare worker in Ireland?

The DETE permit fee is €1,000 and Labour Market Needs Test advertising typically adds €200 to €500. For a care assistant the minimum salary is €16.12 per hour — €32,691 per year on a 39-hour week. An agency charges a recruitment fee on top, which should be agreed with you upfront and kept separate from those government costs. A reputable agency never charges the worker a placement fee.

Does a placement guarantee mean I get my money back for any reason?

No, and be wary of any agency that implies it does. CA Recruitment's 90-day guarantee covers the two situations most likely to go wrong early: the worker leaving, or a dismissal for gross misconduct. It applies to CA's recruitment fee only — not the government permit fee, visa or travel costs. Read the terms of any guarantee before you rely on it.