Somewhere right now an Irish employer is turning away a strong candidate with the words "sorry, we can't sponsor visas" — and losing the hire over a system Ireland doesn't even have. "Visa sponsorship" is a phrase imported from the UK and the US, where sponsoring means licences, per-hire certificates and government audits. In Ireland it means something far simpler, and most employers who think they can't do it are wrong.
The short answer
"Visa sponsorship" is not a legal term in the Irish system. There is no sponsor licence, no register of approved sponsors, and no application to become one.
When a candidate asks "do you offer visa sponsorship?", what they're really asking in an Irish context is: will you back an employment permit application and support my visa? That breaks into two concrete things:
- The employment permit — an application to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) built around your business and the specific job: your company details, the role, the salary, and in most cases a labour market needs test you run first.
- Visa support — for a worker from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, supplying the documents their long stay (D) employment visa application needs: the approved permit, the signed contract of employment, and a letter from you confirming the job.
That's the whole of it. If you can offer a genuine job at the correct salary, you can "sponsor". The full split between the two steps is covered in our work permit vs work visa guide — this post is about what saying yes actually commits you to.
No sponsor licence: Ireland vs the UK
The "we can't sponsor" reflex usually comes from employers who've heard how the UK system works — or who've read job-ad templates written for the UK market.
In the UK, an employer must hold a sponsor licence from the Home Office before hiring most non-UK workers. Getting one means an application, a fee, and proving your HR systems can track sponsored staff. Every hire then needs a Certificate of Sponsorship, most sponsored hires attract an immigration skills charge on top, and the licence itself carries ongoing reporting duties, compliance visits and the risk of suspension — lose the licence and every sponsored worker's permission is at risk.
In Ireland, none of that machinery exists. Each hire is a standalone employment permit application to DETE, judged on its own merits. There is no company-level approval to win first, no certificate to assign, no skills charge, and no licence that an inspector can take away.
The closest Ireland comes to "registering as a sponsor" is your account on DETE's Employment Permits Online portal. You verify your company once with your Revenue documentation and CRO number, the permits team validates it, and the portal prompts you when the details need renewing. It costs nothing — it's identity verification, not a licence. (DETE previously ran a separate Trusted Partner registration for regular hirers; that scheme has been absorbed into the portal, so there's no longer even that form to file.)
So when a candidate from Manila or Mumbai asks whether you can sponsor them, the honest Irish answer is: there's nothing we need to be — only a process we need to run.
What you're actually signing up for
Strip the imported vocabulary away and sponsoring a worker in Ireland is three commitments.
A genuine job at the right salary. The permit application is anchored to a signed contract of employment for a real vacancy. The salary must meet the legal floor for the role — €36,605 a year for most General Employment Permit roles, €32,691 (a minimum hourly rate of €16.12) for Health Care Assistants and certain other listed roles, and Sectoral Employment Order rates of roughly €46,600 a year for construction craft trades. You pay the higher of the legal floor and the wage you advertised.
The employment permit application. For most roles this is the General Employment Permit route: run the Labour Market Needs Test — advertising the vacancy with the Department of Social Protection / EURES network and on one additional platform for at least 28 continuous days — then submit the application to DETE at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date, with the contract, the worker's details and your company records. Our step-by-step application guide walks through the mechanics, and the General Employment Permit guide covers eligibility and the salary floors in detail.
Supporting the visa. Once the permit is granted, a visa-required worker applies for their long stay (D) employment visa through AVATS in their home country. It's their application, but half the file comes from you: the permit, the contract, and an employer letter on headed paper. A missing or sloppy employer letter is one of the most common reasons a visa file stalls after a perfectly good permit approval.
Add the stages together and the realistic timeline is around six months from starting the process to the worker's first day — the 28-day test, the DETE processing queue, roughly 8 weeks for the visa decision, then travel. Anyone promising you a sponsored hire "in a few weeks" is describing one link in the chain.
The obligations that come with it
Sponsorship in Ireland is lighter than the UK version, but it isn't obligation-free. Here's what you're committing to, honestly stated.
- Pay what the permit says, for the role the permit names. The permit is specific to your business and the job. The salary, title and hours on the permit are what DETE approved — if the role changes materially, that's a conversation with the Department, not a quiet internal reshuffle.
- The 50:50 rule. DETE will not issue a permit unless at least half your workforce are EEA nationals on the day you apply. It's counted across your whole headcount, and it applies to renewals too.
- The permit fee stays with you. Under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024, you cannot deduct the application fee from the worker's wages or recover it from them in any way.
- Ordinary employer duties apply in full. A permit holder has the same employment rights as any Irish employee — minimum notice, working time rules, payslips, the lot. The permit adds a layer of paperwork; it doesn't create a separate class of employee.
- Keep your records straight. The same job title, salary and hours should appear on the contract, the permit application and the employer letter for the visa. Inconsistency between documents is what invites questions, and questions add weeks.
What you are not signed up for is monitoring the worker's immigration status day to day. Registration with immigration after arrival, the Irish Residence Permit card, visa renewals — those are the worker's own applications, made in their own name.
What sponsoring costs
For a typical General Employment Permit hire, the government side of "sponsorship" is one fee:
- Employment permit fee (DETE): €1,000 for a permit of more than six months up to 24 months, or €500 for six months or less — paid with the application, and 90% refunded if it's refused.
- Sponsor licence fee: none — the concept doesn't exist here.
- Immigration skills charge: none of that either.
- Entry visa (€60 single entry) and registration (€300): these belong to the worker, not you. Some employers reimburse them as part of a relocation package; that's a choice, not a rule.
The real costs of an overseas hire sit elsewhere: the salary at the correct floor, your time (or an agency's fee) running the Labour Market Needs Test and the application properly, and the recruitment itself. But the "sponsorship" line on the budget — the thing employers imagine as a UK-style licence programme — is a four-figure permit fee with a 90% refund on refusal.
What you're NOT signing up for
Three fears keep coming up in first conversations with employers, and all three are imported from other countries' systems.
"We'll be audited as a sponsor." There's no sponsor licence, so there's no sponsor-licence compliance regime. You're subject to ordinary Irish employment law inspection like every other employer — the Workplace Relations Commission doesn't run a separate visa-sponsor programme.
"We're responsible for them forever." No. Your commitment is the job and the permit built on it. The worker's immigration permission, registration and any family applications are personal applications made in their own name. If the employment ends, you notify the Department — you don't inherit an open-ended liability.
"They're locked to us, and we're locked to them." Also no, in both directions. Since the Employment Permits Act 2024, a permit holder who has completed nine months in the State can apply to change employer within the same type of role without starting a new permit from scratch — so retention comes from being a decent employer, not from the paperwork. And on your side of the risk: when CA Recruitment makes the placement, our 90-day guarantee means that if the worker leaves in the first 90 days, or is dismissed for gross misconduct, we replace them and the guarantee covers our recruitment fee — the DETE fee, visa and travel costs sit outside it, which is why we put it in writing rather than in slogans.
The candidates you're turning away
Here's what the confusion actually costs. Every job ad that says "no visa sponsorship" in an Irish context is declining something the employer was never being asked for — a UK licence they don't need — while turning away qualified, motivated candidates from the Philippines and beyond who only need what Irish employers can already give: a genuine job and a properly run permit application.
CA Recruitment exists to run exactly that process. We source the worker — most of our placements are experienced Filipino candidates — check the role and salary floor, run the Labour Market Needs Test to the letter, prepare and submit the DETE application, and walk the worker through the visa file so it matches the permit line for line. You sign a contract and approve documents; we do the rest.
If "we can't sponsor" has been your default answer, message us on WhatsApp with the role you're struggling to fill. We'll tell you in plain terms what sponsoring it would involve — timeline, salary floor and cost — before you commit to anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can an Irish employer sponsor a work visa?
Yes — though Ireland doesn't use the word "sponsorship" in law. Sponsoring a worker in Ireland means offering a genuine job, backing an employment permit application to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and supplying the contract and employer letter the worker's visa application needs. Any employer registered with Revenue and the CRO and trading in Ireland can do it — there is no licence to obtain first.
Does Ireland have a sponsor licence system like the UK?
No. The UK requires employers to hold a Home Office sponsor licence before hiring most non-UK workers, assign a Certificate of Sponsorship for each hire, and pay an immigration skills charge. Ireland has none of that. Each hire is a standalone employment permit application judged on its own merits — the only company-level setup is your Employment Permits Online account, verified with your Revenue documents and CRO number at no charge.
What does it cost an employer to sponsor a worker in Ireland?
The Department fee for a General Employment Permit is €1,000 for a permit of more than six months up to 24 months (€500 for six months or less), with 90% refunded if the application is refused. There is no licence fee and no annual skills charge. The worker's entry visa (€60 single entry) and €300 immigration registration fee are personal costs, though some employers choose to reimburse them. Under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 the permit fee cannot be recovered from the worker.
How long does visa sponsorship take in Ireland?
Plan for around six months from starting the process to the worker's first day. The Labour Market Needs Test runs for 28 days where it applies, the permit application must reach the Department at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date, and the worker then needs a long stay (D) employment visa — Immigration Service Delivery advises roughly 8 weeks for a decision — plus time to travel and relocate.
Can a small business or farm sponsor an overseas worker?
Yes. There is no minimum company size. The requirements are that you are registered with Revenue and the Companies Registration Office (or as a sole trader), trading in Ireland, offering a genuine role at the correct salary floor, and that at least 50% of your employees are EEA nationals on the day you apply — the 50:50 rule. Plenty of CA Recruitment's placements are with farms, nursing homes and family-run businesses.