This page is for care employers, not job seekers
If you manage a nursing home, homecare service, or disability support facility and you cannot fill care assistant roles locally, this page explains how overseas recruitment works in practice, what the permit process involves, and what CA Recruitment does for you.
Irish care providers have been hiring overseas care assistants through the DETE General Employment Permit for several years. The route is well-established. The salary threshold is lower than most employers expect. And the misconception that stops many operators from even enquiring, that NMBI registration is required, does not apply to care assistants.
If your HIQA inspection is coming up and rosters are short, that context matters. We work with operators in exactly that situation.
The permit route for care assistants
Healthcare Assistants and Home Support Workers are explicitly listed on DETE's Eligible Occupations List for the General Employment Permit. The minimum rate is €16.12 per hour — that is €32,691 per annum on a 39-hour week, or €33,529.60 on a 40-hour week. This is a DETE-set reduced threshold for this category, below the standard GEP minimum of €36,605 that applies to most other roles. Note that the qualifying salary means basic pay: guaranteed premium payments can be included, but bonuses, shift allowances, and overtime cannot.
The employer holds the permit, not the worker. You apply. DETE assesses it. Once approved, the worker applies for an Irish D-visa from the Philippine end and travels to start work.
The process requires:
- Labour Market Needs Test (LMNT): The role must be advertised for 28 consecutive days on the DSP Employment Services/EURES network (via Jobs Ireland) and one additional online platform. All applications must be logged and the outcome for each recorded. CA Recruitment manages this entire step.
- 50/50 workforce check: At least 50% of your workforce must be EEA nationals at the time of application. Two exemptions exist: start-up companies registered with Revenue within 2 years with formal Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland support, and situations where the overseas worker will be your only employee.
- DETE permit fee: €1,000, paid to DETE at submission. This is an external government charge paid directly to DETE — it is not a fee to CA Recruitment. It cannot be recovered from the worker.
- Processing time: Approximately 10 to 12 weeks for new GEP applications at current DETE volumes. Check live processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie as this changes regularly.
Read the full permit process in the Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers.
The NMBI question — and why it does not apply here
NMBI (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland) registration is required for registered nurses and midwives working in clinical nursing roles. It does not apply to healthcare assistants or care assistants, regardless of whether they hold a nursing degree.
A Filipino care assistant, even one with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from a Philippine university, is not working as a registered nurse in Ireland. They are working as a healthcare assistant. NMBI registration is not a requirement and is not part of the permit process.
This is the single most common reason care operators tell us they did not enquire sooner. If NMBI was the reason you held back, it should not have been.
Read more in our guide: Nursing Home Guide to Recruiting Non-EU Care Workers.
What CA Recruitment does for care employers
We handle the process from the first call to the worker starting on your roster. Here is what that involves in practice:
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1
Free eligibility check
We assess your role, your workforce composition, and whether your service structure meets the 50/50 requirement. We confirm the permit route, the correct salary threshold, and a realistic timeline. No obligation, no charge. If something doesn't qualify, we tell you at this stage before you spend any time or money.
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2
Labour Market Needs Test
We manage the 28-day advertising on Jobs Ireland and a second platform, maintain the application log, and document all outcomes in the format DETE requires. You do not post anything or keep any records. Candidate sourcing from the Philippines runs in parallel so the LMNT period is not wasted time.
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3
Candidate sourcing and vetting
Monette sources candidates through her direct networks in the Philippines. Qualifications are verified, references checked, and care experience confirmed before anyone reaches your shortlist. Overseas care workers sourced from the Philippines often hold nursing degrees and have worked in hospital or aged care settings. You get a small shortlist of people we would place in our own family's care home.
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4
DETE permit application
We prepare the full application through the DETE Employment Permits Online system — all documentation, salary verification, workforce composition evidence, LMNT records. You review and sign. We submit and follow up. DETE contacts us, not you.
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Visa coordination and pre-departure
Once DETE approves the permit, we coordinate the D-visa application from the Philippine end. We track the worker's documentation — NBI clearance, medical certificate, OEC — and make sure nothing delays departure.
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Arrival, IRP registration, and 90-day support
We support the worker through IRP registration with Immigration Service Delivery, PPS number, and bank account setup in their first week. We stay in contact for the first 90 days.
Need care staff? Let's talk.
WhatsApp Monette directly on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. We'll confirm whether your roles qualify, what the timeline looks like, and what the process involves for your specific service. No commitment required.
Why overseas care workers
Overseas care workers are not a new solution for Irish care providers. Many nursing homes and homecare services across Ireland already have staff from the Philippines on their rosters, placed through various routes over the years.
The practical reasons are consistent: English is an official language of the Philippines and the medium of instruction through third-level education, so communication is not a barrier from interview through to patient care. Many applicants hold a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and have worked in hospital or aged care settings before emigrating. They come through the Philippines' overseas employment system, which involves medical clearance, documentation, and pre-departure orientation. That preparation shows in how they arrive and settle into a role.
Retention is also consistently better than operators expect. An overseas care worker who has gone through the employment permit process has made a significant, deliberate commitment. That is different from someone who took the first available local job. It tends to show in how long they stay.
Why Irish care providers work with CA Recruitment
Filipino-owned, Ireland-based
Monette is Filipino, grew up in the Philippines, and now lives in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary. She built CA Recruitment because she understood both sides of the process: the Irish permit system from navigating it herself, and what the departure process actually means for workers and their families. That knowledge is not replicable by an agency operating at arm's length through a Philippine partner.
Care sector expertise
Most overseas recruitment agencies focus on construction and engineering, where salaries sit above the standard GEP threshold. Care roles require a specific approach: the reduced salary threshold, the DETE care assistant category, and the documentation requirements are all slightly different. We work this tier regularly. Many agencies don't, or won't.
End-to-end permit management
The DETE process has precise requirements at every stage. We manage all of it. You review and sign documents, and you choose from the shortlist. That is the extent of what falls on you.
Transparent, fixed fees
We agree a clear, fixed recruitment fee with you upfront. The €1,000 DETE permit fee, and any visa and travel costs, are billed to you at cost and paid directly to DETE where applicable — never marked up by us.
Reliable, long-term staff
We place hard-working people who are committed to building a long-term future with your business, not just filling a short-term gap.
HIQA-compatible placements
Overseas care assistants placed through the employment permit route are employed by you on the same basis as any other member of care staff. The permit does not create a separate employment category or affect your compliance obligations with HIQA. We have placed workers with care providers operating under full HIQA regulation.
Homecare services and disability providers
The same permit route that applies to nursing homes applies to homecare agencies and disability service providers. Home Support Workers are specifically listed on the DETE eligible occupations list alongside Healthcare Assistants, at the same reduced rate of €16.12 per hour (€32,691 per annum on a 39-hour week).
If you run a homecare service and are struggling to fill carer hours, the permit route is open to you. The 50/50 workforce rule applies in the same way — CA Recruitment checks your staff composition during the free eligibility assessment.
Read the dedicated guide for homecare operators: How Homecare Providers Can Hire Overseas Care Workers in Ireland.
The person running this process
CA Recruitment was set up by Monette, a Filipino national who moved to Ireland and has built a recruitment operation that works both sides of the process directly. She has community networks in the Philippines that no third-party broker can access in the same way. The candidates she sources are people she has spoken to herself, whose qualifications and backgrounds she has verified personally.
When Monette places a care worker, she is placing someone she would trust in her own family's care. That is not a phrase she uses lightly, and it is why the vetting is done the way it is.
Frequently asked questions
No. NMBI registration applies to registered nurses and midwives. Care assistants and healthcare assistants do not require it, even if they hold a nursing degree from the Philippines. A Filipino care assistant working in your nursing home is employed as a healthcare assistant, not as a registered nurse. NMBI is not part of the permit process and is not a requirement for this role. This is a common misconception that stops operators from enquiring when they should not be held back by it.
A General Employment Permit (GEP) issued by DETE. The employer applies for the permit, not the worker. Healthcare Assistants and Home Support Workers are explicitly listed as eligible occupations under the GEP at a reduced minimum rate of €16.12 per hour (€32,691 per annum on a 39-hour week). After DETE approves the GEP, the worker applies for an Irish D-visa at the Irish Embassy in Manila before travelling.
Approximately 6 to 8 months from first call to worker on site. This covers 28 days for the Labour Market Needs Test, approximately 10 to 12 weeks for DETE to process the GEP (check current processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie), 2 to 4 weeks for the D-visa, and travel and onboarding. CA Recruitment runs candidate sourcing in parallel with the LMNT period to avoid losing time during the advertising window.
The minimum is €16.12 per hour, which works out at €32,691 per annum on a 39-hour week or €33,529.60 on a 40-hour week. Healthcare Assistants and Home Support Workers are in a DETE-designated reduced threshold category for the GEP — the standard GEP minimum of €36,605 applies to most other roles. The qualifying salary must be basic pay: guaranteed premium payments can count towards it, but bonuses, shift allowances, and overtime cannot.
Yes. DETE requires at least 50% of your total workforce to be EEA nationals at the time of the permit application. This applies to care providers regardless of size or sector. Two exemptions exist: start-up companies registered with Revenue within the last 2 years with formal Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland support, and situations where the overseas worker will be your only employee. CA Recruitment checks your workforce composition during the free eligibility assessment before any application is started.
Yes. The employment permit route is fully compatible with HIQA-regulated care settings. The worker is employed by you on the same basis as any other care assistant — the permit does not create a separate employment category or affect your HIQA compliance obligations. CA Recruitment has placed workers with nursing homes and disability services operating under HIQA regulation.
CA Recruitment has a recruitment fee that is agreed with you upfront and separate from government costs. The main external cost is the €1,000 DETE GEP application fee, paid directly to DETE at submission. This cannot be recovered from the worker. There is no obligation to proceed after the free eligibility check. A full breakdown of all costs is given during the initial consultation.