What we look for
- Repairing damaged panels — dent removal and reshaping, filling and flatting back to a straight, true surface.
- Cutting out and welding in replacement panels and sections, and aligning panel gaps and shut lines back to factory tolerance.
- Preparing and masking the repair area properly — sanding, cleaning, priming and protecting what is not being sprayed.
- Spraying to a finish that matches the surrounding panels, matching colour, and knowing when to blend into an adjacent panel rather than spray a hard edge.
- Assessing the damage, deciding whether a panel is repaired or replaced, and knowing when a repair is no longer safe to make.
- Dependable, sustained relevant employment and sees jobs through.
Questions you'll be asked
These are the questions the application form asks. You do not need to answer yes to every one — they tell us where your experience actually sits.
- How many years' experience do you have repairing or painting vehicle bodywork
- Which side of the work have you mainly done
- What damage repairs have you done? (e.g. dent removal and filling, replacing a wing or door skin, cutting out and welding a new panel, bumper repair, straightening on a jig, aligning panel gaps)
- What welding or bonding have you used on vehicle panels? (e.g. MIG, spot / resistance welding, panel adhesive, brazing — and on what panels)
- Describe your paint process and the products you have used. (e.g. stripping, filler, sanding grades, masking, primer, 2K basecoat and clear, colour matching by code or spray-out card, blending into an adjacent panel, booth baking, polishing — and brands such as PPG, Standox, Axalta, Sikkens, Nippon)
- What type of workshop have you mostly worked in
- Do you hold a vehicle body repair or automotive painting qualification, from any country? (e.g. an apprenticeship, City & Guilds / IMI, I-CAR, SENAI Funilaria / Pintura Automotiva, ITI Painter or Sheet Metal Worker, TESDA NC II Automotive Body Painting or Body Repair, or your own country's equivalent)
- Do you hold a full car driving licence
Qualifications that help
None of these is essential, and a qualification from any country counts.
- Vehicle body repair or automotive painting qualification from any country (apprenticeship, City & Guilds / IMI, SENAI Funilaria / Pintura, ITI, TESDA NC II, or national equivalent)
- I-CAR or manufacturer body-repair training
- Paint manufacturer training (PPG / Standox / Axalta / Sikkens)
- MIG or spot welding certificate
- Full driving licence
We assess English at around CEFR A2 for this role — enough to follow instructions and raise a problem with the person you work for. That is our own standard, not an Irish legal requirement; there is no English test in the permit rules for this job.
The work permit
This role is eligible for an Irish employment permit. This role is capped. Ireland only issues a set number of permits for it each year, and that cap has run out before — so we check what is left before anyone advertises. The job normally has to pass a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test — the employer runs that, advertising the role with JobsIreland/EURES and on a second jobs platform for 28 unbroken days. Either you or the employer can be named as the applicant on the permit itself; on our placements it is the employer. Either way the cost is not yours to carry: under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 an employer cannot take the permit fee, recruitment costs, or travel money they have already paid you out of your wages, or ask you to pay any of it back. Doing that is a criminal offence.
Salary thresholds and any quota are set per occupation and move during the year, so we confirm the current position for your exact role with DETE before an employer advertises — rather than quote you a figure here that could be out of date by the time you read it.
How long it takes
From an employer offering the job to you starting work, in our experience the realistic timeline is 6 to 8 months if you need an entry visa — the Philippines, for example. From a country that does not need an entry visa, such as Brazil, allow about 4 to 5 months. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE permit processing, the visa and travel. DETE processes applications in date order and publishes its current dates; we do not quote a figure that could be out of date by the time you read it.
If you are already living in Ireland on a permit, the position is different — tell us on the form and we will explain where you stand.
Apply
The application takes about ten minutes. You will be asked about your experience, and you can upload a CV and record a short voice clip so we can put you forward properly.