In short: Co. Wexford had the lowest employment permit refusal rate of any county in the State in 2025. DETE issued 762 permits for the county and refused 55, a rate of 6.7% against 10.0% nationally. That came a year after Wexford's worst result of the three, 8.0% in 2024. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits outside the EEA, chiefly in the Philippines, and runs the DETE permit from first eligibility check to visa. We are in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Wexford.
Checked on 12 October 2026. DETE changes salary thresholds, fees and occupation quotas during the year, and a quota can shut on the day a notice goes up. Contact us and we will confirm your role's position today, before you commit money to it.
Wexford against the national trend
From DETE's employment permit statistics by county:
| Year | Permits issued, Wexford | Refused, Wexford | Wexford refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 606 | 31 | 4.9% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 868 | 75 | 8.0% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 762 | 55 | 6.7% | 10.0% |
Between 2024 and 2025 the national refusal rate jumped from 5.9% to 10.0%. Wexford's went the other way, from 8.0% to 6.7%, one of only three counties where it fell (Waterford and Leitrim were the others). Refusal rate here means refusals as a share of decided applications.
Volume held up too. Permits issued nationally fell 21% in 2025; Wexford's fell 12%, from 868 to 762. That leaves the county issued 26% more permits in 2025 than in 2023, and its share of all permits issued in Ireland has risen each year, from 2.0% to 2.2% to 2.5%.
One good year is not a trend, and 2024 is the reminder: 75 Wexford applications refused, a rate above the national figure. DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county, so these figures cannot explain the swing. What they do show is that a Wexford application in 2026 faces the same national rules as everyone else's, whatever last year's rate.
Who in Wexford hires on permits
DETE publishes the companies issued permits but not their county. We matched each company to its Companies Registration Office record and kept those with a registered office in Co. Wexford. A registered office is not always the workplace and some names will not match, so this is an outline rather than a full count. About 110 Wexford-registered employers were matched to a permit in 2025, and about seven in ten received one or two. The five largest users took half of the matched permits.
That half matters if you are a smaller employer. The big users run permit applications often enough to know the pitfalls. A farm or nursing home applying once every few years does not have that practice, and pays the same 10% of the fee DETE keeps on a refusal.
A county where employment grew twice as fast as population
The CSO's Census 2022 results for Wexford counted 163,919 people, 9% more than in 2016. The number at work rose 20% to 69,485. Residents aged 65 and over increased 25% to 27,403, and the average age rose from 38.1 to 40, above the national 38.8. An older county with more of its people already working has less slack for nursing homes, homecare providers and hospitals to draw on.
Manufacturers compete for the same skills. A Dáil written answer of 22 January 2025 put IDA Ireland's presence in County Wexford at 25 companies employing 3,606 people directly.
Farming, food and the other Wexford sectors
- Farming and horticulture: farm worker is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, so a general hand on a tillage, beef or sheep farm cannot be hired on a permit. Dairy farm assistant, pig farm assistant and pig manager are eligible for a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605. Horticulture workers qualify at €32,691, within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
- Seafood and meat processing: seafood operatives and fish filleters became eligible within new quotas of 100 and 50 permits from 13 May 2026, each needing a Labour Market Needs Test. Butchers and boners are eligible within a quota of 548. Meat processor operative is an eligible role, but DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications, so we are not taking those on while it stands.
- Nursing and care: registered nurses on the Critical Skills Employment Permit, with NMBI registration alongside. Healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers on a General Employment Permit at €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week; care worker and home carer permits are capped at 1,495 from 13 May 2026. See our nursing and care recruitment pages.
- Manufacturing: fitters, electricians, CNC operatives, technicians and quality roles for plants in Wexford town, Enniscorthy and New Ross. General operatives and packers are ineligible. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Haulage: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or a Road Safety Authority-recognised equivalent, for hauliers working out of Rosslare Europort and along the N11 and N25. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse operatives are ineligible. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality and construction: chefs from commis chef up, with the experience DETE requires, for hotels and restaurants from Rosslare to Courtown; waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant roles are ineligible, and hospitality management sits inside quotas of 100, 200, 50 and 50 from 13 May 2026. Qualified building crafts such as bricklayers and carpenters are eligible at the higher of the DETE threshold and the Construction Sectoral Employment Order rate, €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026. See our hospitality and construction pages.
Our guide to employment permit quotas in 2026 lists every capped role.
Working with us from Wexford
Permits are decided nationally by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, so a Gorey application follows the same path as a Dublin one, and we work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is Filipino and lives in Ireland. She recruits through her own contacts in the Philippines and looks to other countries when a role suits them. We check the occupation and salary, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare the General Employment Permit or Critical Skills application, and arrange visa and travel. You review the application and sign the employer declaration.
Our fee is set in writing before we begin and falls due only once the worker has started. DETE's €1,000 fee for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24 is separate. Expect about 6 months from first call to first shift for a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country like the Philippines, or about 4 to 5 months from a visa-exempt country such as Brazil. Placements carry a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee. The cost guide and Work Permit Guide give the detail.
Hiring elsewhere in the south-east? See our Waterford and Kilkenny pages.
Hiring in Wexford? See if the role qualifies.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will confirm whether the role can be filled on a permit, the salary floor, whether a quota is still open and a realistic start date.
Frequently asked questions
In 2025 DETE refused 55 applications from Co. Wexford and issued 762, a refusal rate of 6.7%. That was the lowest of any county in the State, against 10.0% nationally. The rate was 4.9% in 2023 and 8.0% in 2024, when it was above the national 5.9%.
No. Farm worker is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, so a general hand for a tillage, beef or sheep farm cannot get a permit. Dairy farm assistant, pig farm assistant and pig manager are eligible at the standard €36,605 minimum, and horticulture workers at €32,691 within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. The duties in the job description decide which category a role falls into.
Yes, within limits. From 13 May 2026 seafood operatives and fish filleters are eligible for a General Employment Permit within quotas of 100 and 50 permits, and each needs a Labour Market Needs Test. We check the quota is still open before any advert runs.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Wexford town, Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross or anywhere else in the county. We work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call, and DETE decides permits centrally. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
About 6 months from first call to first shift for a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, covering the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the entry visa. Candidates from countries whose citizens need no Irish entry visa, such as Brazil, usually take about 4 to 5 months. Critical Skills roles need no Labour Market Needs Test and move faster.