In short: Yes — care assistants and home support workers qualify for a General Employment Permit at the reduced €32,691 threshold, and care assistants do not need NMBI registration. Support workers are a different occupation and sit on the standard €36,605 band in any setting, unless the recent Irish graduate band applies. Support Worker also carries its own 200-permit quota, so we confirm whether the category is open before you advertise. CA Recruitment manages the full DETE permit and visa process for nursing homes, homecare and disability services.
Correct as of 10 September 2026. Verified on that date against DETE’s General Employment Permit page and its latest employment permits notices: the reduced care rate is €16.12 an hour (€32,691 a year on a 39-hour week), the standard General Employment Permit rate is €36,605, the permit fee is €1,000 for a permit of 6 to 24 months, and DETE had published no notice recording the care worker and home carer quota or the Support Worker quota as filled. Salary thresholds, fees and quotas all change during the year, and a quota can close without warning. Get in touch and we will confirm the current position for your specific role before you spend anything on the process.
Care Staffing in Ireland
Ireland's care sector has the deepest staffing shortage of any sector we work in. Nursing homes, homecare providers and disability services are carrying chronic vacancies that the domestic labour market has not filled for years, and the State has recognised it in the permit system: care workers and home carers hold the single largest employment permit quota of any occupation, 1,495 permits under S.I. 213/2026, with a further 200 for Support Worker.
That is the part most care providers have not been told. The permit route for care roles is not a grey area, and it is not a favour. It is a quota the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment set deliberately, because the beds cannot be staffed otherwise. CA Recruitment works as a care recruitment agency on that route: sourcing care assistants, home carers and support workers from outside the EEA and carrying the DETE application end to end.
A quota is a ceiling, not a running total. DETE does not publish how many of the 1,495 remain, and once a quota fills, applications still sitting in the processing queue are refused. That is the reason the eligibility check comes first, and comes free.
What a Care Recruitment Agency Does for a Permit Hire
Most care recruitment agencies in Ireland do one job, and do it well: they find care staff who already live here with the right to work, and put them in front of you for permanent, locum or agency shifts. If your problem is next weekend's roster, that is the correct service and you should use it.
A permit hire is different work. The candidate is outside the EEA, has no right to work in Ireland, and cannot get one until DETE issues an employment permit naming your organisation as the employer. That is not sourcing with paperwork bolted on. It is a regulated application in which you are the applicant and you sign the declaration. Here is who does what on a CA Recruitment placement.
- The eligibility check, before anything else. We match the vacancy to its SOC occupation code, then check the salary threshold that applies to it, whether its quota is still open, and the 50:50 workforce rule against your current staff list. Care providers fail on the salary band and the 50:50 rule more often than on the occupation itself. Ours, and free.
- Sourcing and vetting overseas. Shortlisting against your setting: residential, homecare or disability, the dependency levels, the shift pattern, and the care qualifications and experience the role actually needs. Ours, not yours.
- The Labour Market Needs Test. 28 days of advertising on the DSP Employment Services/EURES network plus an additional online platform before a General Employment Permit application can be submitted. We write the ads, place them, and keep the evidence pack DETE asks for. Ours; the advertising cost is yours.
- The DETE employment permit application. We prepare and submit it. You are the applicant, so you sign the employer declaration and provide payroll and workforce evidence, including the 50:50 check. Shared, and it is the one step no domestic care agency runs.
- The employment visa. Applied for by the worker from their home country once the permit issues, with our coordination on documents and appointments. Ours and the worker's; you do nothing here.
- Arrival and the first 90 days. IRP registration with Immigration Service Delivery, PPS number, bank account, and check-ins through the guarantee period. Ours; you provide the contract, the induction and the Garda vetting.
That middle block is the whole difference. An agency placing an EEA-resident care assistant never touches DETE, never runs a Labour Market Needs Test, and never has to answer for a refused permit, because there is no permit. We run the same process across every sector we work in; the cross-sector picture is on our overseas recruitment agency page.
Who we place, and who we do not
This page is for care assistants, health care assistants, home carers, home support workers and support workers. Those are unregistered roles: there is no NMBI or CORU registration standing between a good candidate and your roster, which is exactly why the care permit route moves faster than the nursing one. One title to be careful with: Social Care Worker is not on that list. It is a CORU-registered profession, DETE requires the registration before a permit is granted, and the title has been legally protected since 1 December 2025. If the post you are filling is a social care worker post rather than a support worker post, tell us at the eligibility check.
Registered nurses and midwives are a different route and a different page. A non-EU nurse must be on the NMBI register before they can practise, and the registration decision has to land before the permit is applied for, so the timeline, the permit type and the cost all change. We do that work too; it is set out on our healthcare recruitment page. Do not budget a nurse hire off the numbers on this page.
Roles We Fill
The Permit Process
- 1
Free Consultation
We assess the role, your current workforce, and the appropriate permit route. No obligation or charge.
- 2
Sourcing, Vetting & Labour Market Test
We source and vet candidates in the Philippines and manage the 28-day labour market advertising requirement (JobsIreland.ie + EURES + one other online platform — three platforms, two postings, since registering on jobsireland.ie covers both JobsIreland and EURES) before submitting the application.
- 3
Placement & 90-Day Support
We support the worker's arrival and first 90 days.
Struggling to fill care vacancies?
WhatsApp us and we'll assess your situation in a free consultation. We cover residential, community, and disability settings.
WhatsApp UsFees, the Guarantee, and What Happens if the Permit Is Refused
Every agency you talk to will quote you a fee. Only the ones running permits have to tell you what happens when a government department says no. All three parts, in plain terms.
What CA Recruitment charges
Our recruitment fee is agreed with you in writing before any work begins, and nothing is payable to us until the worker arrives and starts with you. We quote it against your specific role at the free consultation rather than publishing a number here, because the role and the vacancy change the work. What we will not do is start sourcing on a handshake. The fee, the payment trigger and the cost breakdown go in the agreement first. If you want to know what a recruitment agreement should contain before you sign one with anybody, we wrote that up in our guide to recruitment agency terms of business in Ireland.
What the government and third parties charge
These costs are yours, not ours, and we pass them straight through at cost. We never mark them up:
- The DETE employment permit application fee, €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of 6 to 24 months, paid to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. A permit of 6 months or less is €500.
- Labour Market Needs Test advertising costs. Assume these apply. Every role on this page runs on the General Employment Permit, and DETE waives the test only in narrow cases, such as where the worker has already been caring for a person with exceptional medical needs who has become dependent on them.
- The worker’s visa, travel, medical and relocation costs.
You get a written breakdown of every expected cost, and what is and is not refundable, before you commit to anything.
The 90-day replacement guarantee
If a care worker we place leaves your employment within their first 90 days, or you have to dismiss them for gross misconduct within that period following a fair disciplinary process, we source and place a replacement and waive our recruitment fee for that replacement. The 90 days are calendar days, counted from the worker’s first day of employment with you.
Two limits worth reading before you rely on it. First, it covers our fee only. The replacement worker needs their own employment permit, because a permit is issued in respect of a named worker and follows that worker rather than the vacancy, so the DETE fee, visa and travel for the replacement are payable again. It is not a money-back guarantee and we will not describe it as one. Second, it does not apply where you decide the worker is not the right fit on grounds of preference or general performance, where you dismiss for any reason other than gross misconduct, where the role is made redundant or the business restructures, or where the employment ends because the terms differed from the contract and permit application. The full terms are on our 90-day replacement guarantee terms page.
If DETE refuses the permit
It happens, and the honest answer is that it costs you money. If an application is unsuccessful, DETE refunds 90% of the application fee to the applicant. Where you are the applicant that is you, so €900 of the €1,000 comes back. Third-party costs already spent, such as Labour Market Needs Test advertising, are generally not recoverable from anyone.
Which is why the eligibility check comes first and comes free. In care there are three ways an application can fail before anyone looks at the candidate: the salary does not meet the threshold that applies to that specific occupation (the reduced €32,691 band and the standard €36,605 band are not interchangeable, and DETE decides which applies from the SOC code, not from the job title you advertise), the 50:50 workforce rule is not satisfied, or the quota for the occupation has closed. We check all three before you spend a euro, and if the answer is that your vacancy will not qualify, we tell you that instead of taking the instruction. For which roles across all sectors are capped this year, see our guide to Irish employment permit quotas in 2026.
Why Filipino Care Workers?
Natural Compassion
Filipino culture places enormous value on caring for others, particularly the elderly and vulnerable. This shows up every day in care settings — it's not something you can train into someone.
English Proficiency
Clear communication with residents, clients, and colleagues is critical in care settings. Overseas care workers from the Philippines are English fluent as standard.
Care Qualifications
Many Filipino candidates hold formal care or health-related qualifications and bring direct residential or community care experience from the Philippines or previous overseas placements.
Commitment & Stability
Permit-route workers are motivated to stay and build a career. The turnover and reliability problems common with agency care staff are much less of an issue.
What Care Providers Say
"The compliance piece was what worried me most: work permits, visas, the whole lot. CA handled every bit of it. Our new accounts administrator was in the office and productive within two months of first contact."
"We needed reliable staff for our shop in Midleton and couldn't find the right people locally. CA Recruitment placed two excellent Filipino workers with us — both have been brilliant from day one. Couldn't recommend them highly enough."
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — but the pay floor is not the same for every care role. Care assistant, home care worker and support worker roles all qualify for the General Employment Permit (GEP). Health care assistants, care workers, home carers and home support workers (SOC 6145) take DETE's reduced rate: €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. Support Worker is a different occupation (SOC 3239), and DETE does not publish the reduced rate for it — so a support worker sits on the standard GEP band — €36,605 a year, or €18.05 an hour — in any setting. Both figures bind, on either band. A lower graduate band can also apply where the worker holds a relevant Level 8 or higher degree on the Irish Register of Qualifications, awarded in the 12 months before the application date. Both groups are quota-capped under S.I. 213/2026 — 1,495 permits for care workers and home carers, 200 for Support Worker, both from 13 May 2026. Those are statutory ceilings, not the number still available: DETE publishes no running count. What it publishes is notices — when a quota is set or renewed, and when one has filled. Once a quota has filled, applications still in the processing queue are rejected. You will not usually get a warning first. Support Worker is much the smaller pot, so whether it is open is a live question — we check the current position on DETE's employment permits notices before you advertise. The qualifying figure must be basic pay — guaranteed premium payments can count, but bonuses, shift allowances, and overtime cannot. The role must be on the DETE eligible occupations list and pass the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test. We manage the full process.
Care assistants, home carers, home support workers and support workers are the roles we place most often via the GEP route. The pay floor differs between them: care assistants, home carers and home support workers sit on the reduced €16.12 rate, support workers on the standard €36,605 a year / €18.05 an hour band, unless the recent Irish graduate band applies. Support Worker also carries its own 200-permit quota under S.I. 213/2026, separate from the 1,495 for care workers and home carers — a quota that may be open or closed on the day you apply, so we confirm the current DETE position before you advertise. Social Care Worker is a separate question — it is a CORU-registered profession, but DETE assigns an application to a SOC code rather than to the job title you use, so talk to us before you advertise under that title. What is settled: Social Care Worker is not one of the occupations DETE names on the reduced €32,691 rate, so budget the standard General Employment Permit minimum unless we confirm otherwise. We confirm eligibility and the correct pay floor for your specific role during your free consultation.
Regulatory requirements differ by role and setting. We're familiar with the compliance framework for care homes, home care providers, and disability services. We advise on any role-specific regulatory considerations — such as Garda vetting requirements — as part of the recruitment process.
Typically 6–8 months from consultation to the worker starting. This covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test and DETE permit processing (check current processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie).
Many of the candidates we source have direct care experience — in residential settings, home care, or disability services. We vet candidates carefully for the type of role you need, and only present workers whose background matches your requirements. Filipino workers are widely regarded for their warmth, patience, and dedication to care work.
CA Recruitment's recruitment fee is agreed upfront and is separate from government costs. The employer-paid DETE GEP fee (currently €1,000) is the main external cost. Full breakdown provided at consultation.