In short: Yes — for qualified chefs (Commis Chef level and up, with the required experience). Waiting staff, bar staff and kitchen assistants are on the Ineligible List of Occupations. CA Recruitment confirms which roles qualify and manages the full DETE permit process for your hotel or restaurant.
Struggling to Find Reliable Hospitality Staff?
You've posted the chef job on every platform. You've tried the agencies. The new hire you spent two weeks interviewing lasted three weeks before moving on for another €1 an hour. Meanwhile you're covering shifts yourself, your kitchen manager is burning out, and your service is suffering because the team is understaffed.
This isn't just a hiring problem. It's affecting your service quality, your reputation, and your ability to grow.
- Constant staff turnover disrupts your kitchen every few months
- Short-staffed shifts mean corners get cut and quality drops
- Experienced chefs are almost impossible to find and hire locally
- Managers end up on the floor covering roles they shouldn't be covering
- Taking on new contracts, events, or expanded service is impossible without a stable team
The Irish hospitality labour market has not recovered to where it needs to be. The experienced kitchen staff — the ones who can run a section, keep standards consistent, and show up every shift — are not available in the local pool the way they once were. That is the reality most hospitality operators are working with.
Why Hospitality Businesses Are Hiring Overseas Staff
The Local Pool Has Shrunk
Fewer people are entering the culinary trades at the rate needed to fill the demand. Experienced chefs have options and use them. Reliable kitchen staff who stay past three months are a rare find in the current local market.
Overseas Chefs Stay
Filipino chefs placed through the employment permit route have relocated specifically for the role. They didn't stumble into it. That deliberate commitment shows in reliability, attendance, and retention — consistently better than agency or casual hires.
You Can Plan Again
When you have a chef who is going to be in the kitchen for the duration of their permit, you can plan your menu, your service, and your growth. Staffing stops being a monthly crisis.
Real Kitchen Experience
Filipino chefs have built careers in international hotel kitchens, cruise ship galleys, and busy restaurant brigades. They arrive with real skills, genuine experience, and the discipline that comes from working in demanding environments.
Hospitality Roles We Help Fill
The employment permit route in hospitality is specific — not all roles qualify, and it is important to be clear about this upfront. Under DETE rules, the General Employment Permit is available for experienced chef grades only. Other common hospitality roles including front-of-house staff, bar staff, receptionists, kitchen porters, and housekeepers are on the Ineligible Occupations List and cannot be placed via employment permit.
The chef grades that qualify are:
👨🍳 Executive Chef
Overall kitchen leadership for hotels, large restaurants, and catering operations. Minimum 5 years relevant experience in non-fast-food settings required for GEP eligibility. Minimum annual salary: €36,605.
🍽️ Head Chef
Day-to-day kitchen management, menu development, and brigade leadership. Minimum 5 years relevant experience required. Minimum annual salary: €36,605.
🔪 Sous Chef
Second in command of the kitchen brigade. Strong operational and management skills. Minimum 5 years relevant experience required. Minimum annual salary: €36,605.
🍳 Chef de Partie
Section responsibility within the kitchen brigade — sauces, pastry, grill, larder. Minimum 2 years relevant experience required. Minimum annual salary: €36,605.
🧑🍳 Commis Chef
Entry-level brigade position with developing kitchen skills and section awareness. Minimum 2 years relevant experience required. Minimum annual salary: €36,605.
What About Other Hospitality Roles?
Bar staff, waiters and waitresses, kitchen porters, housekeepers, hotel receptionists, and catering assistants are all on DETE's Ineligible Occupations List. These roles cannot be sponsored for a General Employment Permit. If you're looking to fill these positions, overseas recruitment via the employment permit route is not available. CA Recruitment will tell you this clearly from the start — not after you've spent time and money on a process that cannot succeed. If you have a chef vacancy and other vacancies alongside it, contact us and we can discuss what is and isn't possible for your specific situation.
Need Reliable Hospitality Staff? Let's talk.
We'll tell you honestly whether overseas recruitment is the right route for your business and your specific vacancy. Free consultation, no obligation.
Real Results for Hospitality Businesses
Irish restaurants and hotels working with CA Recruitment have been able to stabilise their kitchen teams during a period when local chef recruitment has been consistently difficult. Chefs placed through CA Recruitment stay — the investment in the permit process creates a different level of commitment from the worker, and the results show in retention.
"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."
"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 Handle the Hard Parts
When you work with CA Recruitment, you don't have to deal with:
- Searching for experienced chefs in an overseas market you've never hired from
- Verifying experience and references halfway across the world
- Understanding the employment permit system and which chef grades qualify
- Preparing or submitting permit documentation to DETE
- Coordinating the visa process from the Philippine end
- Figuring out arrival logistics and onboarding on your own
You describe the role, the kitchen environment, and what you need. We do the rest.
Sourcing & Vetting
We source chef candidates in the Philippines with verified experience at the right grade. References checked, experience confirmed, and experience must be outside fast-food to meet permit requirements.
Shortlisting for Your Kitchen
You get a shortlist of candidates matched to your cuisine, operation, and kitchen environment — not a generic list of available chefs. You interview and choose.
Permit Process Support
We guide you through the employment permit requirements, prepare documentation, run the Labour Market Needs Test, and manage the DETE application. You don't need to understand the system — we do.
Documentation Guidance
We coordinate the employment visa from the Philippine end and manage the documentation requirements so delays don't come from paperwork on either side.
Onboarding Support
We help the chef with arrival, IRP registration, PPS number, and bank account setup. We're available for the first 90 days.
Simple Process: From First Call to First Shift
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1
Tell Us What You Need
Tell us the chef grade, the kitchen type, your cuisine, and what you need from the person. We confirm whether the role and your business qualify — specifically checking the 50/50 workforce rule (at least 50% EEA nationals required) and the experience requirements for the grade.
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2
We Source and Shortlist
We source in the Philippines, verify experience at the correct grade in non-fast-food settings, check references, and shortlist against your kitchen requirements. We also run the Labour Market Needs Test — 28 days of advertising on the DSP/EURES network (jobsireland.ie) and one additional online platform, managed entirely by us.
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3
You Interview and Choose
You review the shortlist and interview the candidates who look right for your kitchen. You make the decision. We make sure everyone you're speaking to meets the permit requirements before the interview stage.
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4
We Guide the Permit and Documentation Process
We prepare and submit the DETE permit application and coordinate the employment visa from the Philippine end. DETE publishes live processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie — we track progress and keep you updated throughout.
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5
Your Chef Arrives Ready to Work
We support the chef through arrival, IRP registration with Immigration Service Delivery (ISD), PPS number, and bank account. We check in during the first 90 days.
Common Concerns, Answered Honestly
We source against your specific kitchen — the cuisine, the operation size, the pace. Filipino chefs have typically worked in structured brigade kitchens and international hotel environments. They understand hierarchy, service pressure, and consistency. English is an official language of the Philippines, so communication in the kitchen is not a barrier. We do not shortlist candidates who are not a realistic match for your environment.
Yes — and it is a requirement, not a preference. To qualify for the General Employment Permit, DETE requires minimum experience at the relevant grade: 5 years for Executive Chef, Head Chef, and Sous Chef; 2 years for Chef de Partie and Commis Chef. Experience must be outside fast-food operations. CA Recruitment verifies experience and references before anyone reaches your shortlist. If a candidate's background doesn't hold up, they don't reach you.
The permit process has moving parts, but your involvement is limited to the consultation, reviewing a shortlist, and conducting interviews. CA Recruitment manages the Labour Market Needs Test, DETE permit documentation, visa coordination, and arrival support. Most employers find it far simpler than expected once they understand that we carry the process. If you want to understand the full picture first, our Work Permit Guide covers it in plain language.
We vet candidates carefully — experience verified, references checked, matched to your kitchen — which keeps the risk low. Our FAQ page has more detail on how placements and replacements work.
From initial call to chef starting, the realistic timeline is 6 to 8 months for a General Employment Permit. This includes the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE permit processing, visa approval, and travel from the Philippines. DETE processing times vary — we track the current position and factor it into your timeline from day one. The practical point: if your kitchen is short a chef now, start the process now. Waiting another three months doesn't shorten the timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
DETE allows the following chef grades under the General Employment Permit:
- Executive Chef — minimum 5 years relevant experience, outside fast-food
- Head Chef — minimum 5 years relevant experience, outside fast-food
- Sous Chef — minimum 5 years relevant experience, outside fast-food
- Chef de Partie — minimum 2 years relevant experience, outside fast-food
- Commis Chef — minimum 2 years relevant experience, outside fast-food
All grades must meet the GEP minimum annual salary of €36,605. CA Recruitment verifies experience at the correct grade during the sourcing stage so you only interview candidates who qualify. See our Work Permit Guide for a full explanation of the permit process.
No. Bar staff, waiters and waitresses, kitchen porters, housekeepers, hotel receptionists, and catering assistants are all on DETE's Ineligible Occupations List. These roles cannot be sponsored for any type of employment permit in Ireland. If an agency suggests otherwise, they are wrong — and you will lose your permit application fee when DETE refuses the application. The employment permit route in hospitality is available for experienced chef grades only. Contact us if you are unsure whether your specific vacancy qualifies.
From consultation to the chef starting, the typical timeline is 6 to 8 months. This includes the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE permit processing, visa approval, and travel from the Philippines. DETE processing times vary — check live processing dates at enterprise.gov.ie. We track these and keep you updated throughout the process.
Yes. At least 50% of your workforce must be EEA nationals at the time of the permit application. This applies to restaurants, hotels, and all other hospitality businesses regardless of size. The only exception is for start-up companies within 2 years of establishment supported by Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland. CA Recruitment checks your eligibility during the free consultation.
The GEP minimum annual salary is €36,605 for all qualifying chef grades. You must also pay at least the Irish National Minimum Wage (currently €14.15/hr as of January 2026) for all hours worked. Salary details for your specific grade are confirmed during the free consultation.
No recruitment fee to CA Recruitment until the chef arrives and starts. The main external cost is the €1,000 employer-paid DETE General Employment Permit fee. All costs are explained clearly during the free consultation — no obligation to proceed. Book your free consultation here.