Good afternoon,
Firstly, are you or your spouse/partner an EU national or do you have an Irish connection such as Irish parents that could be used to gain Irish citizenship? That would be the easiest way into the country as all EU nationals have the right to move freely from one member country to another enjoying total unrestrictive access to employment in all member countries.
Otherwise, immigration to Ireland can be a bit tough depending on your circumstances. For example, if you are applying for entry under the asylum process, one set or rules apply, if not, then another group of regulations apply. Basically, if you are a non-Irish/non-EU person/non-asylum seeker and are seeking employment in Ireland, you can work under either the work authorization/visa scheme or work permit scheme.
Both have various rules & specific regulations attached to them:
The 'best' route would be if you could apply under the Work Authorization/Visa option. This is a type of permit given to an individual who is seeking work within a very particular sector of employment that is currently under-staffed here in Ireland. Speciifc job titles fall under this scheme: Dr, nurse, other medical personnel (lab techs, etc), town planners, engineers, architects. These work authorizations are applyed for in your home country embassy before you travel here and you need a formal written job offer from a registered Irish employer. The work authorization/visa is valid for 2 years and is renewable. You can change employers under this option as long as you stay in the same sector of work (eg. a Dr. in Cork moving to Dublin). New regulations have been introduced that allow family members, particularly spouses to come to Ireland as well under this scheme.
Secondly, the Work Permit option. This option is much more restrictive than the work authorization/visa as if legally binds you to one employer. This process requires more paperwork and a dedicated employer as all correspondance will be frowarded through the employer not the non-national worker, so care is needed that the employer is legit:
Basically, the employer informs FAS (the Irish employment people) that a vacancy is available within their company. FAS then advertise the job nationally and internationally (within the EU) of the position for 4 weeks. If no Irish or EU person can be found to fill the position, FAS then informs the emplyer through a formal letter that they can now proceed and look outside the EU for an employee. Now the job can be offered to you.
Next, an application is filled out along with the FAS letter, passport photos, details of your passport, etc and a fee which is paid by the employer. Fees have been rising steadily and now stands at 500.00 Euro for a year-long work permit. The application process can take 8-10 weeks. You cannot work while you are waiting to here if your application has been approved. A work permit is given for a maximum one year but can be renewed. Most notably is that one permit is given for one employee. You do not 'own' your permit and cannot change employers on the same permit. If you want to change employers even if you stay in the same sector of work, a new work permit must be issued, and cancellation of your current one. That means that the entire process starts from scratch.
As you can imagine, these schemes (particularly the Work Permit) leaves the non-national open to potential exploitation by the employer. Stories are being printed all the time in the newspapers of employers not applying for permits, false permits being sold, employees being charged sometimes huge amounts for their permits and non-nationals being paid less than their Irish co-workers. This isn't the norm of course, but it does happen. Right now, legislation is in place where an offending employer ( and sometimes the employee) will be charged with a criminal offence and fined if they are caught.
Upon recieving your work permit, you then present yourself to the Immigration authorities and get your passport stamped and receive your immigration card from the police stating that you are a registered non-national. Simple enough process, just need your work permit and valid passport.
I'm under the work permit scheme myself and have been since 2000. What I do is get the application form myself, fill it out will all relevant documents and present it to the employer to sign. I then take it back, photocopy it and mail it myself (usually registered and keep the reciept). They recommend that you apply for a renewal 25 working days before your current one runs out, but I give them 2 months, not taking any chances!
Really, don't chance it to an employer (no matter how wonderful they are), it's up to us to make sure we're legal for another year.
Check out the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment website
www.entemp.ie. They are in charge of giving out work permits and work authorizations/visas. Also for citizenship and immigration info check out Department of Justice at
www.justice.ie. Also, keep atop the news on
www.unison.ie for all daily newspapers in Ireland, there is frequently articles on non-nationals and immigration issues.
Sorry I can't give specifc info on family members as it's just me here with no kids, so I don't have the proper regulations on that, but the websites will give you a good basis for research. The funny thing is that there are loads of job opportunities here, just getting them legally and with as little hassle as possible is another kettle of fish.
Good luck,
Maria
