Work

Number of work permits issued up by almost a third in first half of year

Scale of increase partly explained by post Covid delays in system expereinced by workers arriving into Ireland two years ago

The number of permits issued for ICT workers fell sharply. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

Emmet Malone
Tue Jul 2 2024 - 19:41

The number of permits granted to workers from overseas during the first six months of 2024 increased by almost a third year on year figures published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show.

The total number of permits granted during the period rose from 15,340 in the period January to June 2023, to 19,303 in the last six months with the health and information, and communications technology sector again accounting for about half of the total.

The dependence of farming and fishing, hospitality and financial services on workers from overseas is also highlighted by their prominence in the figures.

The numbers suggest the ICT sector is not bringing is as many people as it was two years ago with the 3,282 permits granted to workers in the area representing about 60 per cent of the total for the same period in 2022.

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The numbers in health, though, continue to gown with 6,809 permits granted compared to 5,130 in the opening half of last year and 4,578 the year before.

The overall numbers for the most recent period were skewed by changes to the minimum wages required to be paid to workers in particular roles announced in December.

The increases prompted a surge in applications and renewals in January ahead of the date the new requirements were due to take effect.

Colm Collins, a director at immigration consultants Fragomen, also suggests new figures may contain a higher than normal proportion of renewals with a significant number of those who came to Ireland to work for the first time in 2022 having experienced delays starting work due to delays issuing visas and other issues as Covid restrictions eased and the economy returned to normal.

“I don’t think the numbers actually arriving are back to 2022 levels,” he said on Tuesday. “There is an element of a two year cycle with this and what we have been seeing has been that some people in particular categories have had to apply for second permits because they weren’t in a position to actually enter the country and start working for several months two years ago because of the various backlogs that existed at the time. So they didn’t have the two years of residency required to become eligible for a Stamp 4 and move beyond the permit system.”

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times

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