Fewer than 3,000 migrants were granted green cards during the first year of a new Government scheme for recruiting highly skilled workers from outside Europe, according to official figures.
A further 23,600 standard work permits, including 13,500 renewals, were issued last year.
The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment suggested that lack of awareness explains the slow initial uptake of the salary-linked green card, which was launched along with three new types of work permits last January as part of the Government's new economic migration policy.
However, the new statistics show that while successful applications peaked at 446 in July, they fell steadily each month after that. Just 201 were received in December.
The figures provided by the department show that a total of 2,976 green cards were issued in 2007, and almost half of these were obtained by healthcare workers. The green card scheme covers occupations offering an annual salary of €60,000 or more but also includes some occupations in the €30,000 to €59,999 salary bracket where "strategically important" high-level skills shortages have been identified, such as in healthcare, construction and financial services.
The card is issued for an initial period of two years and generally leads to permanent residency. Its holders are allowed to bring their spouses and children to join them in Ireland immediately.
After healthcare, the sectors most represented among green card holders are information technology, financial services and construction.
Of the 23,587 migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA, comprising the 27 EU members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) who secured standard work permits in 2007, the biggest cohorts came from India (4,065) and the Philippines (3,882), both of which are well represented in the health service.
They were followed by South Africans (1,458), Ukrainians (1,412), Chinese (1,187) and Brazilians (1,173).
Just 120 Romanians have secured work permits since their country joined the European Union on January 1st last year, a dramatic fall on the 1,500 permits issued to their compatriots in 2006.
Though they now have freedom of movement within the EU, the Government has restricted Romanians from working here unless they have a permit or are self-employed. However, separate figures show that more than 13,000 Romanians obtained personal public service (PPS) numbers up to last November. Under the revised work permit scheme - mainly covering non-green card occupations with salaries over €30,000, a "labour market test" must be applied to any vacancy which is the subject of an application to ensure the job cannot be filled by an EEA national.
A number of job categories which can be filled from within the EEA area have been excluded from the work permit scheme, including labourers, childminders and all hotel and catering staff except for chefs.
According to the 2007 figures, the most common sector for work permit applications was the service industry, followed by catering and healthcare.
Refusal rates differ across permit categories, with about one in six applications for a green card and one in 10 for a work permit being turned down.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, said he was pleased with how the green card scheme was functioning.
Work permits issued in 2007: Top 10 nationalities
1. India 4,065
2. Philippines 3,882
3. South Africa 1,458
4. Ukraine 1,412
5. China 1,187
6. Brazil 1,173
7. Pakistan 813
8. Australia 807
9. Malaysia 797
10. Bangladesh 666
And finally (some of the nationalities represented by one)
Bhutan
Burkina Faso
Cayman Islands
Haiti
Macau
Maldives
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
St Vincent & the Grenadines
Swaziland
Western Samoa
Yemen
