Changing your stamp

The short answer

• You can often change your permission from inside Ireland, but only while it’s still valid. ISD won’t change an expired one.
• Most changes are made online through ISD’s portal (inisonline.jahs.ie). A few need a form, a postal application, or an employment permit first.
• Applying doesn’t extend your current permission, so apply in plenty of time.
• Visitors and people on a Working Holiday Authorisation can’t change: they leave and apply from outside, apart from a few family routes.

Check your change

Pick your current permission and what has changed. Add the date your permission ends to check you’re still in time.

The ground rules

1. Your permission must be valid. If it’s out of date, ISD says you can’t apply to change it.
2. Applying doesn’t extend it. You stay on your current conditions until ISD decides.
3. Changes are online. ISD’s registration FAQ says renewals and stamp changes are made by online application only, unless a Registration Officer asks you to attend.
4. Tell ISD about changes. A new job or other changed registration details must be reported within 7 days.
5. ISD decides each case. Your new permission letter sets your conditions.

What ISD allows from each stamp

Work changes

• Stamp 2 or 3 to Stamp 1: once the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment issues an employment permit, apply to ISD to change to Stamp 1.
• Stamp 2 to Stamp 1G: with an Irish award at level 8 or higher, apply online within 6 months of your final results.
• Stamp 1G graduate to Stamp 1: get the permit before your Stamp 1G ends. ISD says it doesn’t generally extend Stamp 1G to allow for a late permit application.
• Stamp 1 to Stamp 4: after 21 months on a Critical Skills permit or 57 on a General Employment permit, you renew online on Stamp 4 conditions.
• A new employer on Stamp 1 isn’t a change of stamp: your new employer needs a new employment permit, and you tell ISD about the new job.

Family changes

Partners of employment permit holders get Stamp 1G, which lets you work. Family of Stamp 4 or 5 holders not covered by another category get Stamp 3, which doesn’t. Sponsors on Stamp 2 or 3 can’t sponsor.

After temporary protection

The Temporary Protection Transition Scheme opened on 30 September 2026 for people on temporary protection who want to stay. You apply online by 30 March 2027, and each family member applies. You need:

• at least 1 year here on temporary protection by 30 September 2026;
• 6 months of employment or self-employment by then, at €29,432 a year or more;
• to not be living in State-supported accommodation when you apply.

It’s a Stamp 4 permission for up to 2 years, renewable, and the Department of Justice says it counts towards naturalisation. Once you’re approved, your temporary protection ends and you register within 90 days. If you’re refused, you keep temporary protection (extended in Ireland to 4 March 2027; the EU Directive runs to 4 March 2028), and you can appeal within 30 working days. Check if you qualify in our temporary protection guide.

Long stays

• Stamp 4 after 21 or 57 months on employment permits.
• Long Term Residency: after 60 months on employment permits, you can apply by post for 5 more years of work without a permit. The permission fee is €500, on top of the registration fee.
• Stamp 5: after 8 years (96 months) of residence on stamps that count, you can apply to ISD for permission without condition as to time. It isn’t possible straight from Stamp 2.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources