Long Term Residency: 5 years without a work permit

The short answer

• Who: people with 60 months registered in Ireland on employment permits.
• What you get: 5 years to live and work here without an employment permit.
• How: a paper application by post to ISD, while you’re employed and your permission is valid.
• Cost: €500 once approved, plus the registration fee.
• Instead, or later: Stamp 4 renewals, Stamp 5 at 96 months, or citizenship.

Check if you can apply

Which stamps count

ISD only counts time on Stamp 1 or Stamp 4 that you got because of an employment permit from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE):

• General Employment and other work permits, on Stamp 1;
• Critical Skills permits (formerly green cards), on Stamp 1 and then Stamp 4;
• a mix of the two;
• hosting agreements for researchers: 60 months of them, a mix with employment permits, or 2 years of hosting followed by 3 years on Stamp 4.

These don’t count, among others:

Living in Ireland for more than 5 years isn’t enough on its own: you need the 60 months registered on immigration stamps based on your permits.

How ISD counts your months

• From your stamps, not your permits: ISD uses the dates of the stamps in your passport and on your IRP cards, not the start and end dates on your employment permits.
• Gaps don’t count: any time without a valid stamp or card, for example while waiting for a renewal after a card expired, is left out.
• Overlaps count once: if a Stamp 1 runs to May and your Stamp 4 starts in February, the three months in between count once.

Applying, step by step

1. Check you meet every condition: 60 months on qualifying stamps, in employment now (not self-employed), a valid permission, good character, no breaches of your conditions, and not an undue burden on the State.
2. Fill in ISD’s Long Term Residency form. Complete every section: incomplete forms are sent back.
3. Gather your documents:
   • full colour copies of all your passports and IRP cards, showing every stamp;
   • a copy of your current IRP card;
   • your employment contract, or a letter from your employer with your start date and terms;
   • full colour copies of all your employment permits;
   • proof you’ve lived here continuously, such as tenancy agreements, bank statements or State documents.
4. Post it to the Long Term Residence Section, Unit C, Domestic Residence and Permissions Division, Immigration Service Delivery, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2, D02 XK70.
5. Wait for the acknowledgement. ISD says it has very high volumes and delays. Keep renewing your current permission while you wait.
6. If approved, pay €500 by bank transfer within 28 days of the approval letter. If you miss it, ISD closes the application without contacting you.
7. Register the permission online, paying the registration fee.

Long Term Residency, Stamp 4 or Stamp 5?

Many permit holders move to Stamp 4 after a permit long before 60 months, and renew online. Long Term Residency gives you 5 years at once, by a paper application. Your time on Stamp 1 and Stamp 4 also counts towards Irish citizenship.

Once you have it

• Work for any employer without an employment permit.
• Live here continuously: ISD says absences should generally not exceed 90 days in a calendar year, for holidays, family emergencies or work. Long absences can also affect a citizenship application.
• Stay in work where you can, and don’t become an undue burden on the State: ISD means means-tested social welfare, not benefits based on your PRSI.
• Renew after 5 years, with proof you’ve lived and worked here, such as P60s or your Employment Detail Summary for each year. If you’ve had means-tested payments, ISD assesses your renewal on the Long Term Residency form.

ISD can revoke the permission if you no longer meet the criteria, break its conditions, gave false information or didn’t register it.

Your family

Once you’re granted Long Term Residency, your spouse and dependants can apply too, if they’ve lived here legally as your family for the same 60 months. ISD’s Long Term Residency page says they get:

• Stamp 1G for 5 years, if you held a Critical Skills permit;
• Stamp 3 for 5 years, without the right to work, if you held general work permits.

ISD’s 2026 family reunification policy gives partners of permit holders Stamp 1G, so check with ISD which applies to your family.

Doctors

Non-EEA doctors who worked as Senior House Officers or Registrars in public hospitals on Stamp 1 before 1 March 2014, when they didn’t need employment permits, can count that time, with their Medical Council registration certificates and contracts. Only stamps after your Medical Council registration count. Doctors on the Atypical Working Scheme can’t apply.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources