Lost your job on a permit

The short answer

• Made redundant? Send DETE the Redundancy Notification Form within 4 weeks.
• You have 6 months from the redundancy date to find a new job. Your next Critical Skills or General permit then needs no labour market test.
• If your IRP card expires during those 6 months, ask ISD to extend it up to the full 6 months. If it lasts longer, you don’t need to contact ISD.
• You can’t work until a new permit issues. The grace period doesn’t cover resigning.

Plan your next steps

Enter when your job ended and when your card expires to see your deadlines and the steps in order.

If you’re made redundant

1. Tell DETE within 4 weeks. Send the Redundancy Notification Form to DETE’s Employment Permits Section.
2. Find a new job within 6 months of the redundancy date.
3. Your new employer applies for a permit. With your form in on time, a Critical Skills or General permit doesn’t need a labour market needs test or the usual job eligibility checks. Even if your old job has since been added to the Ineligible List, or taken off the Critical Skills list, a new permit for the same job title can still be considered. DETE asks for applications at least 12 weeks before the start date.
4. Start, then tell ISD about the new job within 7 days. Your Stamp 1 continues.

On a Dependant/Partner/Spouse, Reactivation or Sport and Cultural permit, you also have 6 months, but your next permit is assessed under the normal rules.

Your IRP during the 6 months

You apply with ISD’s application form through the Customer Service Portal. Until a new permit issues, Stamp 1 doesn’t let you work.

If you resigned or were dismissed

The 6-month grace period is only for people made redundant involuntarily: ISD’s policy says people who quit don’t qualify. When any job on a permit ends, DETE must be told and get a copy of the permit back within 4 weeks. A new job needs a new permit under the normal rules. Contact ISD about your permission and get advice.

Five years or more on permits

ISD’s policy for 5-year workers says that people with 5 consecutive years on employment permits, including those made redundant after reaching 5 years, can get Stamp 4 for one year, renewable, working for any employer without a permit. You’d need your passport and IRP card, your last P60, and, if made redundant, your redundancy notice and P45.

If you’re already on Stamp 4, you don’t need a permit at all, so losing a job doesn’t change your permission.

If your permission has run out: the Reactivation scheme

The Reactivation Employment Permit is for people who came on a valid permit and fell out of the system through no fault of their own, or were badly treated or exploited at work, and stayed in Ireland.

1. Apply to ISD with its application form through the Customer Service Portal, with your passport, all your permits and a letter explaining why the permit couldn’t be renewed.
2. If approved, ISD gives you a temporary Stamp 1 for 6 months.
3. A new employer then applies to DETE for a Reactivation permit: any job at or above the National Minimum Wage, no labour market test, usually granted only once. You’re expected to stay with that employer for 12 months.

It isn’t open to people who left Ireland, came as students or visitors and never held a permit, or moved to another permission such as Stamp 2.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources