Moving to Ireland From Abroad: Country-by-Country Guides

Every year, tens of thousands of people relocate to Ireland from every corner of the globe — drawn by its booming tech and pharma sectors, its English-speaking, EU-adjacent lifestyle, and a labour market that, despite a punishing housing crisis, keeps advertising jobs it cannot fill locally. But "moving to Ireland" is not one process. Where you move from decides almost everything: whether you need a visa at all, which permit you qualify for, how long the paperwork takes, and how much it will cost you before you even see your first payslip.

Why Your Starting Country Changes Everything

Ireland's immigration system sorts the world into a handful of very different lanes. If you hold a UK or EU/EEA passport, you can move to Ireland and start working tomorrow with no visa, no permit and no paperwork beyond a PPS number — a legacy of the Common Travel Area and EU free movement rules. Everyone else needs permission before they arrive, and that permission usually comes down to one of three routes: an employment permit tied to a job offer, a study visa that leads to a post-study work window, or, for a lucky few nationalities including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, a Working Holiday Authorisation that sidesteps the job-offer requirement entirely for a year.

The Employment Permit System, In Brief

For most non-EU nationals — Americans, Indians, Nigerians, Filipinos, South Africans — the default route is an employment permit issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (enterprise.gov.ie). The two permits that matter most are the Critical Skills Employment Permit, reserved for roles on Ireland's official skills shortage list (software engineers, nurses, doctors, certain engineers) with a minimum salary generally from €38,000, and the General Employment Permit, which covers a much wider range of occupations but requires your employer to first run a Labour Market Needs Test advertising the role locally for at least four weeks. Both permits require a signed job offer before you apply — Ireland does not (yet) issue a general "skilled worker" visa that lets you search for work on the ground the way some other countries do.

What's Universal, Regardless of Where You're Coming From

A handful of steps apply no matter your passport. Everyone who plans to stay more than 90 days must register their residency: EU/EEA and UK citizens do this informally through tax and social welfare registration, while everyone else registers in person with the Irish Immigration Service and receives an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card, which currently costs €300. Everyone needs a Personal Public Service (PPS) number to work, open a bank account, rent legally or access healthcare — apply through MyWelfare.ie as soon as you have an address. Everyone will collide with the same housing crisis: national average rents were running above €1,600 a month through 2025, and Dublin averages are considerably higher, so budget for a rental deposit plus a month's rent in advance before you land, and expect a search that takes several weeks. And everyone needs to sort healthcare — Ireland runs a hybrid public/private system, and unless you qualify for a medical card, GP visits and hospital care are not free, so private health insurance is worth pricing before arrival.

Costs You Should Plan For Up Front

Beyond the permit fee itself — €1,000 for most employment permits, non-refundable if refused — budget for flights, the first month's rent and deposit, an IRP registration fee, and a buffer of at least €3,000–€5,000 to cover the gap before your first Irish payslip clears. Currency matters too: someone moving from the US, Canada or Australia is converting from a currency that has recently traded close to parity with the euro, while someone moving from Nigeria, India or the Philippines is often converting from a currency that has weakened substantially against the euro, which changes how far savings actually stretch on arrival.

Where the Path Diverges

Beyond these shared basics, your route depends heavily on your nationality, your profession and your age. A 24-year-old Australian teacher, a 34-year-old Nigerian software developer and a British retiree all face completely different requirements, timelines and costs to make Dublin, Cork or Galway home. The guides in this section break down exactly what applies to you — visa routes, salary thresholds, processing times and the mistakes people from your specific starting point most commonly make — so you can plan your move with real numbers instead of generic advice.