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Career Opportunities in Ireland

While studying in Ireland you may come to the same conclusion that many others have arrived at, and decide to start your career here. With the second highest wages in the EU and a UN report that found Ireland to be the world’s fifth most desirable country to live in, it is definitely worth your consideration

The current global economic downturn is affecting Ireland as much as anywhere else, and significant job losses have occurred over the past year. However, most of these redundancies have been in the lower-skilled sector, and Ireland is still a great place for well-qualified graduates of any nationality to find highly paid and secure jobs.

The following is a guide to the main schemes that enable international graduates to secure work in Ireland:

*Please note that these schemes are for non-EEA nationals only, as EU nationals (except Bulgaria and Romania), and graduates from Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland are free to work in Ireland.

Third Level Graduate Scheme
A welcome development in 2007 for non-EEA students in Ireland was the implementation of the Third Level Graduate Scheme. Previously, once these students graduated they required a work permit or ‘green card’ in order to stay in the country. This frequently led to the stressful scenario whereby non-EU students who wished to remain in Ireland would be frantically seeking a job during the time when they needed to focus on preparing for exams or completing a dissertation.

The scheme is in effect an extension to a student’s visa, allowing graduates of a primary, masters or doctorate degree (level 7-10 on the NFQ) to remain in Ireland for six months from the day upon which they receive their exam results. Graduates can work for up to 40 hours a week and/or seek employment and apply for further permission to remain in the state.

Green Card Scheme
This scheme is designed to allow employers in specific sectors that are suffering from skills shortages to employ highly skilled non-EEA graduates or workers. Graduates in economically important sectors such as Information Communications Technology (ICT), Health, Financial Services and Scientific Research may be able to benefit. The Green Card is available to nearly all occupations with an annual salary of €60,000 or more, and to a restricted list of occupations with annual salaries between €30,000 and €59,999 - visit www.entemp.ie for the current list of applicable occupations.

The Green Card features a named employer and the specific role held by the employee, and either party can make the application. It entitles the holder to an initial stay of two years and to apply for family reunification. The Green Card is renewable and often serves as a gateway to permanent residency status after the initial two-year period.

Work Permit Scheme
Not too dissimilar from the Green Card, the Work Permit Scheme enables non-EEA graduates to work in occupations with an annual salary of €30,000 or more, and which are suffering from labour shortages. The Work Permit Scheme does not apply to certain occupations, a list of which can be found on www.entemp.ie.

Like the Green Care, the Work Permit is allocated on a job-by-job basis. Employers need to prove that no EEA candidate is available by first advertising the position with FÁS (Ireland’s Training and Employment Authority) and EURES (European Job Mobility Portal). Employers and employees can apply for the Work Permit, which enables two years in Ireland initially, is then renewable for a further three years, and can finally be renewed indefinitely.

Employment Scheme for Researchers
Under this scheme, contracted researchers can work for publically funded research organisations (including in industry). As with the previous schemes, permission is linked to a specific research role in a named organisation, but there is no obligation for the employer to seek an EEA candidate.

The researcher must be earning a minimum of €25,000, or €30,000 if there are dependants. Holders and their dependants will be eligible to apply for long-term residence after a period of two years. Visit www.researchcareersireland.com to view the latest research positions available in Ireland.

More information and application details on all these schemes can be found at www.entemp.ie. Visit www.employmentrights.ie for information regarding the legal rights and entitlements of employees in Ireland.