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Helen Downes, CEO, Shannon Chamber (right) pictured at Shannon Airport House for the chamber’s business immigration briefing with (from left): Emer Hodges, tax director, Kim Wong, director, and Roisin Fitzpatrick, partner, immigration services, Deloitte. Photograph by Eamon Ward

Given the explosion of companies looking to hire talent from non-EEA countries, which is resulting in a higher usage of employment permits, Shannon Chamber joined forces with professional services firm, Deloitte, to give its members an overview of the employment permits system, the changes coming on-stream, and the challenges companies face when recruiting globally.

The briefing, held in the Shannon Airport House, was both timely and beneficial. It followed the publication of the results of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) survey undertaken by Deloitte in 2024 which found that retaining and attracting skilled talent is regarded as a key business risk, with 95% of CFOs polled stating they are very or moderately dependent on non-EEA nationals to fill their skills gaps.

This, coupled with the fact that the Irish labour pool is tightening, with skills shortages evident in sectors such as science and technology, information technology, business and finance, healthcare, and social care, has resulted in almost 40,000 employment permits been issued in 2024. Given that employers are continuing to look at alternative talent and skills pipelines, the number of employment permit applications is likely to increase year on year.

As stated at the briefing, managing compliance along with supporting onboarding to attract and retain talent is becoming critical for companies growing diverse talent pools.

The presenters, Roisin Fitzpatrick, partner, and Kim Wong, director, Immigration Services with Deloitte, delved into their expert bank of knowledge to give attendees a full appreciation of the key considerations they need to factor in when hiring talent from outside the EEA.

Covering topics such as eligible and ineligible roles for employment permits, right to work checks on employees, inspections by the Workplace Relations Committee (WRC), graduate programmes, and remuneration thresholds, attendees were advised that before their embark on any non-EEA national recruitment programme, they should be aware that an employment permit will not issue unless at the time of application at least 50% of the employees of the employing company are EEA nationals (which includes UK nationals and Swiss nationals), with a small number of exceptions. They also heard that applications can be rejected if any documents associated with the application are missing.

As stated by the presenters, immigration permissions have different stamp numbers (0 to 6, with variations), with each number signifying what the permit holder is allowed to do and whether they are permitted to work. Attendees were advised to familiarise themselves with these permissions.

Already aware of recent changes to employment permissions, such as a non-EEA employee’s right to move employer after nine months while remaining on the same employment permit they held on arrival in Ireland, many companies, including Shannon Chamber, have made submissions to government voicing their concerns with current and proposed changes, including salary thresholds, and are awaiting the outcome of this review.

Speaking after the event, Chamber CEO, Helen Downes said that the briefing was delivered at a time when an increasing number of member companies are in recruitment mode in non-EEA countries.

“The wheels of business must continue to turn. When companies cannot meet their skills requirements locally, nationally or in EU countries, they need to look further afield. That’s why a comprehensive briefing on all aspects of employment permits was so important. There is nothing better than hearing it directly from the experts and I know that many of our member companies will connect further with the Deloitte team.

“We will be hosting a Jobs Fair in Shannon on Wednesday, 26 March to further assist companies in meeting their recruitment needs., “ said Ms Downes. Details can be found at www.shannonchamber.ie/events-training