How to Get PR in Ireland – Eligibility, Application, & Different Pathways

Foreign nationals who have been living in Ireland for the past five years are eligible to apply for permanent residency in the country. So, if you are one of those and wondering how to get PR in Ireland, this guide is for you.

Keep reading to know everything about eligibility criteria, documents required, application process and ways to apply.

There are a few eligibility criteria for Ireland's permanent residency that every applicant must fulfil to get the country’s citizenship. These include:

• Must be of 18 years of age or above.
• Applicants must have lived on Ireland’s island for three out of five years before submitting their PR application form. Also, they must be living in Northern Ireland or Ireland for a continuous period of twelve months when applying.
• Have good health and character.
• Have been married for three years to your spouse and living with them if applying based on being a spouse of Ireland permanent residence.
• Applicants must be employed at the time of applying and after that too.

Once you meet the above criteria, know how to get PR in Ireland beforehand to avoid making any mistakes in the process. The steps include:

Step 1: Apply to INIS via Mail

Send your application for Ireland permanent residency to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service’s Long Term Residency Division.

Step 2: Hand Over the Documents

Ensure you have all the documents necessary to complete the Ireland immigration process. After you submit it to the proper officials, they will check their authenticity and whether it meets every PR condition. If passed, they will contact you in a week to carry out the rest of the process.

Step 3: Wait till Your Application Gets Processed

Once INIS accepts your permanent residency application, they will send you an approval letter. It will inform you about how many fees you have to submit and give you a time limit of 28 days. So, make sure you pay your invoice to the Secretary-General of the Department of Justice and Equity before the period expires via a bank draft or postal order.

After receiving the payment, INIS will send you a letter granting you a long-term resident of Ireland on a Stamp 4 for five years.

However, don’t forget to attend Irish Garda National Immigration Bureau. They will issue an Immigration Stamp 4 or 3 if you have a dependent or spouse residing in Ireland. In addition, INIS also informs GNIB of which stamp you have cleared to receive.

To complete the above process, you need the following documents. So, before applying for the Ireland PR process, make sure you have these with you:

• A copy of your GNIB card or Residence permit
• Proof of your work permit
• Xerox of passport pages, including all stamps you have been given and your personal details.
• If you have a new passport, provide a copy of the previous one containing stamps issued by the Irish authorities.

The general rule to apply for permanent residency in Ireland is that applicants must live in the country for at least five years. However, in case you are a tech or have a critical skill employment permit, you can get residency only after two years. There are many other pathways that allow you to get PR in Ireland before. Here are some mentioned for your reference.

1. Critical Skill Employment Permit
2. Family
3. Worker Status & Former Worker Status
4. Students
5. Applicants Having Sufficient Resources

To know in detail about these pathways, read the following sections carefully.

1. Critical Skill Employment Permit

This permit is available to those who have their profession mentioned under the highly skilled eligible occupation list. So, they can take this opportunity to get a residency permit. Moreover, the skills covered under this list are also in demand in the Irish labour market, so professionals can easily find web design, programming, development, and ICT. However, they must satisfy Ireland PR requirements:

Eligibility Criteria

• Their annual remuneration must not be below €30,000.
• The applicant must hold a 2-year job offer of eligible occupation issued by a prospective employer.

2. Family

Your family will also get the chance to travel with you after you get permanent residency in Ireland. However, whether they will need a visa or not will depend on whether they are citizens of the EU, Switzerland, EEA, and UK. For example, if your family member is not a citizen, they need a visa to enter the country. On the other hand, they do not need a permit if they have a residence card registered under EU regulations.

3. Worker Status & Former Worker Status

This part is for those applicants who are Swiss or EEA citizens. They can stay in Ireland for up to 6 months if they have moved into the country and are currently looking for work. In addition, applicants can also transfer their unemployment benefits from their origin country, and Ireland will continue paying it to them for up to 3 months and 6 months for some cases.

EU workers are individuals whose work is ‘genuine and effective’ and is paid by someone who directs them. There is no particular limit to which they should be paid in this case. Neither is there a working hour requirement.

On the other hand, you can also be a legal resident of Ireland if you are self-employed and your work is 'genuine and effective.' However, applicants will be granted permanent residency in Ireland when they complete five years of stay in the country, whether they are EU workers or self-employed.

Former Worker

An individual can maintain a worker status if they have stopped working because of the following reasons:

• You became unemployed voluntarily to start vocational training relating to your work area.
• You went through an illness or an accident.
• You have become unemployed involuntarily. However, in this case, you can keep your worker status for six months in case you have been working for less than one year. If it has been more than one year you can keep it while looking for a new one.

When you are on maternity/paternity leave, your status will remain “working”.

4. Students

Students also gain their right to live in the country if they meet the following requirements:

Eligibility Criteria

• Got admission into an authorised college
• Covered under a proper health insurance policy
• Earn enough to support your living without the financial backup of the Social Welfare System of Ireland

In this case, the residency right ends when students complete their education in Ireland. However, it can continue if you find a job or have other resources.

5. Applicants Having Sufficient Resources

The authorities allow you to stay in Ireland as long as you can support your family and yourself. However note that you must be covered under a comprehensive health insurance policy. The PR body sets no requirement for how much one should earn.

This category applies to pensioners who want to continue living in Ireland, and their primary source of income is pension from another country to lead their lives.

It will take 6 to 8 months to complete the process, whether you are applying for Ireland immigration from India or any other country. However, it can also take longer to accept your request under certain conditions.

The approval letter that you get from INIS contains fee details. However, it generally requires you to submit € 500 as a permanent residency permit fee.

You can track the status of your Ireland PR process online by following a few simple steps:

Step 1: Visit the official site of VisaCentral.

Step 2: There is an option ‘Check Your Order Status’. Click on it and select the service ‘Visa’ from the dropdown list.

Step 3: Next, it will require your order number and last name or date of birth and last name to run your application.

Step 4: After that, click on the button below to see the result.

All individuals are allowed to enter and stay in Ireland for up to three months without any restriction. This period becomes six months if someone is looking for a job. However, those who want to stay longer must get a valid visa under their applicable category from employed, self-employed, enrolled as a student, a family member of EEA or Swiss citizen.

This, as a result, opens the gate to complete a five-year stay in Ireland, after which interested individuals can apply for the Ireland PR process.

The following are the benefits that applicants can enjoy once their PR request gets approved:

• Stay and carry out business in the country without any restrictions.
• Travel to the UK and CTA without any need for a visa.
• Maintain a higher standard of living.
• Citizenship access to around 185 different countries
• Get a higher standard of education.
• Get admission to any higher education institutions and universities in Ireland.
• Enjoy attractive tax regimes.