Ireland issued 29,989 employment permits between January and September 2026. That leaves this year 1,055 permits short of the 31,044 issued in the whole of 2025, with three months still to go. The figures come from the employment permit statistics that the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) published on 1 October.
September itself was quieter than August, at 3,326 permits against 3,694. It was still 699 more than September 2025.
Before you read on: a permit record shows that an employer hired someone from outside the EEA. It does not mean the employer has a vacancy now or will sponsor you. Use these numbers to decide where to look, then check the role and the employer yourself. This article is informational and is not legal or immigration advice.
The year so far
From January to September, Ireland issued 7,366 more permits than in the same nine months of 2025, an increase of 32.6%. This year has averaged about 3,330 permits a month, against about 2,590 a month across 2025.
| 2026 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| September | 3,326 | 2,627 |
| January to September | 29,989 | 22,623 |
| Whole year | still to come | 31,044 |
DETE also revised two earlier months in this release. July now stands at 3,842 permits and August at 3,694, which puts January to August at 26,663. Revisions like these are normal, and this article uses the latest figures throughout.
Thirteen counties have already passed their 2025 totals
Thirteen counties have issued more permits in nine months than in the whole of last year: Cork, Kildare, Meath, Galway, Waterford, Kerry, Louth, Clare, Offaly, Wicklow, Sligo, Roscommon and Carlow. Leitrim has matched its 2025 total, and Wexford is three permits short of it.
Dublin still issues by far the most permits, 13,243 so far this year, but it has not yet reached its 2025 total of 14,627. Its share of all permits has fallen from 47.1% across 2025 to 44.2% this year.
| County | January to September 2026 | All of 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin | 13,243 | 14,627 |
| Cork | 3,047 | 2,973 |
| Kildare | 1,414 | 1,194 |
| Limerick | 1,334 | 1,543 |
| Meath | 1,300 | 1,252 |
| Galway | 1,214 | 1,104 |
| Waterford | 848 | 695 |
| Wexford | 759 | 762 |
| Kerry | 701 | 527 |
| Louth | 629 | 511 |
If your work does not tie you to one city, add employers in Cork, Kildare, Meath and Galway to your shortlist, because each of those counties has already passed its permit total for the whole of last year. County totals do not show where the vacancies are, so use them to decide where to research.
Which employers recorded the most permits in September
Weltec Engineering Limited recorded 58 permits in September, the most of any employer. Comfort Care Limited followed with 47 and Resilience Healthcare Limited with 41.
| Employer | September | August | January to September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weltec Engineering Limited | 58 | 12 | 103 |
| Comfort Care Limited | 47 | 11 | 104 |
| Resilience Healthcare Limited | 41 | 3 | 192 |
| H.A O'Neil Limited (Jones Engineering) | 39 | 0 | 41 |
| Carton Brothers Unlimited Company | 32 | 1 | 40 |
| Sintek Insaat Endustriyel Tesisler Anonim Sirketi | 24 | 0 | 24 |
| Costern Unlimited Company | 23 | 19 | 224 |
| Silver Stream Healthcare Management Limited | 21 | 21 | 111 |
| Accenture Limited | 20 | 13 | 128 |
| Parade Resources Limited | 19 | 44 | 68 |
| Tata Consultancy Services Limited | 19 | 28 | 154 |
Several of these employers recorded few or no permits in August. A jump like that can come from a batch of renewals, a single large contract, or the timing of processing, so check an employer's longer history and its current roles before you treat it as a target. The names are the legal entities DETE records, which can differ from the brand you know.
Across the whole year, the employers with the most permits are Dawn Meats Ireland UC (293), Google Ireland Limited (254), Rosderra Irish Meats Group Unlimited Company (238), Redwood Extended Care Facility Unlimited Company (226) and Costern Unlimited Company (224).
Sectors
Health and social work remains the largest sector by a wide margin, with 812 permits in September and 8,037 so far this year. That is more than double the next sector, accommodation and food services, at 3,091.
| Sector (DETE classification) | September | August | January to September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health & Social Work Activities | 812 | 875 | 8,037 |
| Accommodation & Food Services Activities | 317 | 410 | 3,091 |
| Information & Communication Activities | 259 | 399 | 2,963 |
| Other Service Activities | 257 | 270 | 2,192 |
| Construction | 244 | 249 | 2,014 |
| Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing | 212 | 193 | 1,959 |
| All Other Manufacturing | 186 | 124 | 1,383 |
| All other Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities | 177 | 94 | 972 |
| Transport & Storage | 157 | 297 | 1,480 |
| Financial & Insurance Activities | 145 | 154 | 1,188 |
Most of September's fall came from a few sectors. Transport and storage and information and communication each dropped by 140 permits from August, and accommodation and food services by 93. Professional, scientific and technical activities went the other way, up by 83, and manufacturing rose by 62.
These are DETE's own sector labels. Our company directory classifies employers separately, so an employer can sit in a different sector on IrishTalents.
Nationalities
India remains the largest source of permit holders, with 9,120 permits so far this year, followed by the Philippines with 4,402 and Brazil with 3,611. These figures describe who received permits this year; your own application depends on the role and salary you are offered.
| Nationality | January to September 2026 |
|---|---|
| India | 9,120 |
| Philippines | 4,402 |
| Brazil | 3,611 |
| China | 1,719 |
| Pakistan | 1,448 |
| South Africa | 1,117 |
| United States of America | 927 |
| Zimbabwe | 917 |
| Sri Lanka | 704 |
| Nigeria | 624 |
272 employer names new to the records
DETE does not say how many employers are using the permit system for the first time, so we estimated it. We took every employer name in the September file and compared it with every annual company file DETE has published since 2013, and with the earlier months of this year.
272 names received permits in September without appearing anywhere in those records. Between them they received 365 permits, and 241 of them received exactly one. The same check found 277 new names in August.
Because the comparison uses names, an employer that changed its legal name or appears under a different spelling counts as new, so treat the figure as an estimate. Even so, it shows how many of the employers hiring from abroad are small ones with one or two permits. The companies directory lists them alongside the large employers, so you can find them as well.
What to do with these numbers
- Pick the sectors and counties that match your experience and where you would be willing to live.
- Use the companies directory to look up each employer's permit history, location and sector.
- Run the permit fit check to see which permit route your occupation and salary point to. Official requirements may change, and individual circumstances vary, so confirm the details against current DETE guidance.
- Check the role and the employer directly before you spend money on an application or a move.
Where the numbers come from
All figures come from the files DETE published on 1 October 2026 and downloaded the same day. The company, sector, county and nationality files each add up to the same total of 29,989.
- Employment permits issued to companies 2026: monthly totals and employers
- Employment permits by sector 2026: sectors by month
- Employment permits by county 2026: counties, year to date
- Employment permits by nationality 2026: nationalities, year to date
- Permits issued to companies 2025 and permits by county 2025: the 2025 comparisons
- The annual company files from 2013 to 2025, linked from each year's statistics page: the new-names estimate
The files count permits issued. They do not count vacancies or hiring plans, and they have no breakdown by occupation. The county and nationality files also list refusals, which we have not used to estimate approval chances.