Hotels, restaurants and contract catering recruit year round, and the permit position for kitchen roles turns on the exact grade and the years of experience named in the published DETE row.
Chefs is named on the Ineligible List of Occupations, and the published row then carves out named chef grades with minimum experience, employed in establishments other than fast food outlets. This is the clearest case in the whole permit system of why the row wording matters more than the unit group heading: the exception, not the heading, describes the position.
Kitchen roles turn entirely on the exception in the published row, which names grades and years rather than the unit group.
Food Preparation and Hospitality Trades
Ineligible list, with exceptions
Food Preparation and Hospitality Trades
Ineligible list
Managers and Proprietors in Hospitality and Leisure Services
Not named on either list
Named on neither published list, which is not the same as being named on either.
Managers and Proprietors in Hospitality and Leisure Services
Not named on either list
Named on neither published list, which is not the same as being named on either.
Food Preparation and Hospitality Trades
Not named on either list
Named on neither published list, which is not the same as being named on either.
Other Elementary Services Occupations
Ineligible list
Lists effective 13 May 2026 (SI 213 of 2026). Official sources: Critical Skills List · Ineligible List. Being named on a list is a fact about a published table, not a decision about any application.
From the current Workplace Relations Commission licence register.
1 published agency record states this sector.
Hospitality has no personal register equivalent to a clinical profession. What it does have is food safety obligations on the business and training expectations on the people doing the work.
Food safety law, food business registration and the HACCP based food safety training expected of food handlers.
Workplace safety duties that apply to kitchens and service areas, including manual handling training.
Recognition and comparison of culinary and hospitality qualifications awarded outside Ireland.
The published chef grade exception, including the experience each named grade carries and the fast food outlet exclusion.
Ordered by published permit activity in the same period, so the ranking is one the source supports.
Hospital groups, nursing homes, home care providers and disability services sit at the top of Ireland's published employment permit statistics, and most clinical roles answer to a registration body before anyone can practise here.
Medtech, pharmaceutical, food and precision engineering plants recruit through licensed agencies across Ireland, and the permit position changes sharply between the technical roles and the process operative groups.
Software companies, IT services firms and the technology functions inside every other sector recruit through licensed agencies across Ireland, and most technology unit groups are named on the Critical Skills Occupations List.
Every licensed agency on this page comes from the WRC register. Advantage adds presence on the sector and occupation pages your roles belong to; Premier takes the sponsored position at the top of the sectors you name.
Occupation lists: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, effective 13 May 2026 (SI 213 of 2026). Occupation classification: SOC 2010.
Permit statistics: DETE employment permit statistics (Year to date: January–July 2026).
Agency records: Workplace Relations Commission licensed employment agency list, source date 1 August 2026.
An occupation (SOC) code classifies the kind of work. It does not by itself determine permit eligibility, Critical Skills status, or sponsorship. Job duties, salary, employer and permit route also matter.
Figures are historical issued-permit records showing past activity only. They do not prove current hiring, future sponsorship, role eligibility, or approval.
A WRC licence listing is official source data. It is not a government endorsement, proof of current vacancies, or proof of sponsorship capability. IrishTalents enrichment is labelled separately.
IrishTalents is not a licensed employment agency and does not select or submit candidates. Any agency information reflects the wording found on agency websites only, not vacancies, sponsorship, or suitability.
This is general information, not legal or immigration advice. IrishTalents is not affiliated with the Irish government.
