The United States is one of the largest corridors in the permit statistics, and the one most often misread.
US nationals appear high in the published permit table, and the corridor comes with a specific confusion attached. Ireland's entry rules and its employment permit system are separate, so an easy arrival says nothing about the right to work. The permit count below is the number of times the State granted permission to do a specific job, which is the decision that actually matters for working here.
Employment permits issued to and refused for US nationals, as the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published them. Part years are labelled, because a part year read as a full one understates a corridor.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Approval | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026part yearJanuary–July 2026 | 707 | 31 | 95.8% | 3.1% |
| 2025 | 1,039 | 80 | 92.9% | 3.4% |
| 2024 | 1,119 | 52 | 95.6% | 2.8% |
| 2023 | 1,020 | 33 | 96.9% | 3.3% |
| 2022 | 1,216 | 65 | 94.9% | 3.0% |
See the full 2026 permit data for every nationality, sector, county and employer in the same release.
DETE publishes nationality and sector as two separate tables and never crosses them, so there is no published breakdown of sectors for any one country. This is the national picture the corridor sits inside.
| Sector | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Health & Social Work Activities | 6,351 | 27.7% |
| All Other Manufacturing | 2,514 | 11.0% |
| Accommodation & Food Services Activities | 2,340 | 10.2% |
| Information & Communication Activities | 2,300 | 10.0% |
| Other Service Activities | 1,675 | 7.3% |
| Construction | 1,564 | 6.8% |
A permit issued in a sector records an employer who hired for a role there in the past. It is not a vacancy, and it does not indicate current or future hiring. Read the sector hubs for the occupations each one recruits into.
Not needing a visa to land is not permission to work. Permission to work comes from an employment permit granted against a specific job offer, or from an immigration permission that carries a right to work in its own terms. Short stay entry does not carry either, and an offer made after arrival still goes through the same permit process as one made before.
Step one
The Critical Skills and Ineligible lists decide which route an offer can take, and they are revised by statutory instrument.
Check an occupation against the listsStep two
A permit names one employer, one employee and one job. Employers that have held permits before are a matter of public record.
Browse employers with permit historyStep three
Regulated professions register with their own body, and NARIC Ireland compares a foreign award to the Irish framework. Neither is part of the permit decision.
See the bodies by sectorStep four
Two departments decide them, on different criteria, and neither outcome produces the other.
Look up the termsThe two routes most hires run on are set apart by seven rules. Compare the General Employment Permit and the Critical Skills Employment Permit side by side.
The same published record, read for another country.
India is the largest single nationality in Ireland's published employment permit statistics, by a wide margin.
The Philippines is consistently among the two largest nationalities in Ireland's published permit statistics.
Brazil is one of the three largest corridors in Ireland's published employment permit statistics.
The corridor figures describe everyone. The lists decide your route. Check where your occupation sits on the published Critical Skills and Ineligible lists before anything else.
Permit statistics by nationality and by sector: DETE employment permit statistics (Year to date: January–July 2026). Nationality is the label DETE publishes and is not a statement about residence.
Entry visa position: Immigration Service Delivery visa required and non visa required nationalities, last updated March 14, 2025.
No figure on this page comes from IrishTalents candidate records. Every count is a published government statistic.
Figures are historical issued-permit records showing past activity only. They do not prove current hiring, future sponsorship, role eligibility, or approval.
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.
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.
