DUBLIN: Huge rise in the issuance of work permits for people in countries including India amid COVID-19 restrictions. One-third of those who received work permits during the COVID period were Indians.
Statistics published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that the impact of the COVID-19 business will not diminish the employment prospects of workers outside the European Economic Area (EEA). 16,419 work permits were issued last year.
These permits were issued to 3,330 employers by 2020, and this is a record.
This is the highest annual work permit since online records were launched in 2009. This is an increase of 37 permits over the previous year. More than 900 applications for the permit were rejected. More than 630 applications were withdrawn. Social media companies, meat factories and hospitals are at the forefront of issuing work permits. This include the European Union member states of Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
About one-third (5,800 permits) of the total permits issued last year were issued to workers from India. 1,800 Brazilians and 1,000 Pakistanis won permits.
Citizens from the US, China, the Philippines, Sudan and South Africa also received permits. A total of work permits were issued last year to people from 117 countries.
Google, Facebook, Amazon Data Services and Accenture, and Dawn Meats, one of the largest meat processors in the country, are the companies that have used the work permits the most.
One-third of the work permits issued last year were for health care workers. About 5,200 people have been recruited from India and other countries in hospitals and nursing homes in Ireland. Ninety-five percent of them are nurses.
The IT sector came in second with 4,700 work permits. 1,800 permits were issued for agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
The largest hospitals in the country, such as University Hospital Limerick, Beaumont Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Drogheda, have hired hundreds of employees.
During the first lockdown in April 2020, 1,765 permits were issued. This is the largest increase in work permit history. Medical staff and IT specialists were in great demand at this time.
The condition is that a person can be hired through work permits only after the vacancies have been advertised for at least four weeks by the Department of Labor and Social Welfare.
Only those with an annual salary of €30,000 are generally allowed to work. Permits are issued to horticulture-meat processing workers and dairy farm assistants in pilot agricultural schemes with a minimum salary of €20,000.
Many jobs, including hotel managers, physiotherapists, fitness instructors, receptionists, and bank clerks, are ineligible for work permits for this reason. Permits are issued for two years and can be renewed for three years.
Fake offers by promising jobs in Ireland
The Irish Department of Justice has received a complaint that some companies based in the Indian states of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are using fake offer letters to extort money from applicants.
Mostly they offer jobs in the hotel sector. According to the Justice Department, job seekers should find out at their own risk whether the offers are fake or genuine.
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