Ireland has moved on two fronts this year: employment permit salary floors rose in March 2026, and short-stay entry visa refusals lost their appeal route in June 2026 — changes that together speed up decision-making while raising the entry bar for sponsored roles.
What Has Changed
From 1 March 2026, salary thresholds increased across both major permit types. The Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP) now requires €40,904 for roles on the Critical Skills Occupation List, or €68,911 for other eligible roles. The General Employment Permit (GEP) threshold rose to €36,605 for most occupations.
Separately, in May 2026 the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment amended 32 occupations on the Employment Permit Occupations Lists, following the mandatory 2025 biennial review — adding and removing roles from what qualifies for sponsorship.
From 1 June 2026, appeals for refused short-stay (Type C) entry visas were eliminated. Applicants who are refused must now submit a fresh application rather than appeal, a change the Department says is meant to redirect processing resources toward more complex visa categories and cut overall wait times.
Ireland also launched its first Seasonal Employment Permit Pilot in 2025 for the horticulture sector, with a report on outcomes published in June 2026 — an early signal of a possible new regulated pathway for non-EEA seasonal labour.
What This Means for HR and Mobility Teams
The higher salary floors immediately affect budget planning for any Ireland-bound role — a CSEP position that cleared the bar in 2025 may now fall short unless compensation is adjusted before the permit application is filed.
The occupations list changes mean a role that qualified for sponsorship six months ago may no longer be eligible, or vice versa — this needs checking case by case, not assumed from prior applications.
The end of Type C appeals raises the cost of getting a short-stay visa application wrong the first time: a refusal now means starting over, not correcting course.
Action Steps
- Re-check salary offers for any open Irish CSEP or GEP role against the March 2026 thresholds before submitting.
- Cross-reference target job titles against the amended May 2026 occupations lists.
- Front-load short-stay visa applications with complete documentation — there's no appeal safety net anymore.
- Watch for a formalised seasonal permit pathway if horticulture or seasonal labour is relevant to your workforce.
xpath.global's immigration advisory team tracks Ireland's Employment Permit Occupations Lists and salary thresholds continuously, so sponsorship applications are built against current requirements rather than last year's rules. [Speak to our team.](https://xpath.global)
"Sources: KPMG GMS Flash Alert — 2026; Mason Hayes & Curran — 2026."
