Stamp 3 Visa Changes to Benefit Non-EU Contractors' Families

A recent shake-up of Ireland’s visa system has meant that the spouses of highly-qualified foreign contractors can work independently for the first time.

Highly-skilled foreign contractors already benefit from Ireland’s Critical Skills Employment Visa (Stamp 1), a specialist entry programme designed to ensure that the influx of professionals continues at pace, with the added carrot of eventual permanent residency meant to ensure that talent is retained.

A revised list of professions qualifying under the ‘critical skills’ list was published by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in April. It included many contractor-orientated fields like ‘Engineering professionals’, ‘IT professionals’, ‘Health professionals’ and ‘Business and Research professionals.’
 

Ireland has a reputation for being a visa-friendly country, and while much of our inbound traffic is talented young contractors set to enrich our economy with prized skills and knowledge, accompanying many new ambitious professionals will be families, who up until very recently were not catered for adequately by our immigration system.

The spouses of contractors operating on these specialist visas had been subject to strict rules imposed under Stamp 3 regulations, though this too changed last month, with looser restrictions enabling contractors’ spouses to seek out work for themselves for the first time.

The change was announced by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphries, who tweeted: “Delighted to announce with Charlie Flanagan (Minister for Justice and Equality) that spouses & partners of highly skilled workers coming here from outside the EEA will now have immediate access to the labour market.”

“This is about our competitiveness. To attract the best and brightest to come to work in Ireland as opposed to a competitor country, we need to offer an attractive range of benefits to both highly-skilled job applicants and their families,” she added.

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation confirmed that contractors’ spouses would not need to obtain a permit to work, making Ireland a more attractive proposition for both contractors and their partners.

The move opens the door for contractors’ spouses to consider seeking contracts themselves. It’s estimated this will provide access to the labour market for more than 1,000 individuals, with many qualified in critically-skilled disciplines themselves.

Contractors who have benefitted from the rule change can contact Icon Accounting to speak about how to set up in Ireland: contact us today at info@iconaccounting.ie