Blog Post

The Ireland healthcare assistant permit has its own salary threshold, separate from and well below the general one, and it changed on 1 March 2026. It is now EUR 32,691 a year, with a minimum hourly rate of EUR 16.12.

There is also a larger point that this page is the right place to make: for care work specifically, Ireland is open where the UK is closed.

The thresholds, and which one applies to you

The first row is the one that matters here, and it is worth knowing it exists. Ireland deliberately sets a lower floor for healthcare assistants and home support workers than for general employment, which is how the route stays usable for a role that does not pay EUR 36,605. If you have been told you need the General Employment Permit figure, you have been told the wrong number.

The hourly rate matters as much as the annual one. At EUR 16.12 an hour, a contract with too few guaranteed hours can fail the threshold even where the hourly rate is fine, so check both.

Why Ireland, specifically, for care work

Because the obvious alternative closed. On 22 July 2025 the UK closed the care worker and senior care worker occupations to new overseas applicants. Existing holders can extend and switch sponsor until 22 July 2028, and providers can still recruit care workers already in the country, but the route in from abroad is shut.

Ireland did not do that. For a care worker outside Europe, that single difference makes Ireland the more realistic English-speaking destination in 2026. See what is actually open to care workers for the full picture.

Two further Irish advantages worth weighing:

• No health surcharge. The UK charges GBP 1,035 per person per year, payable up front, which is GBP 20,700 for a family of four over five years. Ireland has no equivalent.
• English-language workplace with no separate language certificate to obtain, which is increasingly unusual: the UK now requires CEFR B2 for new applications.

What the permit actually requires

Beyond the salary, the conditions are the ordinary ones for an Irish employment permit, and the ones that catch people are about the employer rather than about you:

1. A job offer from an Irish employer with a contract meeting the threshold, both annually and hourly.
2. A labour market needs test in most cases, unless the role is exempt. This is the employer’s step and the one that most often stalls.
3. The 50:50 rule. Irish employers generally must have at least half their staff from the EEA. A very small employer may therefore be unable to sponsor you regardless of willingness, and it is worth asking early.
4. Relevant experience or qualifications for the role, with any care qualification documented.

That third point is the Irish equivalent of asking whether a UK employer holds a sponsor licence: a question about the employer that decides your application, and one you can ask in the first conversation rather than the fourth.

The roadmap, and why timing matters

The 1 March 2026 increase was not a one-off. It is the first step of a published roadmap of gradual threshold rises running through 2030, set out deliberately so that employers and applicants could plan.

Two consequences. Earlier is easier: the bar you clear this year is lower than the one you will face in two. And a salary that clears the floor narrowly today may not clear it at renewal, so if you are negotiating, negotiate against the roadmap rather than against today’s number. Full detail in the Irish employment permit thresholds.

What to do

1. Check the offer against both figures: EUR 32,691 a year and EUR 16.12 an hour. A contract can pass one and fail the other.
2. Ask about the 50:50 rule early. It is an employer constraint that no amount of willingness overcomes.
3. Document any care qualification and your experience in detail, with duties and hours.
4. Compare Ireland with the UK honestly. For care work the UK route from abroad is closed, which settles it for most people.
5. Never pay for a job offer. Care work is one of the three sectors where placement fraud concentrates.

Related: the Critical Skills permit, the Critical Skills occupation list and getting an Irish job offer. Browse Irish healthcare and care roles with visa sponsorship on our board.

Last checked September 2026. Thresholds rose on 1 March 2026 and rise again on a published roadmap to 2030. Confirm the current figure with the Department of Enterprise before relying on it.