In Ireland, the employment of foreign nationals holding employment permits is governed by a strict legal framework designed to protect workers from abusive practices. One of the issues that most frequently gives rise to confusion – for both employers and employees – concerns the costs associated with a work permit. It is important to clarify that Irish legislation does not impose an obligation on employers to pay the cost of an employment permit. In certain permit categories, the law expressly allows the employee to bear that cost. However, once an employer chooses to pay any cost related to a work permit, the law imposes an absolute prohibition on passing that cost on to the employee, whether through salary deductions, subsequent reimbursement demands or any indirect form of recovery.
This prohibition is expressly set out in section 55 of the Employment Permits Act, which provides that an employer may not make deductions from an employee’s remuneration, nor seek to recover any fees, charges or expenses arising from the application for, grant or renewal of an employment permit, the recruitment process, or travel expenses previously paid to enable the employee to take up employment in the State.
In practical terms, this means that where an employer pays for a work permit, that payment must be treated as a voluntary business expense, with no possibility of future financial recovery. Employers are not permitted to deduct the cost from wages, seek repayment after the permit has been granted, introduce administrative charges linked to the permit, make continued employment conditional on repayment, or include contractual clauses requiring the employee to reimburse those costs.
A breach of these rules may give rise to significant legal liability for the employer, including the obligation to repay any sums unlawfully recovered, potential compensation to the employee, and exposure to sanctions under the employment permits regime, with possible implications for future permission to employ foreign nationals.
Accordingly, the legal position is clear: while an employer is not required to pay the cost of a work permit, if it chooses to do so, that cost cannot under any circumstances be transferred to the employee or used as leverage, security or a condition of continued employment.
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