Ireland - Work Skills & Ancestry - Intra Company Transfer (ICT)

Applying for an Irish Intra Company Transfer Work Permit to live and work in Ireland is a temporary immigration service which permits foreign nationals to migrate to Ireland in order to perform a specific role for a particular Irish based company.

The key role of an ICT application is to allow Irish businesses to bring key personnel from an overseas branch to Ireland to attend to a specific need. An Irish visa of this kind is not intended as a route to permanent residence in Ireland and the applicant must return to his or her country of residence before or upon the expiry of this type of Irish working permit.

In recent years, immigration to Ireland has increased rapidly and those who wish to relocate to Ireland will encounter a high quality of living and a comparatively liberal structure of immigration visa services.

Visa applications are monitored throughout the process of application and an immigration consultant will be happy to advise you from your initial enquiry through to a comprehensive range of on arrival services.

Benefits

In Ireland, immigration on a temporary basis through an Irish ICT application is designed with the employer in mind, and accordingly the benefits are weighted towards the company petitioning for the applicant immigrating to Ireland.

ICT’s are a system whereby an Irish company can bring a senior staff member, key personnel or in some cases trainees, to perform services which cannot be undertaken by any employees in Ireland or to receive training in Ireland which is unavailable in another country where a branch of the operation is based.

Unlike applying for an Irish work permit or making an Irish Green card application, visas of this kind may only be applied for by the employer.

Eligibility

In Ireland, work permit Intra Company Transfers are issued for a duration pertaining to the stated reason for the transfer. In the cases of key personnel and/or senior staff members transferring to Ireland, a permit may be issued for up to 24 months and can be subsequently extended to a maximum duration of five years.

The ICT is specifically designed as a temporary immigration visa service and applicants must return to their home country when the grant of leave to remain in Ireland expires.

Where candidates fall into the categories of either key personnel or senior staff members, the following requirements must be satisfied:

• Applicants must earn a minimum of €40,000 pa.
• Applicants must have worked for the overseas branch of the company for at least 12 months before the transfer can be applied for.

Key personnel are generally defined by their specialist knowledge of the products or process of the company. Senior staff members are those who perform a managerial function in the company, supervise the work of other managerial employees, and have the authority, where applicable, to hire and dismiss staff or to recommend such action.

Where applicants are transferring to the UK branch of a company for the purpose of undergoing training, an ICT may be issued for a maximum of one year. In order for this to take place details of the training program must be presented.

Spouse Immigration and Dependent immigration

Although the Irish ICT visa for staff transfers is not intended as a route to settled status in Ireland and cannot be used as a means of entry in order to apply for permanent, a successful applicant may be living and working in Ireland for a considerable amount of time.

With the exception of the trainee category, ICT’s may last for up to five years, and with this in mind the spouse and/or dependent children of a successful applicant will be granted leave to enter the country and remain there for the duration of the primary applicant’s permit.

Family immigration through this route will also permit the accompanying relatives to apply for permission to seek and undertake employment whilst in Ireland.