General Updates
Ireland
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has published its current processing dates for employment permits.
Applications for employment permits are processed in date order of receipt of the fully completed application form and fee, if applicable.
The Department notes that, due to the number of refunds on hand, it is currently taking 8 weeks (from date of receipt of completed mandate) to process a refund.
As of 27 July 2022, the Department is processing applications received on the following dates for the specific types of applications:
| Critical Skills Employment Permit Applications | Date |
| Standard | 20 June 2022 |
| Trusted Partner | 29 June 2022 |
| New Applications (All permit types excluding Critical Skills Employment Permits) | Date |
| Standard | 26 May 2022 |
| Trusted Partner | 16 June 2022 |
| Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit Applications | Date |
| Standard | 27 July 2022 |
| Trusted Partner | 20 July 2022 |
| Renewal Applications (All renewable permit types included) | Date |
| Standard | 2 June 2022 |
| Trusted Partner | 16 June 2022 |
| Reviews for Trusted Partner and Standard employment permit applications | Date |
| Reviews received | 26 March 2022 |
| Requests for Support Letters for a Stamp 4 | Date |
| Requests received | 31 May 2022 |
Romania
Effective May 2022, employers can now apply for employment or secondment permits from any local office of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, rather than only at the office with jurisdiction over the employer’s headquarters.
In addition, foreign nationals are now permitted to apply for a long-stay visa within 180 days of the date that their employer obtains their work permit, rather than within 60 days as previously.
