One of the most common questions we hear is simply: how long will my permit take? The honest answer is that it depends on the permit type and when you apply, so let us walk through where the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) actually stands as of early July 2026.
The current processing dates
DETE does not publish a fixed number of weeks. Instead it tells you the date of the applications it is currently working through, in strict order of receipt. As of 10 July 2026, the department was processing fully completed applications received on or before these dates:
- Critical Skills Employment Permit: 24 June 2026
- New General Employment Permit: 30 May 2026
- Intra-Company Transfer (new): 5 June 2026
- All other new applications: 27 May 2026
- Renewal applications (all types): 2 April 2026
- Intra-Company Transfer (renewal): 3 April 2026
- Reviews and appeals: 29 December 2025
How to read these numbers
The gap between today's date and the processing date is, in effect, your likely wait. On these figures, a Critical Skills application was moving through in a couple of weeks, while a General Employment Permit was taking roughly six weeks. Renewals were sitting further back, at around three months, and reviews or appeals were the slowest queue of all.
This pattern is encouraging. Critical Skills applications continue to be prioritised, which reflects their role in attracting in-demand talent, and first-time decisions are generally faster than renewals. It is a genuine improvement on the long delays some applicants remember from a few years ago.
Why the queue order matters
Because applications are handled in date order of receipt of the fully completed application form and fee, the single biggest thing within your control is submitting a clean, complete application the first time. Every missing document pushes you to the back of the queue, and small errors are the most common reason a case falls behind its neighbours.
Building your timeline
A few rules from DETE shape when you can and should apply:
- Apply at least 12 weeks before the intended start date. This is a formal requirement, not just good practice.
- Allow 28 days for a Labour Market Needs Test where one is required, because the EURES advertisement must run for at least 28 days before a valid application can be submitted.
- Finish your online application within 28 days of starting it. Incomplete applications are deleted after that window for data-protection reasons, and you would have to begin again.
- Add time for immigration registration after the permit issues, for those who still need to register their permission and receive an Irish Residence Permit.
Our practical advice
We treat the DETE processing page as a living dashboard and check it before we commit any client to a start date. Our standing guidance:
- Work backwards from the start date. If someone needs to begin in October, we want the application in well before, with room for the 12-week rule and any Labour Market Needs Test.
- Do not rely on renewals being quick. With renewals sitting around three months, we start them early rather than close to expiry, so no one falls out of status.
- Get it right first time. A complete, well-evidenced application is the fastest application. This is where good preparation quietly saves weeks.
Processing dates move week to week, so always treat any figure as a snapshot. If you would like us to sanity-check a timeline for a specific role or start date, that is one of the most useful things we can do before you file.