Ireland's hospitality permit map got redrawn in six weeks. If you hire managers from outside the EEA, the route you used last year is gone.
Here is exactly what is open, what is closed, and the one mistake that costs employers 28 days.
The 292 pool is gone Until April, four hospitality manager roles shared a single quota of 292 General Employment Permits: hotel and accommodation managers, restaurant and catering managers, publicans, and catering and bar managers. On 28 April 2026, DETE said it was full. Applications sitting in the queue were rejected. New ones were refused. Four pools replaced it, and they are small The Employment Permits (Amendment) Regulations 2026 replaced that single pool with four separate ones:
Hotel and accommodation managers: 100 permits Restaurant and catering managers: 200 permits Publicans and managers of licensed premises: 50 permits Catering and bar managers: 50 permits
Read that again. A role that used to draw on 292 now draws on 100. Nationally. The pools run from 13 May 2026, but nobody could file a valid application until 10 June. These roles need a fresh 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, and that clock starts when you advertise, not when the quota opens. The trap: there is no public counter DETE tells you when a pool is full. It does not tell you how many permits are left. So you can advertise for 28 days, build the file, pay the fee, and find out the pool closed only when your application bounces. Verify the position the day you commit, not the day you start thinking about it. Chefs are the safe route None of this touches chefs. Chef grades are permit-eligible with no quota, and Ireland is chronically short of them.
Executive Chef: 5 years experience Head Chef: 5 years experience Sous Chef: 5 years experience Chef de Partie: 2 years experience Commis Chef: 2 years experience
One condition trips people up, and most get it backwards. The "not fast food" rule is about your premises, not the candidate's CV. A hotel, restaurant or catering establishment qualifies. A fast-food or takeaway outlet does not. Every grade must still meet the GEP salary floor. If what you actually need is kitchen output rather than a job title, the chef route carries zero quota risk. Roles you cannot sponsor at all Being blunt here saves you money. Bar staff, waiters, kitchen porters, receptionists, accommodation and housekeeping staff sit on the Ineligible Occupations List. No permit. No workaround. You cannot fix an ineligible role with a bigger salary or a fancier title. If the duties are ineligible, the application fails, and rebranding the role to look eligible is misrepresentation. Do not do it. Salary is where most applications die Every General Employment Permit has to meet the minimum salary. For these roles that is €36,605 a year. Plenty of hospitality wages do not reach it. Since 1 January 2026, the National Minimum Wage is €14.15 an hour, so every application must also show basic pay at or above that. Check the salary against the current floor before you advertise. Advertise below it and the whole Labour Market Needs Test is void. That is 28 days gone. The process, in order
Confirm the role is eligible, the pool is open, and the salary meets the floor. Advertise on Jobs Ireland, EURES and one more platform for 28 days, unchanged. Check 50/50: at least half your workforce must be EEA, Swiss or UK citizens at submission. Apply through DETE's online portal. The fee is €1,000 for a permit of up to 24 months. Plan for months, not weeks. From advertising to a worker on site, budget around six months.
Caught by the April closure? The reopening gives you a fresh shot, not fresh paperwork. Your old Labour Market Needs Test does not carry over. Check the application status in the portal, re-run the 28-day test at the current salary, then resubmit. Bottom line Need a manager? Start the 28-day test now. The pool is open today, and nothing warns you before it closes. Need kitchen staff? Go the chef route. It is uncapped and predictable. Need front-of-house or housekeeping? The permit route is not your answer, so plan around it.
Not sure what you can actually sponsor? I help Irish employers with employment permit applications and individuals with their immigration permissions. Send me the role and I will check eligibility, quota status and the salary threshold before you spend anything. Reach me at askmanavi.com or DM @askmanavi. Correct as of 24 July 2026. DETE quotas, salary thresholds and processing times change through the year, and DETE does not publish live quota balances. General information, not legal advice. Verify the current position for your specific role before you start.