Stamp 4 LTR is the permission you end up with when you complete the Long-Term Residency scheme run by Immigration Service Delivery (ISD), the immigration side of the Department of Justice. It rewards five years of playing by the rules on Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) work permits with a Stamp 4 issued in one 5-year block. On it you can work for any employer, change jobs freely and stop renewing employment permits, while your residence keeps building towards citizenship. The stamp on your new IRP card reads "Stamp 4"; because it was granted for long-term residence, it is often written "Stamp 4 LTR" to show which route you came through.
Here is the honest part, because it decides which page you actually need. This is not the only door to Stamp 4, and often not the fastest. Critical Skills permit holders reach an ordinary Stamp 4 after just 21 months, and General Employment Permit holders after 57 months, both through the online renewals portal for the €300 registration fee alone, with no €500 scheme fee. Where Stamp 4 LTR earns its keep is the 5-year stamp granted in a single block, and mixed permit histories that never built 57 months on one qualifying track. As of 2026, our team's job is to count your months properly from your stamps, not your permit dates, and steer you onto the route that actually gets you there fastest. There is a separate generic Long-Term Residency page too, but this page focuses on the Stamp 4 LTR permission specifically.
Made for people like you
Permit holders reaching five years
You have moved between employers, permit types or roles over five years and want your registered Stamp 1 and Stamp 4 time assessed as one 60-month block.
People who want the 5-year stamp
The ordinary Stamp 4 upgrades issue 12 to 24 months at a time. Stamp 4 LTR gives you five years of Stamp 4 in a single grant, with far fewer renewals to manage.
Families settling together
Once you hold Stamp 4 LTR, a spouse or dependant with their own 60 months of legal residence can apply for a matching 5-year permission.
Long-stayers weighing citizenship
You are at the five-year mark and want a clear-eyed comparison of Stamp 4 LTR against applying straight for naturalisation before you commit to either.
Do you qualify?
ISD counts your time from the immigration stamps in your passport and the validity dates of your IRP cards, not from the start and end dates on your employment permits. Any period with no stamp or no valid IRP does not count, and where two stamps overlap the time is counted only once. Simply living in Ireland for five years does not qualify you: the 60 months must be registered residence built on DETE employment permits.
You will need
- 60 months of legal residence on Stamp 1 held on foot of a DETE work or critical skills permit, or Stamp 4 held on foot of a critical skills / green card permit, proven by the stamps in your passport and your IRP validity dates
- To be legally resident in Ireland on the day you apply, shown by a valid IRP card or an immigration stamp in your passport
- To be in employment when you apply, and during and after the process; ISD does not accept applications from people who are self-employed
- Good character, meaning you have not come to the adverse attention of An Garda Siochana and have not broken the conditions of your previous permissions
- No reliance on means-tested (non-PRSI) social welfare payments, so you have not been an undue burden on the State
- A fully completed paper application with full-colour copies of every stamp and permit, because incomplete forms are returned unprocessed
This route is not for you if
- Your five years relies on non-qualifying stamps such as Stamp 1G graduate, Stamp 2 student, Stamp 3, Stamp 0, Intra-Company Transfer Stamp 1, or Stamp 4 from the Investor, Start-Up, spouse-of-Irish or protection routes
- You are self-employed, as the scheme only accepts people in employment on the date they apply
- You are outside Ireland; you must be living and working legally in the State to apply, you cannot apply before you enter
- Unregistered gaps between permissions, or overlapping stamps counted twice, pull your registered time under 60 months
- You hold a single Critical Skills permit and would reach an ordinary Stamp 4 far sooner through the 21-month upgrade instead
Stamp 4 LTR vs ordinary Stamp 4
Stamp 4 LTR (LTR scheme)
This page- Residence needed
- 60 months of registered stamps
- Stamp 4 issued for
- 5 years in one grant
- Fee
- €500 on approval, plus €300 IRP
- What counts
- Stamp 1 on DETE permits (and CSEP Stamp 4)
- How you apply
- Paper form by post to Burgh Quay
Ordinary Stamp 4 upgrade (21 / 57 months)
- Residence needed
- 21 months (CSEP) or 57 months (GEP, ICT)
- Stamp 4 issued for
- 12 to 24 months at a time
- Fee
- €300 IRP registration only
- What counts
- Months of employment on the permit
- How you apply
- Online, at registration renewal
How the journey works
- 01
Count your stamps, properly
Day 1Our team goes through every passport and IRP card you have held and totals the qualifying Stamp 1 and Stamp 4 time by registration dates, not permit dates. This is where the surprises live: unregistered weeks between permits, student Stamp 2 time and graduate Stamp 1G time simply do not count, and overlapping stamps are counted once.
- 02
Check the other conditions
You must be in employment on the day you apply, of good character, free of any breach of your permission conditions, and not reliant on means-tested welfare. If anything in your history needs explaining, it is far better to address it up front than to have ISD find it.
- 03
Complete the LTR form and build the pack
Week 1-2You fill in the official Long Term Residency application form and gather full-colour copies of every stamped passport page, every IRP card, every DETE permit, your current employment evidence and proof of continuous residence. ISD returns incomplete or poor-quality packs, so we check it line by line first.
- 04
Post it to the Long Term Residence Section
Stamp 4 LTR is still a paper scheme. The completed form and documents go by post to the Long Term Residence Section, Unit C, Domestic Residence and Permissions Division, Immigration Service Delivery, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2, D02 XK70. You will get an acknowledgement once it is received and uploaded.
- 05
Keep your permission valid while you wait
There is no published processing time and, as of 2026, the division flags very high volumes and delays. A pending application does not protect your status, so you keep renewing your employment permit and IRP registration as normal until the decision arrives.
- 06
Pay €500, then register your 5-year Stamp 4
28 daysIf approved, ISD sends a letter asking for the €500 fee by electronic transfer within 28 days; miss it and the application is closed. Once paid, your 5-year grant letter issues, and you register the new permission on the ISD online portal and pay the standard €300 registration fee. Your IRP then shows Stamp 4 for five years.
What to gather
Start collecting these early. Weak or missing documents are the most common avoidable cause of delays and refusals.
Completed Long Term Residency application form
Paper only. Incomplete forms are not processed and are returned to you
All passports, in full colour
Every page showing an immigration stamp, across current and expired passports
Current IRP or GNIB card
A colour copy of both sides, valid on the day you apply
Expired IRP cards
They evidence the registered periods that make up your 60 months
All DETE employment permits
Full-colour copies of every work or critical skills permit you have held
Employment contract or employer letter
Confirming your commencement date and current terms of employment
Employment Detail Summaries
Your annual Employment Detail Summaries (formerly P60s), evidencing employment across the qualifying five years
Proof of continuous residence
Tenancy agreements, mortgage documents or similar covering the five years
Bank statements
Showing day-to-day life in Ireland across the qualifying period
State-issued correspondence
Revenue or other official documents linking you to an Irish address
A short cover note on your stamp history
Setting out your 60 months clearly saves the caseworker guesswork. Our team drafts this with you
Every case is different. We confirm your exact list at consultation.
What it costs
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Application (on filing) | No fee | Nothing is paid when you post the form. The fee only arises if you are approved. |
| Long-Term Residency permission fee | €500 | Paid by electronic transfer within 28 days of the approval letter. If unpaid in time, the application is closed. |
| IRP registration | €300 | The standard registration fee to put your new 5-year Stamp 4 on a card, in addition to the €500. |
| Renewal after 5 years | €300 | Standard registration fee, renewed online through the ISD online renewals portal in the Dublin area, or at your local Garda registration office elsewhere, with evidence of living and working here for the previous five years. |
| Our consultation | Fixed fee | Agreed up front at booking, no surprises. |
Total cost to the State is €800, and only if you are approved. One thing worth knowing: ISD deals only with you or your legal representative on this scheme, not immigration consultants, so our role is to build and check the application with you, in your name.
How long it takes
Guide figures from current official processing information. Individual cases vary.
ISD decision
Not published
As of 2026 the Domestic Residence and Permissions Division flags very high volumes and delays. Expect many months and keep your permit and IRP valid throughout.
Fee payment window
28 days
From the date of the approval letter. Miss it and the application is closed with no reminder.
Registering the new stamp
A few weeks
Online portal registration plus card delivery once the 5-year grant letter issues.
Stamp 4 LTR validity
5 years
Renewed online through the ISD online renewals portal, up to 12 weeks before expiry, with evidence of living and working in Ireland for the previous five years, such as your Employment Detail Summaries (formerly P60s). Outside Dublin, renewals are made at your local Garda registration office.
Why applications get refused
Most refusals are preventable. These are the patterns we see and design out of every application.
Short of 60 qualifying months
ISD counts registered stamp time, not permit dates. Gaps between registrations, late renewals and overlapping stamps counted twice all shrink your real total below 60 months.
Avoid it: Total your time from your IRP validity dates before applying, and wait the extra weeks if you are marginal. Our team does this calculation as step one.
Counting stamps that do not qualify
Stamp 1G graduate time, Stamp 2 student time, Stamp 3, Stamp 0, Intra-Company Transfer Stamp 1 and Investor or Start-Up Stamp 4 do not count, even though some of them count for naturalisation or Stamp 5.
Avoid it: Build the 60 months only from Stamp 1 on a DETE permit or Stamp 4 on a critical skills basis, and check every stamp against the scheme's qualifying list.
Not in employment, or self-employed, when you apply
The scheme requires you to be legally resident and in employment on the day you apply and throughout the process. Self-employed applicants are not accepted, and a recent redundancy can sink the timing.
Avoid it: Apply while employed, with a fresh employer letter or contract in the pack. If you are between jobs, wait until you are back in employment before filing.
Reliance on means-tested welfare
Receiving non-contributory, means-tested payments (those not based on your PRSI contributions) can mean you are treated as an undue burden on the State, which is a ground for refusal.
Avoid it: If you have claimed a means-tested payment, take advice before filing so the circumstances can be set out honestly and in context.
An incomplete or poor-quality pack
This is a paper scheme and ISD returns incomplete or poor-quality applications rather than chasing missing pages, which costs you months in a queue with no published timeframe.
Avoid it: Copy every stamp page and every permit in clear colour, include current employment evidence, and have a second pair of eyes check the pack, which is part of our standard review.
Common questions
Is Stamp 4 LTR the same as the Stamp 4 I can get after 21 or 57 months on a permit?+
No, they are separate routes to the same stamp. The ordinary Stamp 4 upgrade runs through the ISD online renewals portal at registration renewal, needs 21 months of employment on a Critical Skills basis or 57 months on a General or Intra-Company Transfer permit, costs only the €300 registration fee, and issues Stamp 4 for 12 to 24 months at a time. Stamp 4 LTR needs 60 months of registered stamp residence, is applied for on paper by post, costs €500 on approval plus the €300 registration, and issues Stamp 4 for a full five years in one grant.
What counts as reckonable residence for this scheme?+
ISD counts the time shown by the immigration stamps in your passport and the validity dates of your IRP cards, only for Stamp 1 held on a DETE work or critical skills permit and Stamp 4 held on a critical skills basis. It does not count your employment permit start and end dates, unregistered gaps, or time on other stamp types. Where two stamps overlap, the overlap is counted once, so, for example, a Stamp 1 running two years and a Stamp 4 that starts three months before it ends gives 45 months, not 48.
Does my student or graduate time count towards the 60 months?+
Not for this scheme. Stamp 2 student time and Stamp 1G graduate time do not qualify, and neither do Stamp 3 dependant time, Stamp 0 or Intra-Company Transfer Stamp 1. Only Stamp 1 held on a DETE employment permit and Stamp 4 held on a critical skills basis count. Confusingly, some of that time does count towards naturalisation and Stamp 5, just not towards Stamp 4 LTR.
How much does Stamp 4 LTR cost and when do I pay?+
Nothing when you apply. If approved, you pay €500 by electronic transfer within 28 days of the approval letter, then the standard €300 fee to register the new stamp on your IRP card, so €800 in total to the State and only if you are approved. If the €500 is not paid within 28 days, ISD closes the application without contacting you.
How long is ISD taking to decide these as of 2026?+
There is no officially published timeframe. As of 2026, ISD's Domestic Residence and Permissions Division still displays a standing notice that it is experiencing very high volumes of Long Term Residence applications, with delays in processing posted applications. Plan for a wait of many months and keep renewing your employment permit and IRP as normal, because the pending application does not protect your status.
Can my spouse and children get Stamp 4 LTR too?+
Once you hold Stamp 4 LTR, a spouse or dependant who has their own 60 months of legal residence in the State over the same period can apply. What they are granted depends on the permit you held: if you held a Critical Skills permit they get a 5-year Stamp 1G with the right to work, and if you held a General Employment Permit they get a 5-year Stamp 3, which does not allow work.
Should I get Stamp 4 LTR or just apply for citizenship?+
It depends on your goal. Stamp 4 LTR is a residence permission, not citizenship; it gives you five permit-free years but not an Irish passport or a vote. Naturalisation needs five years of reckonable residence in the last nine (including one continuous year before you apply), costs €175 to apply plus €950 on approval, and makes you a citizen. Many permit holders skip Stamp 4 LTR entirely and apply straight for citizenship at the five-year mark, and our team can map which combination fits your history and timeline best.
Grounded in official sources
Ready to talk through your next step?
Book a consultation with our team and leave with a clear, personal plan grounded in the official rules.
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