Residence in Ireland - who needs permission, stamps, IRP registration and renewals

Ireland and the UK form the Common Travel Area (CTA). It predates EU membership and does not depend on it. Under the CTA, British citizens can move to Ireland and live, work and study here without a visa, an immigration permission, registration or an employment permit. They can access employment, healthcare, education, social welfare and social housing supports on the same basis as Irish citizens, and can vote in local and national parliamentary elections.

In HomiStart, British citizens are grouped with EU, EEA and Swiss citizens for Ireland, because the practical steps are the same: no immigration registration. The CTA rights belong only to British and Irish citizens. A non-British family member of a British citizen, or anyone who is resident in the UK but not a British citizen, still has to follow Irish immigration rules; non-EEA family members of UK citizens may be registered on Stamp 4D.

Citizens of the EU, the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland can live and work in Ireland under EU free movement rules. They do not need an employment permit and do not register with ISD. In practice, the first steps are a PPS number, a bank account and a home.

If you are an EU citizen and your spouse, partner or other family member is not, they can apply for residence based on your EU Treaty rights. ISD registers them on a Stamp 4 EU family member permission, and they are exempt from the registration fee.

If you are not Irish, British, or an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you want to stay longer than 90 days, you need a permission to stay. Most people get it on the basis of an employment permit, a place on an eligible study programme, or family membership.

Whether you also need an entry visa depends on your nationality. Citizens of, for example, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States do not need a visa to enter Ireland; citizens of countries such as China, India and South Africa do. A long stay 'D' visa is applied for online before you travel. Ireland is not in the Schengen area, so a Schengen visa or a UK visa does not let you enter Ireland. Holding a valid IRP card, an Irish travel document or an EU family member residence card also means you do not need a visa.

Everyone who is not an EEA citizen goes through immigration control on arrival, with or without a visa. Carry the original documents for your purpose of stay, such as your employment permit or college letter. Not needing a visa to visit does not mean you may stay longer than 90 days, work or study: you still need the right permission and must register it.

ISD records every permission as a stamp. The main ones are:

• Stamp 0: temporary permission for people of independent means, such as retirees and visiting academics. No work unless the permission letter allows it, no publicly funded services, private medical insurance required.
• Stamp 1: work based on an employment permit (or a letter saying you do not need one), or a business permission. Also used for Working Holiday Authorisations, which cannot be renewed.
• Stamp 1G: graduates of Irish higher education looking for work under the Third Level Graduate Programme (usually 12 months), and spouses and partners of Critical Skills, General and Intra-Company Transfer permit holders and of researchers. Holders may work without an employment permit but may not run a business.
• Stamp 1H: hospital doctors on a two-year multi-site General Employment Permit.
• Stamp 2: full-time students on an eligible programme. You may work up to 20 hours a week in term time and 40 hours a week during holidays; no publicly funded services. Total study time is capped at 7 years.
• Stamp 2A: full-time study on a course not on the eligible list; no work.
• Stamp 3: permission without the right to work, for example volunteers and ministers of religion.
• Stamp 4: permission to work without an employment permit and to run a business, for example for spouses of Irish citizens, people with protection status, and permit holders who have upgraded after their qualifying period.
• Stamp 5 (without condition as to time) and Stamp 6 (dual Irish citizens) cover long-term residents and Irish citizens with a second passport.

You must know the conditions of your own stamp: breaking them can mean your permission is not renewed. Every permission also requires you to obey the law.

Children aged 15 and younger do not have to register unless the Minister has specifically told you they must, or they live in Ireland based on EU Treaty rights. Children must register as soon as possible after they turn 16. Under-18s never pay the registration fee. Re-entry visas for under-16s travelling with a parent or guardian who holds a valid permission are currently suspended.

Your IRP card shows the date your permission expires. Renewals and changes of stamp (for example from Stamp 2 to Stamp 1G) are made online through ISD's renewal portal, not at Burgh Quay. You can apply up to 12 weeks before expiry, and you must be in Ireland when you apply. Your new permission runs from the old expiry date, so applying early costs you nothing. Students on Stamp 2 must wait until their course starts.

ISD processes renewals strictly in order of submission per stamp category and reports very high volumes: in early October 2026 it was working on Stamp 1 applications submitted on 12 August 2026. After approval, the new card can take up to 15 business days by post. If ISD asks you for more documents and you do not reply within 14 days, the application is refused. ISD publishes a notice for employers about staff whose renewal is pending.

If you change your passport, upload the new biodata page through the online system; you do not need to visit Burgh Quay.

Employment permit holders can move to Stamp 4 after a qualifying period of work in Ireland: 21 months on a Critical Skills Employment Permit (or as a researcher on a hosting agreement, or a doctor on a multi-site permit), or 57 months on a General Employment Permit or Intra-Company Transfer permit. You apply through the online renewal system. Your start date is taken from the employment detail summary in Revenue's myAccount.

Time on most stamps, including Stamps 1, 1G, 3, 4 and 5, counts as reckonable residence for citizenship by naturalisation; time on Stamps 2 and 2A does not. ISD provides an online naturalisation residency calculator.