9. Eligibility to Work in Ireland

The Law

The law makes it a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly employ someone who has no right to work in Ireland, or no right to do the work the Company is offering. However, the law gives you a statutory defence against conviction for employing illegal workers if you have checked, copied and retained on file certain original documents belonging to the individual. Remember that if your prospective employee from outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, they will need permission to live and work in Ireland. 

Please note that at (August 2022) a prospective employee who is a Ukrainian citizen, who has been granted temporary protection under the EU Directive is permitted to work in Ireland. Ukrainian citizens have the same entitlement to statutory employment rights and protections in the same manner as Irish workers.

The law also obliges you to ensure that your recruitment practices do not discriminate against individuals on racial grounds.

The Company may be liable to payment of up to €250,000 and/or 10 years in prison if they employ a person without a valid work permit.

Procedure

The Company must conduct a right to work check before employing a person to ensure they are legally allowed to do the work in question. If an individual’s right to work is time limited, you must conduct a follow-up check shortly before it is due to come to an end.

When you are checking the validity of the documents, you should ensure that you do this in the presence of the holder. This can be a physical presence in person or via a live video link. In both cases, you must be in physical possession of the original documents. For example, an individual may choose to send their documents to you by post to enable you to conduct the check with them via live video link. You may not rely on the inspection of the document via a live video link or by checking a faxed or scanned copy of the document.

There are two types of right to work checks; a manual document-based check and an online check.

Conducting a Manual Document-Based Right to Work Check

There are three steps to conducting a manual document-based right to work check. You need to complete all three steps before employment commences to ensure you have conducted a check in the prescribed manner, in order to establish a statutory excuse.

Step 1 – Obtain.

You must obtain original documents from either List A or List B of acceptable documents.

There is no need for the individual to produce documents from both List A and List B.

Step 2 - Check

You are required to satisfy yourself that the prospective employee is the rightful holder of the documents presented, and must check that:

• photographs and dates of birth are consistent across documents and with the person’s appearance in order to detect impersonation;
• expiry dates for permission to be in Ireland have not passed;
• any work restrictions to determine if they are allowed to do the type of work on offer (for students who have limited permission to work during term-times, you must also

obtain, copy and retain details of their academic term and vacation times covering the duration of their period of study in Ireland for which they will be employed);

• the documents are genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to the holder; and
• the reasons for any difference in names across documents can be explained by providing evidence (e.g. original marriage certificate, divorce decree absolute, deed poll). These supporting documents must also be photocopied and a copy retained.

Step 3 – Copy

Finally, you must make a clear photocopy of each document in a format which cannot manually be altered and retain the copy securely: electronically or in hardcopy. You must also retain a secure record of the date on which you made the check. Simply writing a date on the copy document does not, in itself, confirm that this is the actual date when the check was undertaken. If you write a date on the copy document, you must also record that this is the date on which you conducted the check. 

You must copy and retain copies of:-

• Passports: any page with the document expiry date, the holder’s nationality, date of birth, signature, leave expiry date, photograph and any page containing information indicating the holder has an entitlement to enter or remain in Ireland (visa or entry stamp) and undertake the work in question (the front cover no longer has to be copied).
• All other documents: the document in full, including both sides of their GNIB card. The employer must keep a record of every document that has been copied, in order to comply with legislation.

All copies of documents taken should be kept securely for the duration of the employees’ employment and for two years afterwards. The copy must then be securely destroyed.

Acceptable Documents

The documents you may accept from a person to demonstrate their right to work are set out in two lists – List A and List B below.

List A

Acceptable documents to establish a continuous statutory excuse:

1. A passport (current or expired) showing the holder, or a person named in the passport as the child of the holder, is an Irish citizen. 
2. A passport or passport card (current or expired) showing that the holder is a national of the Republic of Ireland.
3. A current document issued by the Immigration Bureau to a family member of an EEA and which indicates that the holder is permitted to stay in Ireland indefinitely.
4. A current GNIB card issued by Immigration to the holder indicating that the person named is allowed to stay and work in Ireland.
5. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control, is allowed to stay in Ireland, has the right of abode in Ireland, or has no time limit on their stay in Ireland.
6. A current Immigration Status Document issued by Immigration to the holder with an endorsement indicating that the named person is allowed to stay indefinitely in Ireland or has no time limit on their stay in Ireland, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent PPS number and their name issued by a government agency or a previous employer.
7. A birth or adoption certificate issued in Ireland, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent PPS number and their name, issued by a government agency or a previous employer.
8. A birth or adoption certificate issued in Ireland, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent PPS number and their name, issued by a government agency or a previous employer.
9. A certificate of registration or naturalisation as an Irish citizen, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent PPS number and their name, issued by a government agency or a previous employer.

LIST B

Acceptable documents to establish a statutory excuse for a limited period of time

1. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is allowed to stay in Ireland and is currently allowed to do the type of work in question. 
2. A current GNIB card issued by Immigration to the holder, which indicates that the named person can currently stay in Ireland and is allowed to do the work in question. 
3. A current document issued by Immigration to a family member of an EEA, which indicates that the holder is permitted to stay in Ireland for a time limited period and to do the type of work in question.
4. A current Immigration Status Document containing a photograph issued by Immigration to the holder with a valid endorsement indicating that the named person may stay in Ireland and is allowed to do the type of work in question, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent PPS number and their name issued by a government agency or a previous employer.

When to conduct follow-up checks?

You need to recheck the right to work of those individuals who have time-limited permission to work in Ireland. This should occur when their previous permission comes to an end. The follow-up check is designed to prevent people from overstaying their immigration leave where this is time limited. 

A person’s application for further immigration permission to stay in Ireland must be made before their existing permission expires for it to be deemed ‘in-time’. If they do this, any existing right to work will continue until that in-time application has been determined. In such circumstances, a bridging visa will be issued. If no bridging visa is issued you will no longer have a statutory excuse, and you will be liable for a civil penalty if the person is not permitted to work in Ireland. You may also be convicted of the offence of employing an illegal worker.