Moving to Ireland checklist

At home

1.    Make up your mind on moving to Ireland.

2.    Start practicing English

3.    Try looking for a job over the internet.

4.    If you do not find try to find addresses of employment agencies where you will walk in once you are in Ireland.

5.    Start saving money for the startup in Ireland.

6.    Hand your notice to your employer to be sure that you will be able to leave when you plan to.

7.    Book your flight well in advance to achieve better deals.

8.    Take care of bills, apartment rental, etc notify the relevant authorities about your departure

9.    Get references which will be required for housing and opening and account in Ireland. These are:
•    Bank references ( that you have been a good customer at your present bank in your home country )
•    Rental references ( that you have paid the rent on time to your current landlord )

10.    Get a Visa/Mastercard compatible credit or debit card from your current bank. You will need that in Ireland. Irish banks will not issue a credit card for you when you open an account. You rather have to wait at least 6 months for that.

11.    Get a travel insurance. If you are EU national get an E101 or E111 form. E101 is for tourists visiting an EU country and E111 for people planning to take up employment in an other EU country. Please note that none of these forms are providing full coverage in case of an accident. You are partially covered though but you still have to pay some percentage of the cost of the treatment. To get full coverage it is better to have travel insurance as well.

12.    Book a return flight in case something goes wrong

13.    Book a hotel, hostel, B&B, whatever suits your financial circumstances or find a friend to stay with in Ireland.

14.    Make sure that you find out how to get to the accommodation from the airport before departure.

15.    Arrange viewings for apartments over the internet. It is cheaper and better to move into you own room or apartment as soon as possible.

16.    Try packing carefully bear in mind that in most of the cases you check in luggage can not exceed 25kg low-cost airlines will already charge you if your baggage is over 20kg.

17.    Fly out

In Ireland

1.    Fly in

2.    Get a sim card if you already have a mobile phone, or buy a new phone. For those having their mobile “simlocked” can ask to unlock the phone in any mobile phone shop for about €10.

3.    Print out a couple of CV’s in an Internet café

4.    Go and visit all recruitment agencies and give your CV to them. If you are looking for the type of job what they are not specialized in they will direct you to the right agency.

5.    Buy newspapers and visit real estate websites to find a room or an apartment. Remember before you can get a PPS number you need to have an address. You can prove your address in 3 ways:
•    If you rent a room ask for a letter stating that you live at that address from the person you rent the room from. You will also need his/her rental contract
•    If you rent an apartment you will need the rental contract
•    If you already have any kind of utility bills with your name pointing to that address

6.    Once you have a place to live and any of the above mentioned proofs you can go and get a PPS number. Find the closest Local Social Welfare Office to apply for one. To apply you will need:
•    Your national passport
•    Birth certificate ( if you are from the UK )
•    Proof of address ( mentioned above )
•    Immigration card ( if you are non-EU national )
It will take about 1 week to get the PPS number posted to your address if you need it urgently you can go back to the same office to collect it the next day.

7.    Once you have the letter with the PPS number you can go and open a bank account. This will be the proof of your address towards the bank. They do not accept rental contracts or letters from your roommates to prove the address.

8.    Meanwhile you can start to work however without a PPS number you will be taxed on emergency tax that you get refunded once you have the PPS number and submitted the tax credit application.