To facilitate the recruitment of suitably qualified people from non-European Economic Area countries or Switzerland for designated sectors of the employment market where skill shortages as particularly acute, a working visa and work authorization scheme has been introduced. This makes it possible for prospective employees with job offers from employers in Ireland to obtain immigration and employment clearance in advance from Irish embassies and consulates. Immigration Officers retain discretion in specified circumstances to refuse entry to any non-national. The new scheme does not replace but is a faster alternative to the work permit procedure that continues to be available in Ireland.

The European Economic Area comprises the European Union member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Employees working on such visas are protected by employment legislation in exactly the same way as other employees.
Rules
Applications

At present the designated categories are:

    * Information and computing technologies professionals/technicians
    * Architects
    * Construction Engineers
    * Quantity Surveyors
    * Building Surveyors
    * Town Planners
    * Registered Nurses
    * Medical Practitioners
    * Dentists
    * Diagnostic or Therapeutic Radiographers
    * Dieticians
    * Occupational Therapists
    * Orthoptists
    * Medical Physicists
    * Psychologists
    * Speech and Language Therapists
    * Social Workers
    * Medical Scientists
    * Physiotherapists
    * Hospital Pharmacists
    * ECG Technicians
    * Neurophysiological Measurement Technicians
    * Cardiac Catheterization Technicians
    * Audiologists
    * Biochemists.