Chefs Work Permit Application

Under the Employment Permit Acts 2003 – 2023 all non-EEA nationals will require an employment permit or relevant immigration permission from the Minister for Justice to work in the state.

The prospective employee must have a job offer with an employer registered with the Revenue commissioners.

There is an ineligible list of occupations with respect to work permits in Ireland and a chefs occupation is on that list, however, the following are the relevant exceptions as of the 2023 Employment Permit Act:

o Executive Chef with minimum of 5 years’ experience

o Head Chef with minimum of 5 years’ experience

o Sous Chef with minimum of 5 years’ experience

o Chef de Partie with minimum of 2 years’ experience

o Commis Chef with minimum of 2 years’ experience

who will be employed in establishments other than fast food outlets.

Therefore the above experienced Non-EEA chefs can apply for a work permit application.

The labour market needs test must be completed for a General Employment Permit application.

The job advertisement with the correct content must be listed with the jobsireland.ie / Eures for 28 days consecutively and at least 3 days in a national newspaper and then local paper or jobs website.

The following information will need to be provided with the application.

Qualifications of the employee in English, passport photo of the employee, copy of employees passport in date and valid for a further 6 months, GNIB card if resident in state, reference letters from previous employers, revenue statement from at least 3 months statutory returns, valid tax access number, utility bill copies form at least 2 months, letter from health authority to confirm employer has permission to run as a restaurant, the employer must provide a statement the business is not a fast food outlet, and the chefs experience must be proved.

There is much work to these applications in addition to the preparation of the application form.   

It is important to assess what proof documents are available and make decisions on this basis before embarking on submitting the advertisements and then endeavouring to assess which proof documents may be available in our view.

Immigration Lawyer

If you have questions about employment permits, you can speak with an immigration lawyer on (01) 546 1121 or (052) 612 1999.If you have questions about employment permits, you can speak with an immigration lawyer on (01) 546 1121 or  (052) 612 1999.