Move to Ireland in 8 Days | Ireland Care Visa for Non- EU Workers ⋆ EvaMtalii

Ireland approved work visas for 1,000 more homecare workers in 2023 to tackle recruitment crisis in sector and to address homecare staff deficit with boost to pay and conditions.

Non-EU nationals are able to live and work in Ireland in the homecare sector from January 2023, but prospective employers must pay them a minimum of €27,000 per year, they must have a minimum of a two-year contract and work a minimum of four continuous hours in a day.

Ireland is already facing a dearth of care workers, with 6,200 people waiting for home support from the Health Service Executive’s services for older people this year because no care worker was available to provide them.

Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler said the Government had allocated €660 million for homecare packages in this year’s budget. The money was there to provide for those who needed a homecare package, but the workers were not there to implement it, she stated.

As at the writing of this article though, just 65 people have applied for new work permits giving non-EU carers work rights in the homecare industry despite 1,000 permits being available.

The scheme opened in January to help tackle recruitment challenges. It echoes a similar scheme already in place for hospital and nursing home roles. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is overseeing the scheme.

“There have been 65 applications – of which, 50 have been issued, 10 refused and 5 are awaiting processing,” a spokeswoman said.

Applicants were from 14 countries including Brazil (17 issued) and The Philippines (13 issued). Work permits were also issued to staff from Sri Lanka (7), Cameroon (3) and India (2). It takes around eight working days to process.

Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) represents many private and voluntary homecare providers.

CEO Joseph Musgrave welcomed the permits, saying: “I give a lot of credit to DET&E (Department of Enterprise) for streamlining the permit process, because the process does work quite efficiently.”

However, he said citizens of some non-EU countries need to also apply for a visa, saying “the visa takes around 20 weeks to process” separately. There are plans to streamline this, he understands.

Homecare is offered through the HSE and private or voluntary companies under tender for the HSE. A new tender is expected to take effect from May.

“The tender has frozen strategic planning in the sector, no provider knows what price will be set or whether they need to bid on the tender. We actually don’t know and it is less than a month away from the (current) tender expiring,” he said.

“Our members are in limbo and that is why the numbers aren’t so high.”

He added: “If agreement is reached on tender, that will then lead to members engaging with this process more because they will have the ability to strategically plan for the first time in 15 months.”

He also highlighted the time-lag between granting these permits to other areas and homecare.

“I have emails going back a couple of years from our members saying ‘I am about to lose a member of staff because they’re going somewhere they can get these permits,” he said. “So the Government was slow to do this, and as a result it led to a skills drain from homecare to other settings.”

A HSE spokeswoman said discussions continue on the new tender, confirming the current one will expire at the end of April. “We expect, further to previous ongoing engagements, to be in touch with the homecare providers again on this next week,” she said.

Requirements to work as homecare worker in Ireland

Qualifications needed to work as a Homecare Assistant in Ireland:

As per the HSE Tender guidelines, all home care workers must have achieved, at a minimum, a QQI Level 5 certificate in Care Skills and Care of the Older Person and be working towards achieving a major award in healthcare.

To apply for home care assistant vacancies in Ireland, you will need a relevant FETAC/Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) Level 5 qualification or an equivalent healthcare qualification. This QQI training will need to be completed with a QQI accredited training provider.

If you wish to work as a home care assistant and have less than 1 year of paid experience, you have to have a certificate in both QQI Level 5 Modules – 5N2770 Care Skills and 5N2706 Care of the Older Person.

If you have paid home care industry experience of more than 1 year in the last 3 years, but you do not hold a recognised relevant qualification, you will have to commit to obtaining at a minimum QQI Level 5 Modules – 5N2770 Care Skills and 5N2706 Care of the Older Person within 11 months

Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) accredited training providers in Ireland:

3 thoughts on “Move to Ireland in 8 Days | Ireland Care Visa for Non- EU Workers”

I have hospitality and management certificates and would like to be in home cares or resident manager would you please connect me. I have a vast experience in customer care, service, essential service standards and many more

I don’t have a certificate in health care but I do have 3 years of experience as a caregiver working in nursing homes ect in America. I will work to my best ability and to be a great asset to your organization. I look forward to hearing from you. Your sincerely K.masters

Nomagugu Mzizi says:

August 21, 2023 at 12:31 pm

Nomagugu Mzizi
I do have care certificates but I do not have experience. Your training will be if so value to me.
Looking forward to hearing from you

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