Employment Permits Act 2024

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Chapter 6

Refusal to grant employment permit

Mandatory grounds for refusal of employment permit

32. (1) The Minister shall refuse to grant an employment permit where he or she is satisfied that in the 6 months preceding the day on which the application was made—

(a) a person was employed in the employment that is the subject of the application, and

(b) that person was dismissed by reason of redundancy from that employment.

(2) The Minister shall refuse to grant an employment permit where—

(a) the person who has made the offer of employment—

(i) is not registered with the Revenue Commissioners, or

(ii) in a case where the person is carrying on a business, the Minister is satisfied that such person is not engaged in substantive business operations in the State,

or

(b) in the case of an application for a contract for service employment permit—

(i) the contractor, or

(ii) where the foreign national concerned is employed by a subcontractor, the subcontractor,

is not registered with the Revenue Commissioners.

(3) The Minister shall refuse to grant a contract for service employment permit where the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that the foreign national concerned may not be employed by the contractor or subcontractor concerned during the period for which the employment permit is to be granted.

(4) In the case of an application for an intra-company transfer employment permit, the Minister shall, subject to subsection (5), refuse to grant an employment permit if the Minister is satisfied that—

(a) the connected person is not engaged in substantive business operations in the State,

(b) the connected person is not registered with the Revenue Commissioners,

(c) the foreign employer is not engaged in substantive business operations in the place, outside the State, in which it is established, or

(d) the connected person is not connected with the foreign employer.

(5) Subsection (4)(a) shall not apply to the connected person where, on the date the application is made, the connected person carrying on those business operations has been registered with the Revenue Commissioners for a period not exceeding such period as may be prescribed by the Minister.

(6) In the case of an application for an intra-company transfer employment permit or a contract for service employment permit, the Minister shall—

(a) without prejudice to section 33 (1)(m), refuse to grant an employment permit if the Minister is satisfied that the hourly rate of the remuneration, in so far as it relates to the salary to be paid to the foreign national, is less than the national minimum hourly rate of pay or, where appropriate to the employment in respect of which the application is made, the hourly rate referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “standard working week remuneration”,

(b) without prejudice to section 33 (1)(a), refuse to grant an employment permit where the connected person did not provide the information and documents referred to in section 24 (4) or the contractor or subcontractor, as the case may be, did not provide the information and documents referred to in section 25 (4), or

(c) refuse to grant an employment permit where the Minister is not satisfied with the arrangements for the additional payment referred to in section 24 (4)(g) or, as the case may be, section 25 (4)(g).

(7) Subject to sections 44 (5) and 45 (5), the Minister shall refuse to grant an employment permit if the granting of it would contravene regulations under section 47 in force at the time the decision on the application for the permit is made.

(8) This section and section 33 are without prejudice to the other requirements under this Act that must be satisfied with respect to the grant of an employment permit.