A Trusted Partner is a Person who has made the offer of employment/Employer/Connected Person or Contractor who has applied for and been granted Trusted Partner status by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.  read more  read less

The benefits of being a Trusted Partner are:

• Fast turnaround of Trusted Partner registration applications: within 2 working days for complete applications.
• Status valid for 2 years.
• No fee for registration.
• Reduced paperwork for every employment permit applied for thereafter.
• Shortened employment permit application forms.
• Faster turnaround of Trusted Partner employment permit applications.

Objective
The objective of the initiative is to ease the administrative burden on employers/connected persons/EEA contractors in expansion mode and to remove the requirement that they replicate the same employer/connected person information in respect of each employment permit application made for grant or renewal.

The Trusted Partner Initiative will streamline the application process for the person making the offer of employment/employers/connected persons and EEA contractors when applying for Employment Permits. It is open to companies in expansion mode, start-up companies, as well as regular users of the permits regime.

The Trusted Partner Initiative will extend to all permit types except in the case of Contract for Services Employment Permits where it will only facilitate EEA Contractors. All of the employment permit applications submitted under the Trusted Partner Initiative must be made by the Person who has made the offer of employment/Employer/Connected Person or EEA Contractor.

Criteria for Eligibility

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment considers a number of criteria when assessing Trusted Partner applications. The Person who will make the offer of employment /Employer/Connected Person and EEA Contractor must be registered with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners as an employer and, where applicable, the Companies Registration Office/ Registry of Friendly Societies. The Person who will make the offer of employment/Employer/Connected Person or EEA Contractor that has been convicted of an offence under the Employment Permits Acts 2006 as amended, Employment Permits Act of 2003, the Immigration Act 2004 or an enactment specified in Schedule 1 of the Employment Permits Act 2006, as amended will be excluded from the Trusted Partner scheme for 5 years from date of conviction.

The application form for Trusted Partner registration must be signed by the Company Secretary, the Person of Compliance or Person of Process or the business owner. By signing the form the Person who will make the offer of employment/ Employer /Connected Person or EEA Contractor is committing to comply with a list of declarations specified on the application form which includes, inter alia, notifying the Department if there are any changes to its details, undertaking to check within reason that all of the information to be provided about future employment permit applications and submitted to the Department under the Trusted Partner Initiative are true and correct, asserting that the person in receipt of a permit will receive the remuneration promised and be employed in the capacity stated on the employment permit application form.

How to Apply to be a Trusted Partner
An application to register as a Trusted Partner must be made on the official form. If the application submitted is incomplete it will be returned.

The applicant must provide details, and where required, documentation in relation to their registrations with the Companies Registration office, Registry of Friendly Societies and Office of the Revenue Commissioners. They may also provide details of connections with foreign employers or details of contract service agreements with Irish entities (Relevant Persons) for the purposes of future Intra-company Transfer or Contract for Services Employment Permit applications, where this information is to hand.

The Person who will make an offer of employment/Employer/Connected Person or EEA Contractor granted Trusted Partner status will be allocated a Trusted Partner Registration Number.

The Person who will make the offer of employment/Employer /Connected Person or EEA Contractor is required to safeguard their Trusted Partner Registration Number to ensure there is no fraudulent use or misuse of it. Furthermore, if a Person who will make an offer of employment / Employer /Connected Person or EEA Contractor fails to comply with the declarations stated on the Trusted Partner registration application form, its status as a Trusted Partner will be removed. Non-compliance may be brought to the attention of the Department via a NERA inspection or at renewal stage of a Trusted Partner employment permit application, or through other means.

Renewal of Trusted Partner Registration
An application in respect of the renewal of Trusted Partner registration must be submitted within 8 weeks prior to the expiry of the existing Trusted Partner registration period, on the prescribed form, and supplying the information and documentation requested thereon.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will issue a reminder notification to the Trusted Partner 2 months prior to the expiry date of the Trusted Partner registration period.

If a renewal Trusted Partner application is not received before the current registration period expires, the Trusted Partner status will automatically be withdrawn. The Trusted Partner may no longer use their allocated Trusted Partner Registration Number or the Trusted Partner employment permit application forms.

Applications by Trusted Partners for Employment Permits
Applications granted Trusted Partner status have access to their own suite of employment permit application forms and the Trusted Partner Registration number must be quoted on all Trusted Partner employment permit applications submitted during the validity period of the Trusted Partner registration.

An employment permit application must be made on the prescribed form. The Trusted Partner is required to quote their Trusted Partner Registration Number on each employment permit application it submits. The Trusted Partner must also confirm that there have been no changes to their details already provided during their Trusted Partner registration.

Apart from quoting their Trusted Partner Registration Number, the Trusted Partner will be required to provide very limited extra details regarding themselves during the application process for an employment permit. The remainder of the details required in respect of the criteria in regard to each permit type will remain unchanged i.e. foreign national details, job details. There will also be no requirement for the Trusted Partner to sign the employment permit application forms.

Critical Skills Employment Permit is targeted at highly skilled people with the aim of encouraging them to take up permanent residence in Ireland. Occupations which are included on the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List, such as ICT professionals, professional engineers and technologists are catered for under this type of employment permit.

Dependant/Partner/Spouse Employment Permit allows the dependants, recognised partners (where recognised as such by the Department of Justice and Equality), civil partners and spouses of Critical Skills Employment Permit holders (formerly Green Card employment permit holders) and of Researchers on Hosting Agreements to apply for an employment permit to work in the State. Generally, it is illegal for spouses and dependants of employment permit holders to be employed in Ireland without a valid employment permit.

Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit is designed to facilitate the transfer of senior management, key personnel or trainees who are foreign nationals from an overseas branch of a multinational corporation to its Irish branch. The Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit can be invaluable in the initial establishment of a foreign direct investment company. This employment permit facilitates the temporary placement of corporate or HQ personnel in the Irish affiliate while providing for such employees to stay on the foreign payroll.

General Employment Permit is an employment permit which permits the holder to be employed in the State in a broad range of occupations. Unlike Critical Skills Employment Permits, where eligible occupations are specified, General Employment Permits assume all occupations are eligible unless otherwise specified. Therefore, all occupations are eligible unless excluded under the list of Ineligible Categories of Employment for Employment Permits. All occupations on the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List are deemed eligible.

Contract for Services Employment Permit is designed for situations where a foreign undertaking (Contractor) has won a contract to provide services to an Irish company (Relevant Person) on a contract for services basis and to facilitate the transfer of their non-EEA employees to work on the Irish contract in Ireland.

Reactivation Employment Permit is designed to permit a non-EEA national who entered the State on a valid Employment Permit but who fell out of the system through no fault of their own or who has been badly treated or exploited in the workplace, to work legally again.

Internship Employment Permit replaces the old Internship type of Work Permit Employment Permit. It is designed to facilitate the employment in the State of non-EEA nationals who are full- time students, studying in a discipline relevant to the occupations included on the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List and enrolled at a third level institution outside the State, for the purposes of gaining work experience.

Sport and Cultural Employment Permit cater for employment permits in the sporting and cultural area. This permit is designed to facilitate the employment in the State of non-EEA nationals with the relevant qualifications, skills, experience or knowledge for the development, operation and capacity of sporting and cultural activities.

Exchange Agreement Employment Permit is designed to facilitate the employment in the State of non-EEA nationals pursuant to prescribed agreements or other international agreements to which the State is a party. Such agreements are prescribed for in the Employment Permits Regulations.