Ireland's care assistant permit for Nigerians: pay, the Level 5 rule, the 28-day check

This is the pack behind the PERMIT video, from the Rekoja desk in Lagos. It answers the question the video ends on: do you have the certificate, or the experience that needs a certificate? Then it gives you the whole route, employer side and your side, from the Irish government's own pages.

Which of these is you

• I have a health and social care certificate already
• I have experience but no formal certificate
• An employer or recruiter has contacted me
• I want the family and long-term rules

The route, in one paragraph

Health Care Assistant and Home Support Worker (occupation code 6145) is eligible for a General Employment Permit. Either the employer or the worker can apply, on the department's online system; the permit issues for up to two years and renews for up to three more. When the employer applies, section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 forbids it from deducting or recovering any part of the fee or costs from the worker. The minimum annual pay for this role rose to €32,691 on 1 March 2026 (an hourly rate of €16.12 on a 39-hour week). Sources: General Employment Permit, Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and Government unveils roadmap for gradual increase in employment permit salary thresholds, 2 December 2025. The permit page's February 2025 text carries an older figure of €27,000 "pending consultation"; the roadmap and every employer advert since March 2026 carry €32,691.

The pay, in naira

Sources: the roadmap above and the General Employment Permit page, which sets the permit fee at €1,000 for a permit of six to 24 months, with 90 percent refunded if the application fails.

The qualification rule

When the care worker and home carer quota was created, the conditions were: a full QQI Level 5 qualification in health and social care or equivalent, or successful completion of a full Level 5 (or higher) health and social care qualification within two years of the permit being issued, a two-year permit, and a four-hour minimum continuous shift. Sources: Previous employment permits notices and the Health Care Assistant permit checklist.

For a Nigerian applicant that means one of two paths: (a) you hold a certificate a QQI Level 5 award can be compared to (a nursing assistant or health care assistant certificate, a relevant OND); the comparison is done through Quality and Qualifications Ireland's recognition service, or (b) you have the experience and the employer commits, in the application, that you will complete the Level 5 within two years. Source: QQI, qualifications recognition.

The quota, and who it does not apply to

Health Care Assistants are not subject to a quota. The neighbouring roles of care worker and home carer share a quota of General Employment Permits, introduced in December 2022 and extended by a further 1,000 on 10 March 2025. When any quota fills, the department posts a "quota filled" notice on its latest notices page and rejects remaining applications. On that page, as of its 26 August 2026 update, no such notice exists for care workers or home carers. Sources: Dáil written answer, 10 April 2025, Minister Burke announces new measures to support home care and planning sectors, 10 March 2025 and Latest employment permits notices. If a notice appears, this page changes the same day.

The 28-day check

Before an employer can apply for a General Employment Permit for you, it must run a Labour Market Needs Test: the job advertised with the Department of Social Protection's JobsIreland and the EU's EURES service, and on a second online platform, for at least 28 days, at or above the permit's minimum salary. The permit application must then be lodged within 90 days of the notice first appearing, and at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date. Sources: Labour Market Needs Test and Employment permits, application deadlines.

So the sentence to listen for in any employer's or recruiter's reply is "we are running the labour market test". A promise of a permit in two weeks, or an application "already lodged" for a job that was never advertised, means one of two things: it is not a General Employment Permit application, or it is not real.

Two more rules to know: the 50:50 rule (the department does not issue permits where more than half the workforce is already from outside the EEA), and the fee rule: when the employer applies, the law bars it from recovering any of the cost from you. Nobody pays a recruiter for a permit. Source: the General Employment Permit page above.

Family and the five-year rule

General Employment Permit holders can be joined by a spouse or partner and children under 18 after 12 months of legal work in Ireland, provided you are in full-time employment above the Working Family Payment income threshold; Critical Skills permit holders can apply at once. Since 15 May 2024, a spouse or partner granted family reunification with a General Employment Permit holder is registered on Stamp 1G and can work in Ireland without a permit of their own. After five consecutive years on employment permits (57 months since April 2024) you may apply for Stamp 4, the permission to work for any employer without a permit, and after nine months on your first permit you may apply to change employer without a new permit application. Sources: EU Immigration Portal, joining a family member in Ireland, Immigration Service Delivery, spouses and partners of General Employment Permit holders, Department of Enterprise, who needs an employment permit and Dáil written answer, 26 September 2024.

A worked example

Amaka, 33, Ibadan, four years as a care assistant in a private hospital, a nursing assistant certificate from a state school of health technology. Her path: she asks QQI's recognition service what her certificate compares to (path a). She applies directly to nursing homes and home-care providers in Ireland with a CV built around care tasks, medication support, dementia care and record keeping. An employer advertises the role for 28 days at €32,691, then applies. Her pay: about ₦51.5m a year, ₦25,400 an hour, before Irish tax. Her costs: the CV, the QQI comparison fee, the visa application at the Irish embassy, flights. The permit fee stays with the employer that filed it. After 12 months, her husband and daughter can apply to join her, and her husband can work on Stamp 1G without a permit of his own. After five years, Stamp 4.

Who this is not for

• Applicants with no care experience and no certificate: get one of the two first.
• Anyone told to pay for the permit, the "test", or a "slot": that is not this route.
• Nurses: you are on a different, better route (Critical Skills, registration with NMBI first); watch for our nursing pack.

What quietly kills applications

• A job that was never advertised for 28 days.
• A pay figure below €32,691, or an hourly rate below €16.12.
• An employer already over the 50:50 line.
• A "recruitment fee" paid to anybody, or a recruiter who wants you to file and pay for the permit yourself while the employer stays out of it.

Questions people ask (from the department's own notices)

Is the HCA quota still open? Health Care Assistants are not under a quota at all, and no "quota filled" notice exists for care workers or home carers on the department's page as of its 26 August 2026 update.

Do I need the QQI Level 5 before I apply? Either the qualification, or an employer commitment that you will complete it within two years.

Who pays the permit fee? Whoever applies; when the employer applies, the law forbids it from charging the fee back to you.

Before you go

The UK closed a road. Ireland did not. Start with the certificate question, because it decides which of the two paths you are on.

Naira figures on this page use the Rekoja pipeline rate of 12 September 2026 (EUR 1,574.77).