______________________________________________
For Oral Answer on : 29/06/2023
Question Number(s): 11,23 Question Reference(s): 31329/23, 31381/23
Department: Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Asked by: David Stanton T.D.
______________________________________________
QUESTION
* To ask the Minister for Enterprise; Trade and Employment if he will consider allowing partners and spouses of holders of intra-company transfer employment permits to be eligible for an employment permit in their own right in a similar way to the current eligibility of partners and spouses of holders of critical skills employment permits; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– David Stanton T.D.
For ORAL answer on Thursday, 29 June, 2023.
* To ask the Minister for Enterprise; Trade and Employment the number of applications received by his Department for intra-company transfer employment permits in each respective year from 2018 to 2022 and to date in 2023; the number of successful applications in the same period, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– David Stanton T.D.
For ORAL answer on Thursday, 29 June, 2023.
REPLY
The Intra-Company Transfer Permit is designed to facilitate the transfer of Senior Management, Key Personnel or Trainees of a foreign employer to its Irish branch.
At present, spouses of Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) Employment Permit holders can move to Ireland immediately with the permit holder, however they are not entitled to access the labour market automatically. Instead, they too must apply for a separate employment permit if offered a job (not on the Ineligible Occupations List). There have been calls from stakeholders to make changes to these rules.
The issue of the labour market access of spouses of employment permit holders is receiving consideration and the impact of any changes is being researched at present. Officials in my Department have been in close engagement with officials in the Department of Justice on this issue as part of wider collaboration on economic migration and talent attraction.
There were 6,449 intra-company transfers issued between 2018 and June 2023. The deputy has requested details in tabular form and those details are set out in the written response to the question.
| Intra-company Transfer | Intra-company Transfer (Training)Employment Permit | |||||
| Issued | Refused | Withdrawn | Issued | Refused | Withdrawn | |
| 2018 | 918 | 41 | 25 | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | 1,220 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 899 | 5 | 39 | 37 | 3 | |
| 2021 | 663 | 8 | 29 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2022 | 1,876 | 9 | 36 | 74 | ||
| 2023 | 873 | 5 | 10 | 13 |
