Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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170. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if consideration will be given to amending the rule for employment permits, whereby after serving one year in employment with the original employer, the employee can then accept an offer from an alternative employer without notifying the original employer, given the original employer would receive notification of this change in view of the complications that may arise wherein the original employer will be unaware their employment permit is cancelled and the employee may still be working for them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55957/22]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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If the employment is the first for which an employment permit has been issued, the permit holder is expected to remain in that employment for a period of twelve months before applying for a new employment permit. In general, a new employment permit (for a different employer) cannot be considered if less than 12 months has elapsed since the permit holder first commenced employment in the State pursuant to an employment permit.

This stipulation strikes a reasonable balance between, on the one hand, the employer’s expectations that the foreign national remain in his or her employment for a reasonable period of time, given the costs involved in recruiting that foreign national from abroad, and, on the other hand, not unduly binding the foreign national to the employer.

Employment permit holders may change employer within 12 months in circumstances such as redundancy, or where the terms of employment have fundamentally changed or were unforeseen at time of application.

Under the current legislation an employment permit is voided as a result of the termination/cessation of an employment, for whatever reason, the employment permit shall be surrendered to the Minister, within 4 weeks from the date of termination or cessation – (a) by the holder – the original permit, and (b) by the employer – the copy of the permit.

However, during COVID a new electronic permit type was introduced to facilitate continued use of the Employment Permits System and so it became impossible to return a physical copy of the permit. The Employment Permits Unit are no longer requesting that the physical permit be returned. An employment permit will now be cancelled upon receipt of a request for a new permit with a new employer.

Currently, the first Employer is not notified unless it falls under the 12-month rule.

The Employment Permits Unit intends to put in place an automatic cancellation e-mail which will notify the current employer that the permit has been cancelled. This change is expected to be operational by end of November 2022.